Share Connection or use Router

[RVFmal]

Seems I may have inadvertently hijacked Jongi's router thread so I deleted my post and started a new thread.

Which make of router is the better for sharing the connection between 2 PC's?

And would it be better to link iBurst to one of the PC's and share the connection with the other via a hub or would it be best to go the route of purchasing a router (I already have an Accton Chettahub Classic 2040).
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[alchamy]

You have several options here.

1. Use the Hub and setup ICS on an existing machine, downside to this is that ICS is a terrible nightmare and you will be wasting system resources.
2. Find an old machine P1 with 64MB ram will be plenty and setup Smoothwall .
3. Buy a hardware router and simplify your life completely. Most hardware routers act as wireless AP's aswell which is an added advantage if you have a notebook or other mobile device.

If you intend to go for a hardware router I would suggest getting something with Linux embedded simply because it allows you to modify functionality quite easily. Most forumites use WRT54G which you can pick up for around R600

 

[DaveBuchanan1337]

I concurr with alchemy - but building your own router, ie smoothwall, is much more fun.

 

[MrH]

DB does smoothwall support a wireless card, if so which would you consider to be the best card to go for?

Reason I ask is that I have a PC with smoothwall installed but went with the WRT54G router because I needed a wireless connection for a notebook.

Also I would prefer smoothwall as then I can at least keep track of my internet usage which has turned into a nightmare with the no BW reports from WBS.

 

[alchamy]

Yeah, building your own router does have its rewards.

ITO of Wireless AP in smoothwall, yeah sure should not be too difficult.

Start Here

 

[Roman4604]

As stated in the other thread I got D-Link 624+ router. Features average, WPA broken, but does all the basics right ... NAT, firewalling, DynDNS, DHCP & WiFi with WEP has reasonable speed (22 Mbps max. speed).

Mainly got it cause it was cheap & instantly avaliable.

The one thing I'll say for it though is that it keeps a damn steady PPPoE connection to the iBurst network. Have seen some post about WRT54s dropping connections? Only had 2 disconnects in 5 weeks and these seem atributable to tower/network failures/maintanance.

Maybe it because of this at iBurst Aus ... notice D-Link badge.

 

[GuRu]

The D-link s are good and easy to setup also cheap

 

[MrH]

Can't say I've had any problems of the WRT54G dropping the connection, except for the 30min my base station went offline about a week ago.

It stays connected unless I decide to take it down.

 

[LandyMan]

I am using a GigaByte BR404W ... the reason I chose this one is for the VPN capability ... the router sets up the VPN connection over iBurst, and then all my machines connected to the wireless AP is on the VPN. Also, it uses a PCMCIA card for the Wireless AP, which can be removed/replaced when new technology is available.

 

[alchamy]

I use a Asus WL500g with Oleg's Custom Firmware, an amazing Router. Don't have a single complaint

 

[RVFmal]

Thanks guys. I opted for for using the hub and ICS at the moment (took me some time get it up and running), but it now works. However given that it does take up a fair amount of system resources (am running the host machine with Intel 1.7 Celeron and 608 meg Ram - upgrading soon) so I will either buy a router, but am interested in building my own router.

Have an old machine that I can use. Sounds like fun.

 

[Ekhaatvensters]

Anyone know anything about a Netgear router for use with I-burst?
I've got the WGR614 Wireless router 54 MBps at the moment, getting my I-burst in a few days, just looking for any comments on this router or Netgear in general.

Also, will the router sharing the connection wirelessly to a desktop PC slow the connection at all? This will be connected from quite a range with a lot of walls in between, expecting it to connect but not very well, enough bandwidth for I-burst but will a slow down be experienced (pings and download speed)?

 

[Unchained]

... but am interested in building my own router.

Have an old machine that I can use. Sounds like fun.

IPCop is also an option iso Smoothwall, used SWE2 first then changed to IPCop. The development on IPCop seems to be more active. And iConnect works fine with it with a small mod.

 

[Jongi]

If one were to get an ADSL connection would any of these router be usable?

 

[LandyMan]

If one were to get an ADSL connection would any of these router be usable?

Most of them should work (I know my Gigabyte works)

 

[Jongi]

When choosing a router, what are the key things I should look for?

 

[Jongi]

I notice that this one includes a built in ADSL modem. Would this work with iBurst?

54 Mbps Wireless ADSL Modem Firewall Router No Need for a Separate Modem! - The DG834G Wireless ADSL Modem Router gives you untethered continuous connectivity to your network resources and the Internet. The DG834G is simple to use; there no need for a separate modem, it plugs directly into your ADSL line. The DG834G allows you to easily share your broadband access with all your networked computers wirelessly or with wires using Ethernet cables.

The DG834G combines five products in one: An ADSL modem, router, four-port 10/100 LAN switch, 802.11g wireless access point and an SPI True Firewall. The DG834G features high-speed 802.11g wireless capabilities allowing you to instantly download large files, videoconference and distribute and play high-quality digital movies, photos, and MP3s.

 

[Roman4604]

No ... WAN port must be Ethernet not ADSL.

 

[Jongi]

Right. So must make sure that there is a WAN port? I assume that iBurst modem is connected to the router. Given that it connects to the PC using ethernet what is the reason the same cannot happen for the router?

 

[Roman4604]

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