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Vollezar
join:2008-02-19
Victoria, BC

Vollezar

Member

[BC] Any way to prioritize computers?

I am sharing a house with 4 other people. There are a total of 6 computers here. one of them is a media server/file storage I've setup and is only accessed in the evenings by one of us to watch movies. I use it just to add the media to it once every couple of weeks.
Two of us are also using the internet to play games and 3 of the others are just doing lite surfing. We are connected through Shaw's Cisco DPC3825 DOCSIS 3.0 Gateway. My computer is hardwired (so is the media server) the rest are using wireless feature.
Anyway. Is there a way that we can setup some sort of priority for the two gaming computers? Because at times the lag is just horrific when all of us are trying to access the internet. I get a ping of 600 on servers where I usually get only about 10-30.

rustydusty
join:2009-09-29
Red Deer County, AB

rustydusty

Member

Get the Cisco put into bridge mode, and go buy some descent router. Shaw's all in one just aren't suitable for anything severe, plus I prefer to use my own.

Vollezar
join:2008-02-19
Victoria, BC

Vollezar

Member

I had no idea that we could actually use own routers. they gave this one when they hooked us up. I'll get a better one then. Thanks.

rustydusty
join:2009-09-29
Red Deer County, AB

rustydusty to Vollezar

Member

to Vollezar
If you are on BB50 or higher, the switch from gateway to bridge mode is simple. One call should get that done, but have your new router ready to go when they switch it.
lostspaceman
join:2012-07-26
T3N0K7

lostspaceman to rustydusty

Member

to rustydusty
Agreed. I've heard lots of people that don't like the wifi/router portion of this modem and prefer to use their own.

Baud1200
join:2003-02-10

1 edit

Baud1200 to Vollezar

Member

to Vollezar
Yep, you will want to have it set to bridged mode.

If you have users that are pushing heavy traffic or P2P with many connections a home router might not be enough to provide you with good game play while they are connected due to both CPU usage and limitations of the firewall software.

Have a look at »pfsense.org/ and consider building your own, scaling the hardware with your needs / connection. The captive portal feature is just one of many in this package that you will find useful.

rustydusty
join:2009-09-29
Red Deer County, AB

rustydusty to Vollezar

Member

to Vollezar
Just playing with a few D-link wired only routers, I noticed a huge improvement letting DHCP and DNS Relay done by a virtual/physical server instead of the router. I run Pfsense on my main router, and a 2008 R2 VM does my dhcp and dns and it's rock solid. Obviously everyone doesn't have access to a server, but they can be built very cheap. Even WHS (Windows Home Server) can have DHCP and DNS Relay installed to take that off the router. Just a few hints for any mediocre teksavvy Shaw customers looking to play around and make some improvements.

Vollezar
join:2008-02-19
Victoria, BC

Vollezar

Member

Thanks guys.
I finally figured out what is happening. One of the people here access some American networks to watch baseball streams and movies. Not sure why those things overload the connection so much, considering that one other person uses Netflix and it has no noticeable effect. I haven't gotten around to changing anything, yet. I have to use a wireless router as two of the people like it as they can use their laptops anywhere in the house. From what I gather about pfsense I can install it straight to a router, right?

kevinds
Premium Member
join:2003-05-01
Calgary, AB

kevinds

Premium Member

pfsense would be the router,

You would start with a desktop computer you are not currently using, make sure it has at least two network cards, adding if necessary.

Network card one, goes to the modem in bridge mode,
Network card two, goes to a switch (or wireless router without DHCP enabled) to connect your devices to.

rustydusty
join:2009-09-29
Red Deer County, AB

rustydusty to Vollezar

Member

to Vollezar
Any older PC can be used to turn into a PfSense router. Just need a dual port nic. Then from there you will need a switch, and a descent access point.