Should Modem or Router make ADSL connection ?

[Rouxenator]

I have a D-Link DSL-2500U ADSL Modem connected to a Linksys WRT54-GS router. The D-Link makes the ADSL connection and the Linksys Router is using Auto DHCP to connect to the Modem.

My question is, is it better to have the Lynksys Router make the ADSL connection? It will obviously still do so via the D-Link modem but I will no longer be able to "see" the modem.

What is the best practice / performance in this situation ?

 

[Pada]

I would say that the performance difference will not even be noticeable if you dial it from the Linksys router instead of from the DSL-2500U. Both can dial multiple connections and have static routes (eg. for splitting local & international traffic).

I would put the DSL-2500U in bridge mode and then dial the connections from the Linksys router. That way all the changeable network settings would be on a single router.

For the best performance, run one of the 2 devices in bridge mode. The simplest solution would be to use the Linksys in bridge mode.

 

[Rouxenator]

Great - I was thinking of changing it so that it works that way - I wonder if the Linksys router will be able to handle more concurrent connection that the d-link modem would.

 

[Pada]

If you put DD-WRT on the Linksys then you have a quite capable router

 

[Rouxenator]

I think mine only has 2MB flash ROM (WRT54GS V7) so I am pretty sure I would have to run the Micro version on it - is that any better than the factory version ?

 

[Pada]

Hmm, perhaps try to do everything with the factory firmware first until you get to a point where the factory firmware doesn't have the features that you're looking for.

I have a D-Link DSL-2500U and a Linksys WRT54GL (running the VPN build). I'm not sure if it would be worth it to run the micro build, unless you actually need a feature that is in it.