Router : Asking too much?

Dolby

Dolby

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Im finally getting ADSL installed after an absence of over 5 years ... So I'm out of the loop of things :/

I understand they give you a Billion router, but thinking of maybe getting something else. Is this too much to ask in single affordable router?

* good looking, as it'll sit in my lounge. I like the Linksys designs - but some report they're not as good anymore?
* 4 x gigabit ports
* wireless N - latest Draft with high speeds. I could never achieve more than a realistic 4MB/sec on my old wifi N
* 2.4ghz and 5ghz - is this even important?
* USB storage - I have all my movies on an external 2TB
* router and modem in one - guy work advices against this though ... Citing lightning as a reason?

Am I right in saying, that once the ADSL is connected to the WAN port, everything connected to wifi and gigabit ports will have Internet? Also, once I have my HDD connected to the USB, everything connected to wifi and gigabit ports will have access to them?
 
Cheapest solution for that is the TP-Link WR1043nd. You will however need an external modem, but with that installed, it works exactly like a router with an integrated modem, only better.
 
If you're not looking at anything fancy, just look for something with the following: 4x LAN ports, 802.11n, built-in ADSL modem.

WRT lightning, just protect your router with a surge protector, including your phone line. If your router gets struck by lightning, you have a high chance of blowing the LAN cable between your router and anything it's connected to (mobo/other network devices, etc).

You can share/block access to your USB/ADSL on the network dependant on the VLAN you setup. By default it's allowed.

I have a Netgear DGN2000, but I understand there's a new one out. Not sure if it has USB ports too.
The new DLink routers have USB ports afaik.
 
I think it's cheaper to get a non Gigabit modem/router and connect it to a Gigabit switch. Unless their prices have come down and they're more common, I remember at least R1.5k - R2k.
 
There are two options: The Netgear DGN2200M and D-Link DSL2750U - have a look at both and make your choice from there.
 
PostmanPot said:
I think it's cheaper to get a non Gigabit modem/router and connect it to a Gigabit switch. Unless their prices have come down and they're more common, I remember at least R1.5k - R2k.
Click to expand...

I agree with the above.

Get yourself an inexpensive single lan port ADSL router such as the D-Link DSL-2500U (supports ADSL2/2+ 24Mbps downstream), add a Gigabit switch and a decent wireless Access Point
 
P924 said:
Cheapest solution for that is the TP-Link WR1043nd. You will however need an external modem, but with that installed, it works exactly like a router with an integrated modem, only better.
Click to expand...

I have the TP-Link WR1043ND and I'd just like to warn the OP that the USB storage function doesn't work well at all. It's buggy and I had a really hard time trying to get it to work properly. Last time I got a router from Telkom, it was a NetGear DGN2200. It's a great little router, but unfortunately is doesn't have Gigabit LAN.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Postman - price aside, is there any reason to consider a modem/router instead of an integrated? The guy at work says that *if* the more links in the chain before his PC makes him feel safe with lightning *if* something occurred.

He'd hopefully only need to replace a R200.00 modem instead of a R1,000.00 router
 
Dolby said:
price aside, is there any reason to consider a modem/router instead of an integrated?
Click to expand...
It extends beyond those to the WiFi AP as well. For me (assume many others as well) where my telephone jack is located is not optimal for best WiFi signal distribution.

I run a dedicated AP in my roof (running off PoE) instead of integrated with router. Correct positioning of AP makes a huge difference to wireless speed, coverage & stability.
 
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Ok - my phone jack luckily is in the best position.

I has another question : earlier someone mentioned there may be a bug with his USB file sharing, but assuming this does work correctly - is USB2 fast enough to stream HD movies considering its half gigabit speeds?

I don't mean like full BR 50GB movies, but either 720 or 1080 rips at a few GB?
 
Dolby said:
Ok - my phone jack luckily is in the best position.
Click to expand...
OK, but remember to think in 3 dimensions (including height). Wireless signals do not radiate out straight, but rather in a doughnut shape upwards & downwards.

Dolby said:
is USB2 fast enough to stream HD movies considering its half gigabit speeds?
Click to expand...
[-]Plenty, USB2 to is actually 480 MB/s (almost 4 Gb/s)[/-] Rechecked, is 480Mb/s or 60MB/s, still plenty tho.
 
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Roman4604 said:
OK, but remember to think in 3 dimensions (including height). Wireless signals do not radiate out straight, but rather in a doughnut shape upwards & downwards.

[-]Plenty, USB2 to is actually 480 MB/s (almost 4 Gb/s)[/-] Rechecked, is 480Mb/s or 60MB/s, still plenty tho.
Click to expand...

:D

Theoretically it's 480Mbps, but practically you don't see more than 30MB/s.
 
D-Link support has been very slack in my experience. Ignoring e-mails and even the site being offline (not paid bills).
 
froot said:
Theoretically it's 480Mbps, but practically you don't see more than 30MB/s.
Click to expand...
True, other factors like physical read speed of the drive come into play. Still, the largest 1080p rip I have (13GB) decodes at avg of 11Mbps sometimes peaking up to ~18Mbps, so you should be fine with USB2 connection.
 
froot said:
WRT lightning, just protect your router with a surge protector, including your phone line. If your router gets struck by lightning, you have a high chance of blowing the LAN cable between your router and anything it's connected to (mobo/other network devices, etc).
Click to expand...

very good advice, I got hit last night, modem/router smoked as well as microserver which was connected via LAN cable :(
 
Dolby said:
Thanks for the replies.

Postman - price aside, is there any reason to consider a modem/router instead of an integrated? The guy at work says that *if* the more links in the chain before his PC makes him feel safe with lightning *if* something occurred.

He'd hopefully only need to replace a R200.00 modem instead of a R1,000.00 router
Click to expand...

Sounds like a sound argument, thankfully not much lightning in Cpt. A friend in Jhb lost a HP MS which apparently had 2 surge protectors between it.
 
Got myself a TP-LINK WR842ND (only Wifi not ADSL) and I am very impressed. They are quite good looking units too and finally I have stable wireless. The Billion 400G is useless for wireless in my flat as it couldn't cope with having to share the airwaves with a few other wifi signals in the complex no matter what channel it was on, same for a Linksys model I tried out - the wireless would just die after about a day and then I would have to reset the router to get it back. The TP-LINK has now been going for a week and still looking strong!
 
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