How long do routers last?

[JustinSane]

Ive had my router for maybe 5 years now and I keep getting a message saying your cable has come unplugged. The Power and Cable lights on the modem stay lit, but the PC starts blinking when it happends. Its a D-Link 614+.

Im thinking about getting this one.
http://games.dlink.com/products/?pid=370

Anyone have it? How is it?

 

[jordantellier]

how much do you game....i really don't see a router making that much of an improvment to your connection for a better ping etc....



most settings for games can help reduce lag and such by properly setting up all settings through your command line

such as rate
cl_rate etc

look up when you should set up on the internet


also most routers have QoS, and port forwarding...find out what ports to forward to your computer that your game uses when conecting on line. and the services you need when connecting and playing...just set these up in your QoS....


i have a linksys wireless G router...have had it for about 2 years now and no problems...save your money...get a plain wireless router and don't worry about the fancy gamming one

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

"How long do routers last?"

That really varies by environment. Quality of electrical feed, how it's handled, and good old "luck of the draw". Things that help them tremendously...being plugged into little APC battery backup units.

Things that don't help them...not even being plugged into a decent surge protector. Or..(I've actually seen this one)...placing one right on top of your subwoofer. I had someone who did that ask why their router kept locking up, and they kept replacing it.

5x seems at least average. I have many out there that I setup over several years ago..still in service.

Newer routers are much faster...they have processors several times faster than the early routers that came out years ago..and easily at least twice the RAM. They have to these days..with more and more people getting internet connections faster than 10 megs download...the routers of years ago could only handle around 3-5 megs..so they're a bottleneck.

QoS features can help gamers...IF you have other peeps on your network fighting you for your internet connection. If you're alone..doesn't do much..you already have the entire bandwidth pipe all to yourself.

 

[JustinSane]

"How long do routers last?"

That really varies by environment. Quality of electrical feed, how it's handled, and good old "luck of the draw". Things that help them tremendously...being plugged into little APC battery backup units.

Things that don't help them...not even being plugged into a decent surge protector. Or..(I've actually seen this one)...placing one right on top of your subwoofer. I had someone who did that ask why their router kept locking up, and they kept replacing it.

5x seems at least average. I have many out there that I setup over several years ago..still in service.

Newer routers are much faster...they have processors several times faster than the early routers that came out years ago..and easily at least twice the RAM. They have to these days..with more and more people getting internet connections faster than 10 megs download...the routers of years ago could only handle around 3-5 megs..so they're a bottleneck.

QoS features can help gamers...IF you have other peeps on your network fighting you for your internet connection. If you're alone..doesn't do much..you already have the entire bandwidth pipe all to yourself.

Ive got an APC surge protector that was 60 bucks at circuit city. Is that good enough? Its got my PC, monitor, modem and router plugged into it.

 

[Axeldoomeyer]

Routers typically last around 5 years. I tend to agree with everyone here about the life expectancy. Then again I have seen routers surpass 7 years without fail. I would also check your NIC to make sure it is not a NIC issue. I have seen in the pas a failing NIC do this exact same thing. This is a inexpensive fix and if you already have a spare on hand then it is easily tested. Good luck..

 

[Met-AL]

I have the DLG-4300 and I am very pleased with it.

In my own testing... I played SOF2 and then BF2 with FileZilla uploading 4 files at once, and my game didn't experience a single hiccup...this was with GameFuel (QoS) turned on, same test with GameFuel turned off, both games were timing out and were unplayable.

GameFuel does it's job, which is to give packets from games priority over other packets when being uploaded. Remember tho, once they leave your router, there is no help to fix problems that your ISP has from poor routers, lack of bandwidth, etc.

Here is a chart that shows the DLG-4300 up near the top on throughput and total simultaneous connections of 180 connections, which tied it for the best. (I wish I had seen this chart as in another thread, this router was claimed to be poor for P2P cause it suposedly couldn't handle very many simultaneous connections.)
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/lans_routers/charts/index.html?chart=119

Link to the review which is very in depth. I really like Tom's networking reviews.
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2005/03/04/review_dgl4300/

The review is a little old, and it mentions that the DLG-4300 does not have UPnP, but says it is coming with a firmware update. Well, the DGL-4300 got that update and does in fact have UPnP.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Ive got an APC surge protector that was 60 bucks at circuit city. Is that good enough? Its got my PC, monitor, modem and router plugged into it.

At the very least...yes...bare minimum their PER7. I always want them on batter backup units ...I prefer them over plain surge protectors. Such as thei es350 or 500..for the modem and router/switches. And another one for your PC and monitor...or a higher one..650 or more.