Help With "High End" Home Networking

[Stangs55]

Moved into our new house a few months ago and the first thing I did was run CAT5e throughout it and establish a central hub where I could put my networking gear and printer. It's been downhill from there.

Right now I own 3 different routers and have been unhappy with all 3.
1. D-Link DGL-4500: Horrific. It overheats, resets and drops packets like that was its primary task.
2. D-Link DGL-4300: My old tried and true router. I love it...but it lacks wireless N, which I'd like to take advantage of with my 3 laptops.
3. Linksys WRT-54GS (v1): Using the latest DD-WRT firmware it's great...except no wireless N and no gigabit.

I'm waiting on a Linksys WRT610N to get here as I'm hoping maybe that will solve my problems...but it's got me thinking. With all the money I have invested in hardware around the house, why don't I have a more robust network? So what would you guys recommend for setting up a more "high end" home network? And by "high end" I'm looking for speed, speed, speed. The wireless N is needed, but it's not where I really care about speed too much. For any device that I want to eek the last kps out of, I have it hard wired.

Here's what I've got hard wired right now:

D-Link DGL-4500 -- connected to:
1. Gigabit PC
2. NAT 1Tb storage
3. Printer
4. Netgear GS805 Gigabit Switch -- connected to:
....4a. 360
....4b. PS3
....4c. Wii
....4d. Slingbox Pro (HD streaming)

Wirelessly I connect up to 3 laptops.

So if my priority is LAN speed and my budget is in the "few hundred bucks"-ish range, what are my options? Is it worth it to find a used Cisco router and run the wireless separately with one of my 3 current routers (since wireless speed is the least of my priorities)? Ideas?

Thanks.

 

[LS8]

A few hundred bucks buys consumer level networking hardware.

If you want a "professional" setup you have to increase your budget, bottom line. None of the hardware is sold at Wal-Mart or Best Buy either.

If you want a real kicker home setup you will need (IMO).

Dedicated Firewall
Dedicated Router
Dedicated Level 2 or 3 Switch.
Dedicated Wireless Access Point

None of these devices should be integrated with each other. They should be stand alone devices. You could build this network for maybe $1,000 on the cheap.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Well I used to be a long time linksys router user however my experience with their more recent models like the rvs4000 has not been good. I also have a home network that looks like this: linksys befcmu10 v4 cable modem to d-link dgl-4500 to hp procurve gigabit switch which populates the jacks in my house.

I never had a problem with the 4500 until after I flashed to the new 1.12 firmware. Now if I try to access certain streaming websites it will crash and reboot. I've already posted about it in the d-link forum along with others so d-link is aware of the issue and is working on a fix. Otherwise it handles large file transfers across the network like a champ. For example the other day I moved a 7.73gb block of files from my pc to another one and it only took a little over 9 minutes. If you haven't done so already I'd post in the d-link forum so they can hear from another user that's having problems. If you're specific about the issues you're having they will address them.

 

[kevnich2]

Take a look at the Linksys WRT310N if you really want a robust N router with gigabit. All you need though is a large gigabit switch, plug everything into it and then lastly plug a reliable router in so that it's used only for internet transfers. The WRT310N works pretty though IMO with DDWRT, has a low profile, gigabit and Wireless N.

 

[JackMDS]

There is NO real reason to get panic, it just a matter of using the correct strategy.

1. Using a good independent Giga Byte Switch (about $50) is much better than any of the Giga switches that are incorporate in the Wireless Router.

2. If you are pleased with the D-Link DGL-4300 as your Router keep using it.

As for Draft-N, commercial hardware, you will not get much help their cause there is No standard and thus the selection is minimal.

Most people want the Draft for emotional reasons, if you really need the Draft for functional reasons get a Draft Wireless Router and use it as an Access Point ( http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html ).

I.e. in less than $200 you can reduce you stress and live long life (stress reduces life expectancy).

 

[Stangs55]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
There is NO real reason to get panic, it just a matter of using the correct strategy.

1. Using a good independent Giga Byte Switch (about $50) is much better than any of the Giga switches that are incorporate in the Wireless Router.

2. If you are pleased with the D-Link DGL-4300 as your Router keep using it.

As for Draft-N, commercial hardware, you will not get much help their cause there is No standard and thus the selection is minimal.

Most people want the Draft for emotional reasons, if you really need the Draft for functional reasons get a Draft Wireless Router and use it as an Access Point ( http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html ).

I.e. in less than $200 you can reduce you stress and live long life (stress reduces life expectancy).

Any specific recommendations on a good gigabyte switch that would be better than the integrated units I already own?

 

[kevnich2]

How many ports do you need in a switch? As jack said, for your router/firewall, use a unit that is solid & reliable. For your wireless, get a separate either access point or another wireless router and simply turn off the firewall portion and then get a separate gigE switch for use with your hard wired clients that need gig speed.

 

[JackMDS]

I get with this a transfer of 48 MB/sec. (which is the max. that you can squeeze out of a peer-to-peer client OS' Network).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817111480

 

[Stangs55]

Thanks, I'm going to head by the local Microcenter after work today and pickup a seperate Gigabyte router. I'll look for the Trendnet one, but are they generally any brands to avoid? Or any brands that seem to consistantly perform better? I really only need 4 ports.

As for the giga switch, what do you think of my Netgear GS805? Should I upgrade this as well? To what?

 

[NickOlsen8390]

I hit the limit on SOHO routers a long time ago. I just had problems with everything
Ever since then I have been running a IPtables based solution on a 2.6ghz P4. It's been able to handle anything I can throw at it.
As someone else said I also use a Procurve Gigabit switch (mines managed though). It handles the switching, and the router does internet/vlan traffic.....ect....
As for a AP get someone good, the 4500 might work if you use it like a non-routing AP. I use to have a DGL-4300 that i know use as my main AP (just disable DHCP and plug its lan side into a switch). I can hammer that thing all day long and its great.
As for file transfers, I have seen bursts upto 100MB/s normaly its about 60-80MB/s This being a Push from vista Ultimate x64 to server 2003 x86.

 

[kevnich2]

Are you saying on your lan side gigabit to gigabit your only seeing a normal 60-80mb? I have a much cheaper gig switch and routinely see...300-400mb on my Gig switch. It sometimes spikes to 500mb but normally between 300-400mb.

 

[Modelworks]

Use an old pc and you can have a router that would cost you thousands to purchase if it were a commercial version.
Couple links:
http://www.ipcop.org/
http://www.clarkconnect.com/
http://www.smoothwall.org/

You can adapt these to use snort, which is really leaps beyond anything you are going to purchase under about $2K
http://www.snort.org/

All the above are free, you just need a pc to dedicate to the task.
I use an old p3-933.

 

[NickOlsen8390]

Originally posted by: kevnich2
Are you saying on your lan side gigabit to gigabit your only seeing a normal 60-80mb? I have a much cheaper gig switch and routinely see...300-400mb on my Gig switch. It sometimes spikes to 500mb but normally between 300-400mb.

Note the MB/s not Mb/s

 

[Stangs55]

Picked up the Trendnet switch today for $19 after MIR. Thanks for the recommendation!

As for routers...what would be the real world advantage (if any) of picking up a used Cisco 1600/1700/2600 router off of ebay for ~$150? How would this improve my network if I then used my current wireless router as an AP?

Thanks again for all the great help.