Networking help - best gigabit ether wireless/wired router?

matrix563

matrix563

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I'm so excited to be able to play a movie over a shared folder from my main pc on my laptop! :D. but that got me thinking, i need a gigabit router/etc so whats the best gigabit ethernet wireless/wired router? my laptop and desktop both have gigabit ports, and my next desktop i build will have that as well. i just don't want to max out the ports connections so i have bandwidth for my voip, etc. thanks again for any advice/input :)

unless you think its overkill and my 10/100 router will be enough :)
 
Unless you really want or need a new router for some reason, you could be better off with an add-on gigabit switch instead -- better pricing, more support for jumbo frames, greater numbers of ports available (minus one port for connecting to the router), separation of routing and wireless features/issues. Adding a gigabit switch to a 10/100 router won't affect your computer to computer performance because most of that conversation won't go beyond the switch to the router.

E.g. Netgear GS108, GS608, among many others.
 
whats a jumbo frame?

so your basically saying the wired computers would communicate over the gigabit switch as opposed to the router? (internet only coming in over the router). am i correct?
 
thanks :). any recommendations? :)

whats the best bang for hte buck, or a site that reviews switches?
 
Truely, unless you move quite a bit of data over a network, gigabit just isn't worth it, streaming video doesnt use much, nor does voip. Sure the cost of gigabit has gone down, but in a real home user situation, it is not needed.
 
Hardly anyone reviews switches, esp. cheap ones, as it takes expensive equipment and knowledge and time to do a good job, and for the most part the target users wouldn't know the difference. I mentioned a couple of Netgears above. I've had personal experience with the GS608, and it's been fine (performs very well) aside from a couple of quirks. I haven't tried the GS108 -- perhaps it performs as well; perhaps it addresses the quirks. Most recent switches should be fine and perform well. Switch performance can easily be compared with direct wire -- gigabit doesn't even need crossover cabling.

I disagree that gigabit is not worth it. Gigabit switches are currently cheaper than 10 Mb/s hubs used to be at one point. It's not worth getting anything less IMO when you can get it so cheaply and you can certainly get some benefit if you ever move large files across the network. Do you have to transfer several GB's of files often to justify it? Did you have to transfer 100's of MB's of files often or have fiber to the home to justify 100 Mb/s networking? Even burning a 16x DVD across the network can well-exceed 100 Mb/s networking.

I agree however that plenty of streaming can be done fine with 100 Mb/s networking. But it's 2007...
 
A tangential hijack about the jumbo frames thing...by "a router that supports jumbo frames," do you folks mean a router that allows you to use jumbo frames but won't let you access it (login, etc.--my ZyXel X-550 does this) if you have them enabled/cranked up, or a router that fully allows you to do everything with them cranked up?
 
Im not disagreeing with gigabit is usefull and cheap, or can be, and has a use. But if the cost is much more than 100, not worth it.

Back on target, any of the name brand network brands will have gigabit hardware, though can't think of anywhere that reviews anything.
 
Redshirt #24 said:
A tangential hijack about the jumbo frames thing...by "a router that supports jumbo frames," do you folks mean a router that allows you to use jumbo frames but won't let you access it (login, etc.--my ZyXel X-550 does this) if you have them enabled/cranked up, or a router that fully allows you to do everything with them cranked up?
Click to expand...

The X-550 isn't a gigabit router, so support for jumbo frames is besides the point, esp. when it doesn't support access to the configuration with a JF-enabled client.

The priorities in the original context IMO would be: (1) Gigabit (2) Jumbo frames (3) Web config access with JF enabled. You can run a GbE JF LAN without (3) -- there's a manual workaround of disabling JF on the client or using a different client when you need to access the router's web config.

My current router's similar to the ZyXel (a D-Link DGL-4300). It supports (1) but not (2) nor (3). I got it originally for (1) but migrated off it when it didn't have enough ports for my needs, and connect my devices to a switch instead of directly to the router these days. The lack of (3) is irritating, but not terminal.

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Time change
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I just tried a new firmware for it (1.8), and lo & behold, it supports (3) now. I call that a bug fix, and since it's out, you should check with ZyXel for a fix as well. But no, it still doesn't support (2) itself. No matter, it's good enough for my purposes to have jumbo frame support on the GbE switch that I'm using.
 
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