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time for a new network

[ I posted this in alt.comp.networking.routers as well. However, the traffic there is much less. Hoping to find some help here in spite of this not being a wireless problem. Thanks for understanding. ]

In the course of replacing my cable modem, I discovered that the raw Internet throughput coming out of the cable modem is 12 Mb/sec, while the Internet throughput coming out of my five year old SMC 8-port router is only 5 Mb/sec. After five happy years with no hardware issues it is time for an upgrade.

I do need the 8 ports as I have 6 active right now (including printer, wireless access point and game machine).

After some research I am wondering if I am better off trying to find an

8 port router or a 4 port router and an 8 port gigabit switch.

The advantage of the gigabit switch is for copying files locally - mainly for doing backups but I also run a desktop as the file server for all the other machines. I saw some postings about super performance on the gigabit LAN using jumbo packets (MTU). However, now that I'm searching for faster Internet throughput from my network, I don't want an extra device if it will slow me down much.

Alternatively, a single 8 port router is one less device in my path and one less device to deal with. However, 8 port routers are much less common in the consumer space.

Finally, in either configuration, I could add wireless capability to the new router. This would be in addition to the existing wireless on another floor. I assume they can work together and have laptops seemlessly move between the router and the existing access point. I wouldn't dare try this unless they were from the same manufacturer. Since my access point is Linksys, then either I get a Linksys router or replace the existing Linksys access point too.

Performance, ease of maintenance and future proofing the setup is more important than spending a few extra dollars to do it right. Good security and protection from the Internet is also something I require of the router.

If you made it this far, please feel free to share your thoughts or opinions.

BTW, In looking up a few routers, I can't seem to find any published specs on Internet degradation through the devices. How is this characterized?

Thanks in advanced.

Tired Techie

Reply to
Tired Techie
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"Tired Techie" hath wroth:

See charts at:

in the WAN to LAN Throughput results. (Note that your SMC is at the very bottom of the list). If you impliment a few filters and ACL's, your throughput will be somewhat less than the numbers show.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

8-port routers ar expensive (they fall out of the "consumer" bracket and into SoHo), go for the switch and separate router.

yup, might be useful.

Not necessary - they all conform to the Standard, so are interoperable. I have an Actiontec and SMC, no issues.

No idea, you may need to explain what you mean by that.

Reply to
Mark McIntyre

On 20 Jan 2007 07:48:13 -0800, "Tired Techie" wrote in :

Not a good reason -- only wireless belongs here.

The latter. Also, look for a router with sufficient horsepower to handle your cable Internet speed.

I doubt that you'll see much difference versus 100 Mbps.

OK -- that at least makes it relevant to this newsgroup.

Not necessarily -- seamless roaming is still a black art, and many wireless clients will stubbornly try to stay connected to an existing access point even when a better connection becomes available with the same SSID.

With low end gear that generally doesn't make much difference. Just set the same SSID and security, and put them on different minimally overlapping channels (1, 6, 11).

This is controlled more by wireless client software than the access point.

Consider running DD-WRT on a suitable wireless router. I use and recommend the Buffalo high power unit.

In general it isn't. Look for benchmark tests on wireless networking sites.

Reply to
John Navas

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