| affordable router to handle 150/10? right now I'm using some POS belkin n300. I have feeling that would nt exactly cut it with 2 people being heavy users.
any suggestions on a router that's not 200 dollars? Asus makes great stuff, I buy them whenever possible but their n900 is expensive.. I'll get it if I have too. |
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bbhog
join:2010-07-05
North York, ON | There were some recommendations made here... »[Cable] Recomended routers With enough Horsepower for 150/10? |
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Reviews:
 ·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to Optional
Almost anything you buy these days will do 150/10 over ethernet. I have a 3 1/2 year old E3000 that dimes a 150/10 connection no worries.
Wireless you can basically assume 50% of the rated speed so if you want to hit 200 Mbps (which you'll do on a 150/10 connection with bursting), you'll want to get an N900 (450 Mbps per channel) router. The N600 routers (300 per channel) can be a touch slow if you have any signal issues. |
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| They can do 150/10 over Ethernet, but not WAN to LAN routing speed. i.e. the famous (although old) RT-N16 can only do 120mbps.
Check here for router benchmarks:
»www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/r···rts/view |
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 c2rothPremium
join:2006-04-26
Kitchener, ON
kudos:2
 ·TekSavvy Cable
·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to Optional
If you want the best performance split up your routing from your wireless AP. Buy two of the same modems or keep your Belkin (we're in agreement that it's probably a POS). Use the new router for DHCP and routing, and use the Belkin only for wifi. Splitting the load across two devices will help both units perform closer to their potential limits. |
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mlord
join:2006-11-05
Nepean, ON
kudos:8 | reply to Optional
The Netgear WNR3500L is very fast, and also reasonably power efficient for a 24/7 appliance. The router charts suggest WAN-LAN performance > 250mbits/sec. |
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TypeS
join:2012-12-17
London, ON Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
| reply to Optional
Going off the pretty handy list coolspot18 linked, I would say the most worthwhile and affordable router to get would be the ASUS RT-56U. The other one that I saw is the Cisco/Linksys EA2700, but I haven't had a chance to play with their new cloud based GUI, it doesn't seem to be popular with DSLr folks.
The RT-56U can be had for $105 from CC:
»www.canadacomputers.com/product_···d=036171
said by coolspot18:They can do 150/10 over Ethernet, but not WAN to LAN routing speed. i.e. the famous (although old) RT-N16 can only do I'll expand on this here a bit. On a home LAN, be it 100Mbps or 1000Mbps, you'll see close to thoe line speeds because the actual router portion of the router isn't used. Packets will just be switched between devices on the LAN. The reason you'll see a huge difference when going over the WAN interface is because the router CPUs used in all consumer router are pieces of junk (cheap as well, these guys make pretty good profit margins on consumer gear). When you send/receive to the internet, the router CPU needs to be used to make routing decisions (although I've always assumed it just uses a static default since there's only 1 way out and your ISP does the real routing). Some CPUs are so bad they can only handle so many packets being processed at once.
I'm really amazed TP-Links 1043 router can't even pull 150Mbps. Although maybe I shouldn't be, I never recommend their routers to being with. The brands to go with are typically Cisco/Linksys, ASUS, Netgear & Buffalo. I think Trendnet is up there as well. |
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| reply to Optional
Get an old Atom netbook with an Expresscard slot. Add a gigabit ethernet Expresscard ($20 shipped: »www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as···39328041).
Install m0n0wall (beta with FreeBSD 8.3) or pfsense. Get a wireless AP just for your wireless needs.
This way, you would have the netbook for long term router needs, as I doubt you will come close to taxing its capabilities before hardware failure occurs. And you would upgrade your wireless AP depending on technology needs (like new wireless standards). |
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TypeS
join:2012-12-17
London, ON Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
| said by mario9999998:Get an old Atom netbook with an Expresscard slot. Add a gigabit ethernet Expresscard ($20 shipped: »www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as···39328041).
Install m0n0wall (beta with FreeBSD 8.3) or pfsense. Get a wireless AP just for your wireless needs.
This way, you would have the netbook for long term router needs, as I doubt you will come close to taxing its capabilities before hardware failure occurs. And you would upgrade your wireless AP depending on technology needs (like new wireless standards).
Then they would still need to purchase a LAN switch and Wireless AP, as well as adding unneeded complexity. The entire thing would cost more than $100 + lots of time getting it up and running. Also would need to ensure the netbook as integrated LAN already as well, 1 for WAN and 1 for LAN. |
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| reply to coolspot18
For clarity's sake, the number is actually 141mbps  . That said, I actually wanted to ask if anyone knows if that number is with or without wireless on?
I have one of these routers, and if I can get over 150mbps using it if it doesn't need to take care of wireless, it means I wouldn't need to buy a new router... Which would save me a few $$... .
If anyone is feeling particularly energetic and wants to try a test with and without wireless on, I would love to see the results! My understanding is that you would need to plug one pc in the WAN port, and another in a regular LAN port, then run a benchmark... Any networking Guru, feel free to jump in! |
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vincom
join:2009-03-06
Bolton, ON
1 edit | reply to Optional
if you have an old comp(p3/p4) and a spare nic + wireless router(would be your wireless ap) then install pfsense or monowall will handle anything you throw at it
my current setup: p3 w/2 nics + a wrt54g-tm w/tomato
my old and trusty wrt54g-tm is great but is a little laggy and cant handle the speed boost on cable, so I set it up as a wireless ap.
I actually have 2 wrt54g's on tomato and had it setup as one of them as just a wireless ap and the other as the wan connection w/wireless off but is still laggy and cant handle the speed bursts on the wan side
but I still miss my tomato gui, imho one of the best gui's out there
im on 25/2 cable |
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1 edit | reply to TypeS
said by TypeS:said by mario9999998:Get an old Atom netbook with an Expresscard slot. Add a gigabit ethernet Expresscard ($20 shipped: »www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as···39328041).
Install m0n0wall (beta with FreeBSD 8.3) or pfsense. Get a wireless AP just for your wireless needs.
This way, you would have the netbook for long term router needs, as I doubt you will come close to taxing its capabilities before hardware failure occurs. And you would upgrade your wireless AP depending on technology needs (like new wireless standards).
Then they would still need to purchase a LAN switch and Wireless AP, as well as adding unneeded complexity. The entire thing would cost more than $100 + lots of time getting it up and running. Also would need to ensure the netbook as integrated LAN already as well, 1 for WAN and 1 for LAN. Netbooks generally have built in gigabit ethernet, and an expresscard gigabit card costs $20 shipping included (link in my original post).
You would need to get a cheap wireless router for wireless and LAN switching capabilities: »www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as···04144CVF
And as for ease of putting it together:
1. download m0n0wall
2. put it on a usb flash drive
3. insert expresscard nic (plug and play) in the netbook
4. hookup the router (power only)
5. boot up the netbook using the usb flash drive, and it will run the setup/install and tell you how to plug in your network cables
6. connect to router ip, disable dhcp and setup wireless security
7. connect to m0n0wall ip and setup as you would any other router
The built in m0n0wall traffic shaping is amazing compared to what tomato/dd-wrt offer for qos. |
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bbhog
join:2010-07-05
North York, ON Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
| mario... perhaps you should stop hijacking these threads to tell people about your amazing solution of turning old computers into routers!
Optional said he wants to find affordable router. Not spend his weekends trying to turn a home made computer into a router.
Even the most technical of people are not interested in doing this... personally there is no way in hell I'm going to spend my time doing that. I just want to spend the least amount of money I need to on "Commercially available" devices so I can push 150Mbps both wired and wirelessly to my my devices. |
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mlord
join:2006-11-05
Nepean, ON
kudos:8 Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
·TekSavvy Cable
·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to mario9999998
said by mario9999998:Netbooks generally have built in gigabit ethernet Really? Of the three I have used, including my current N210, none have/had GigE built-in. |
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 HiVoltPremium
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON
kudos:15
·TekSavvy Cable
·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to coolspot18
said by coolspot18:They can do 150/10 over Ethernet, but not WAN to LAN routing speed. i.e. the famous (although old) RT-N16 can only do That's odd for the RT-N16 to be that slow. It essentially uses the same chipset as the Netgear WNR3500L and that one can do double?
I wonder what firmware they use to test, or which options are enabled, Firewall, QoS, etc...
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F**K THE NHL. Go Blue Jays 2013!!!
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| reply to mlord
Yea i've never seen any Gig ones with that either.
Personally I would use pfSense but power wise, and it kind of seems unneeded unless i'm running a apartment network. |
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4 edits | reply to bbhog
lol if you don't like what I post then just ignore it.
A m0n0wall/pfsense solution is free if the op has an old computer, and can handle a 150/10 connection with no problem (even with traffic shaping and other extra features enabled). Worst case gigabit ethernet cards are cheap.
And they're really easy to setup... if it takes you more than an hour to setup, let alone a weekend then you probably think too highly of your computer usage skills.
PS. other suggested software routers too, not just me
said by mlord:said by mario9999998:Netbooks generally have built in gigabit ethernet Really? Of the three I have used, including my current N210, none have/had GigE built-in. My mistake, I just assumed they all have them. Either way, used/old laptop or old desktop. Desktop is cheaper (or more commonly available free) and easier to add gigabit. I ended up getting a cheapie laptop with a broken screen for free and it works fine and am using it. I mean these will use more power than a router, but if you can get it for free (or already have an old unused) that offsets the cost of power savings.
Also, not sure about these new routers, but I had a RT-N16 and used tomato, and using QOS would make CPU usage hit 100% all the time on my 28mbit cable connection.
So an important question is if QOS is a required feature that's enabled (ie. like for gaming and voip users). |
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| reply to Optional
also it's worth mentioning that a lot of consumer routers that do Stateful Packet Inspection will get a huge boost to LAN -> WAN -> LAN thoughput if that feature is turned off. |
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| reply to Optional
+1 for pfsense. Will never purchase a consumer grade router again. Wireless is done by a DAP-2553. The extra time and effort you put into a pfsense build will be well worth it. Far exceeds anything you can buy at newegg, ncix, bestbuy, staples, etc. |
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1 edit | reply to urbang33k
said by urbang33k:also it's worth mentioning that a lot of consumer routers that do Stateful Packet Inspection will get a huge boost to LAN -> WAN -> LAN thoughput if that feature is turned off.
It's important to note that SmartNetBuilder's WAN-LAN throughput tests (numbers quoted all over the place here) all have SPI and QOS disabled (when possible via the router's firmware). And NAT is bypassed by testing using DMZ IP. I'm assuming those are features most people usually have enabled (unless your router can't handle the performance hit sufficiently). » www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/l···vision-3Real-world use of RT-N66u (Atom worked fine, N66u capped at 200mbps on a pppoe connection with SPI/QOS disabled): » forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showp···count=29 |
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