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GoGoGadgetChris
Mar 18, 2010

i powder a
granite monument
in a soundless flash

showering the grass
with molten drops of
its gold inlay

sending smoking
chips of stone
skipping into the fog

GoGoGadgetChris posted:

Sorry for asking this, but the OP is years old and I couldn't see it answered on the past few pages...

What are some recommendations for a wireless router in the $80 to $120 range? My WRT54G is finally dead. My desktop is on wireless, so performance is a priority. I live in a 1,200 SF townhouse so it doesn't need to have the most massive range, but I will want it to be able to penetrate through a few walls and ceilings.

Related - My desktop's USB wi-fi dongle thing is about as old as the WRT54G, so I'm sure it's about to die too. What are the best ways to add wireless to a desktop at the moment? USB dongle? PCI card?

(I built my computer and home network in 2009... Don't laugh at my Luddite nature)

OK how about an ASUS N66U for the router at $117 and a TP-LINK N900 PCIe wireless adapter for $37? Anything dumb about those purchases?

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stevewm
May 10, 2005

skipdogg posted:

Correct, with AT&T U-Verse you're at their mercy as to what your gateway/modem-router device is. They have 2 different models in circulation right now.

They force the same hardware on business users too. Only way to use your own router without double-NAT is to enable Pass-Through mode. When your modem performs a firmware update, (that AT&T automatically sends out and your modem will automatically install) this setting sometimes gets disabled, and/or moved somewhere else on the modem. On some older models they removed it entirely during a firmware update.

r0ck0
Sep 12, 2004
r0ck0s p0zt m0d3rn lyf
New firmware for the asus RT-N66U

http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RTN66U/HelpDesk_Download/

quote:

Description ASUS RT-N66U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.376.3754
-Fixed infosvr security issue.
-Fixed Cross-site request forgery security issue
File Size 25.81 MBytesupdate

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/RT-N66U_B1/FW_RT_N66U_30043763754.zip

CrushedWill
Sep 27, 2012

Stand it like a man... and give some back

stevewm posted:

They force the same hardware on business users too. Only way to use your own router without double-NAT is to enable Pass-Through mode. When your modem performs a firmware update, (that AT&T automatically sends out and your modem will automatically install) this setting sometimes gets disabled, and/or moved somewhere else on the modem. On some older models they removed it entirely during a firmware update.

I gave up trying to replace their routing with something better, so I turned their wi-fi off and used a better router configured as an access point to get the protocols and frequencies I wanted.

fletcher
Jun 27, 2003

ken park is my favorite movie

Cybernetic Crumb

CrushedWill posted:

I gave up trying to replace their routing with something better, so I turned their wi-fi off and used a better router configured as an access point to get the protocols and frequencies I wanted.

I did the same thing, but that U-Verse modem is still a giant piece of poo poo. I recently switched to Comcast (ugh, I know) but at least I got to pick my own modem and the speeds are way faster than the fastest U-Verse could offer me (45MBps vs. 120MBps)

CrushedWill
Sep 27, 2012

Stand it like a man... and give some back

fletcher posted:

I did the same thing, but that U-Verse modem is still a giant piece of poo poo. I recently switched to Comcast (ugh, I know) but at least I got to pick my own modem and the speeds are way faster than the fastest U-Verse could offer me (45MBps vs. 120MBps)

I hear ya. A bit ago, I switched from Time Warner to U-Verse because the douchebags at TW wouldn't allow my wife and I to switch the name on our account to my name so I could get reimbursed for the internet portion of my bill since I occasionally work from home. I'm not unhappy with U-Verse, but it is expensive and inflexible.

Not sure when (or if) I'm going back to TW, they really pissed me off.

kode54
Nov 26, 2007

aka kuroshi
Fun Shoe

AceSnyp3r posted:

I've got a crazy rear end issue I can't even being to figure out. My RT-N66U has been working great, running both 2.4 and 5 GHz, stable as hell, all my roommates and me have had no issues with it for the most part. The problem is that when my boyfriend comes over, and connects his laptop to the N-network, after a few minutes he loses connection to the internet (stays connected to the network though, but has that little ! icon and says "no internet access" or whatever), and then after that, no other N devices can connect until I reboot the router. I'm trying to figure out how it's possible for someone's computer to effectively break the wireless network without having any admin access or anything.

It's worth noting this isn't even just my network. The place he used to live had one of those Comcast router/modem combo things running only 2.4 GHz, and he would constantly lose/regain access to the internet and all other devices would too. I don't really care what's wrong with his computer, but I would like to insulate my network against whatever malicious poo poo his computer is doing to the network.

It sounds as if hostapd has either hard locked or crashed. The only fix is to restart the daemon from the router's secure shell, and possibly terminate an existing instance first. Try checking for a firmware update from ASUS.

TheFrailNinja
Jun 28, 2008
CAN'T SEE SCHOOL BUS, INSISTS HE'S AN EXCELLENT DRIVER

GET OFF THE ROAD SON

APPARENTLY SUCKS AT POSTING TOO
So for a few weeks now, my internet has been pretty fucky. Devices regularly get booted off the network and can't re-connect for 5-10 minutes, ocassionally displaying error messages that say another device is using the IP address. From what I've read, some folks will manually set IP addresses for each device and then match it in the router interface, and that way every device has its own and don't cross up with others. I will try to do this if I have to, but it seems like a band-aid. It's a bitch having to reset the internet every 45 minutes when you're on netflix. It doesn't even lag, just kicks you off without warning and says you're disconnected. I have two ideas of what is causing my issue, and I was hoping I could get some diagnostic advice to narrow it down. One item is a wifi network extender. The router is in one of the house, and the extender plugs into the wall on the other side of the house and boosts the signal. It also has an ethernet port, which is connected to the xbox. This is what I unplug and plug back in when the xbox live drops. The other theory I have is some application my mom downloaded- some sort of internet proxy application so she can download her TV show torrents. I fear she may have left our network unprotected and somebody is tapping into it. I hooked up to the router and poked around the interface, decided it was too complex for me to just experiment with, so I did a hard reset and crossed my fingers. No change, devices still drop. My mom is in Florida for a few months with the laptop that has the application on it, so I can't access it or delete it or anything, and I don't really know if there's anything I can do with it anyway. I looked into downloadable applications that tell you if anybody is riding on your network, couldn't find one for Mac. Just for reference, I only have a basic understanding of networks and tech in general, but I think if I'm given clear directions I can figure it out. I set up the network at my old apartment and I had to log into the interface on a handful of occasions. The problem has been going on roughly as long as we've had the network booster, which is coincidentally about how long ago my mom downloaded that lovely application (right before she zipped off to Florida for a few months), so I'd like to narrow it down and ultimately get the network running smoothly. Halp.

e: sorry about the edit, I literally hit the right combination of keys (Tab and Enter) to post before I could stop.

TheFrailNinja fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Jan 14, 2015

beepsandboops
Jan 28, 2014

TheFrailNinja posted:

So for a few weeks now, my internet has been pretty fucky. Devices regularly get booted off the network and can't re-connect for 5-10 minutes, ocassionally displaying error messages that say another device is using the IP address. From what I've read, some folks will manually set IP addresses for each device and then match it in the router interface, and that way every device has its own and don't cross up with others. I will try to do this if I have to, but it seems like a band-aid. It's a bitch having to reset the internet every 45 minutes when you're on netflix. It doesn't even lag, just kicks you off without warning and says you're disconnected. I have two ideas of what is causing my issue, and I was hoping I could get some diagnostic advice to narrow it down. One item is a wifi network extender. The router is in one of the house, and the extender plugs into the wall on the other side of the house and boosts the signal. It also has an ethernet port, which is connected to the xbox.
Setting static IPs for everything is definitely a bad fix.

Do you have like an all-in-one modem/router combo that's doing everything?When you lose connection is it to all connected devices, or is it like only to devices that are connected wirelessly? Is there anything that's hardwired directly into the router, or is everything connected wirelessly or through the extender?

TheFrailNinja
Jun 28, 2008
CAN'T SEE SCHOOL BUS, INSISTS HE'S AN EXCELLENT DRIVER

GET OFF THE ROAD SON

APPARENTLY SUCKS AT POSTING TOO

beepsandboops posted:

Setting static IPs for everything is definitely a bad fix.

Do you have like an all-in-one modem/router combo that's doing everything?When you lose connection is it to all connected devices, or is it like only to devices that are connected wirelessly? Is there anything that's hardwired directly into the router, or is everything connected wirelessly or through the extender?

Yeah, it's a modem/router, one of those dark blue Ubee ones. From what I can tell, it's typically one device dropping at a time. There is nothing hardwired to the router, but I think that most of the devices are running off the extender because of the house layout. The dining room, living room and bedrooms are all on the opposite side of the house as the router, and the signal was getting real spotty at a distance of 2 or 3 rooms away. I understand the concept of too many devices trying to pick up the same signal, but I don't think that's what is happening, because the Xbox live will drop at a very consistent rate while I'm watching Netflix. You get about 45 minutes to an hour of connection. I have to reset it at least once and sometimes twice to get through a movie. Unless there's some factory limit or a setting somebody tripped up on the network extender. I appreciate the prompt reply.

Methanar
Sep 26, 2013

by the sex ghost
Is your dhcp lease being properly renewed?

TheFrailNinja
Jun 28, 2008
CAN'T SEE SCHOOL BUS, INSISTS HE'S AN EXCELLENT DRIVER

GET OFF THE ROAD SON

APPARENTLY SUCKS AT POSTING TOO

Methanar posted:

Is your dhcp lease being properly renewed?

I don't know what this means. Where can I check this?

Methanar
Sep 26, 2013

by the sex ghost
start menu > search event viewer > custom view > administrative event > filter by alphabetical source > check if anything is weird under Dhcp.

TheFrailNinja
Jun 28, 2008
CAN'T SEE SCHOOL BUS, INSISTS HE'S AN EXCELLENT DRIVER

GET OFF THE ROAD SON

APPARENTLY SUCKS AT POSTING TOO

Methanar posted:

start menu > search event viewer > custom view > administrative event > filter by alphabetical source > check if anything is weird under Dhcp.

I'm on a Mac. I imagine I'll be looking under System Preferences some place? Also after reading up on some things, I'm pretty sure it's this range extender. I'm trying to access the setup menu for it but nobody knows this laptop's admin name or password, which is apparently required.

e: Okay, I'm almost positive it's either the extender or the xbox. Does anybody know if it's okay to plug an xbox into the ethernet port on the bottom of an extender? That's the system I've got set up and I figured most people have a better layout. I don't know if it's a strong signal from the bottom port of that little extender.

TheFrailNinja fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Jan 14, 2015

beepsandboops
Jan 28, 2014

TheFrailNinja posted:

Yeah, it's a modem/router, one of those dark blue Ubee ones. From what I can tell, it's typically one device dropping at a time. There is nothing hardwired to the router, but I think that most of the devices are running off the extender because of the house layout. The dining room, living room and bedrooms are all on the opposite side of the house as the router, and the signal was getting real spotty at a distance of 2 or 3 rooms away. I understand the concept of too many devices trying to pick up the same signal, but I don't think that's what is happening, because the Xbox live will drop at a very consistent rate while I'm watching Netflix. You get about 45 minutes to an hour of connection. I have to reset it at least once and sometimes twice to get through a movie. Unless there's some factory limit or a setting somebody tripped up on the network extender. I appreciate the prompt reply.
Actually now that I think about it, if the main problem is that your devices are complaining about IP address conflicts, it's possible that both your router and your extender are trying to hand out DHCP leases on the same address space.

You should check the settings on both the router and extender and see if they're both set up as DHCP servers. Ideally, only one should be giving out addresses so if both are, you'll probably want to disable it on the extender.

And aside from the more complicated things, you'll want to make sure you do your due diligence and do the troubleshooting basics of rebooting your router and extender, making sure that their firmware is all up to date, etc. etc..

Twerk from Home
Jan 17, 2009

This avatar brought to you by the 'save our dead gay forums' foundation.
My brother in law just moved into a new house, and the fastest internet he can get at any price is 18Mbit. He lives 2.6 miles away and we can get line of sight to my house, where I get 105mbit Comcast for $35. Would we be insane to try to use cheapo UBNT wireless backhaul to connect our two houses, and supplement his slow internet with a line from my house? This sounds like a fun thing to set up, we're not afraid to buy flagpoles if we have to mount the dishes somewhere really high, and I'd be willing to dedicate about $400 to this science project, including getting a router that can support 2 WAN connections if needed.

Which one of these should I be looking at, or some other hardware entirely? The ultimate goal would be 50+mbit over a 2.6 mile connection in a flat, flat city (Houston).

http://www.ubnt.com/airmax/nanobridgem/

e.pilot
Nov 20, 2011

sometimes maybe good
sometimes maybe shit
Anybody need a 2nd gen Airport Express? Just upgraded and need to get rid of this one.

CuddleChunks
Sep 18, 2004

Twerk from Home posted:

My brother in law just moved into a new house, and the fastest internet he can get at any price is 18Mbit. He lives 2.6 miles away and we can get line of sight to my house, where I get 105mbit Comcast for $35. Would we be insane to try to use cheapo UBNT wireless backhaul to connect our two houses,

If you have a good line of sight between the two points then a 3 mile shot will rock for these types of radios. Easy-peasy.

96 spacejam
Dec 4, 2009

Just moved in with a buddy who has never put a password on his router and I have a few work devices connected to the wireless so I logged into the router (Netgear Genie) and quickly set up a WPA2 password. The password has definitely been applied many times but I'm getting "incorrect password" on all the devices I try connecting to it. I've reboot, updated, googled just about everything I can think of. What am I missing?

WattsvilleBlues
Jan 25, 2005

Every demon wants his pound of flesh
I'm in the UK - looking at the Asus RT AC87U Wireless Router for my fibre optic connection.

Main reason for upgrading is that wireless performance, and performance through powerline adapters, isn't the best. Both my Chromecast and Xbox 360 (taking Ethernet feed from the powerline adapter) sometimes drops signal from my current BT Homehub 4. Plusnet is my ISP.

1. Would that router give me reliable and improved performance over my current setup?
2. Is the BT Openreach modem that I have separate a bottleneck? Or will it not affect my wireless and powerline performance, regardless of router?

It's a lot of money for a router, but I'd rather go all-out and get something fast and reliable than spend £40 less and regret it in 2 months' time.

Thanks for any input, I'm a bit clueless about such things.

John Capslocke
Jun 5, 2007

WattsvilleBlues posted:

I'm in the UK - looking at the Asus RT AC87U Wireless Router for my fibre optic connection.

Main reason for upgrading is that wireless performance, and performance through powerline adapters, isn't the best. Both my Chromecast and Xbox 360 (taking Ethernet feed from the powerline adapter) sometimes drops signal from my current BT Homehub 4. Plusnet is my ISP.

1. Would that router give me reliable and improved performance over my current setup?
2. Is the BT Openreach modem that I have separate a bottleneck? Or will it not affect my wireless and powerline performance, regardless of router?

It's a lot of money for a router, but I'd rather go all-out and get something fast and reliable than spend £40 less and regret it in 2 months' time.

Thanks for any input, I'm a bit clueless about such things.

I have the RT-N66U and it's probably one of the best routers I've owned bar none, but specific to your situation:

- Likely yes, but keep in mind if your signal problem stems from a busy 2.4Ghz band, devices that don't have 5Ghz radio will not really benefit much.
- Your modem should impact your LAN performance at all.

WattsvilleBlues
Jan 25, 2005

Every demon wants his pound of flesh

37th Chamber posted:

I have the RT-N66U and it's probably one of the best routers I've owned bar none, but specific to your situation:

- Likely yes, but keep in mind if your signal problem stems from a busy 2.4Ghz band, devices that don't have 5Ghz radio will not really benefit much.
- Your modem should impact your LAN performance at all.

1. Would it improve the powerline adapter performance?
2. Do you mean it shouldn't?

John Capslocke
Jun 5, 2007

WattsvilleBlues posted:

1. Would it improve the powerline adapter performance?
2. Do you mean it shouldn't?

Powerline adapters are subject to a whole other realm of issues (bad grounding, noise, outlets being on different phases, etc), but if they're working fine now there is no reason that should change, but I doubt they won't be better. I have a pair of TP-Link ones that only hit a sync of like 100Mbps in my house.

And yes I meant shouldn't.

John Capslocke fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Jan 20, 2015

beergod
Nov 1, 2004
NOBODY WANTS TO SEE PICTURES OF YOUR UGLY FUCKING KIDS YOU DIPSHIT
Hey guys,

I'm currently paying for 300 down but I'm getting about a third of that on speedtest.

Here is the router/modem device provided by my ISP that I'm using: http://www.amazon.com/Arris-DG1670A-Touchstone-Data-Gateway/dp/B00MI7JU72/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Should I upgrade it? If so, with what?

My new gaming PC connects to it through a USB WiFi stick. Should I buy an internal card instead? If so, which?

I want the speeds I'm paying for, and id like to stream steam to my laptop lag-free. Its currently OK, but I'm getting frequent enough crashing and lagging for it to be an issue.

Any help is appreciated.

isndl
May 2, 2012
I WON A CONTEST IN TG AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS CUSTOM TITLE
The first thing you need to do is plug your laptop into the modem (i.e. with a cable) and run the speed test that way. Make sure it's actually the modem that is causing problems, and not your WiFi connection.

e.pilot
Nov 20, 2011

sometimes maybe good
sometimes maybe shit
Anything north of 100mbit in less than ideal conditions will be a stretch over wifi.

That and check to make sure the WAN port on your router is gigabit and not 100mbit as well.

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



e.pilot posted:

Anything north of 100mbit in less than ideal conditions will be a stretch over wifi.

That and check to make sure the WAN port on your router is gigabit and not 100mbit as well.

That's not true. 802.11n (MIMO, 5GHz) will easily go better than 100mbs. 802.11ac will absolutely crush it. I'm currently sitting on my rMBP with my 802.11ac router at the other end of the house (40ish ft with 2 walls in the way) and it's showing a Tx of 850+ mbs and that's with an RSSI of -63 dBm. My gaming PC has a 5GHz 802.11n adapter and it's showing 270mbs.

The thing you need to watch is your noise floor. In my case it's sitting at -92 dBm giving me an SNR of 29. As long as you keep you SNR above 20 and your signal around -60dBm, you'll easily get better than 100mbs with 802.11n (5GHz)/802.11ac.

Proteus Jones fucked around with this message at 13:19 on Jan 20, 2015

bobua
Mar 23, 2003
I'd trade it all for just a little more.

Anyone ever tried these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...2&pf_rd_i=typ01 ? poe ethernet extenders.


I need to take gigabit+poe to about 200 meters and fiber isn't an option. They make them, so I assume they work, but I was hoping for a little feedback on quality. I'll be maxing them out and dropped packets\spotty connections are a deal breaker.

SamDabbers
May 26, 2003



bobua posted:

Anyone ever tried these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...2&pf_rd_i=typ01 ? poe ethernet extenders.


I need to take gigabit+poe to about 200 meters and fiber isn't an option. They make them, so I assume they work, but I was hoping for a little feedback on quality. I'll be maxing them out and dropped packets\spotty connections are a deal breaker.

Never tried it, but that looks expensive for what it is. It's probably a 2-port switch chip powered by PoE to regenerate the signal. If physical space is not a big concern, maybe this would do the job for less money? It's 24V passive PoE though.
http://routerboard.com/RB260GSP + http://routerboard.com/RBGPOE

WattsvilleBlues
Jan 25, 2005

Every demon wants his pound of flesh

37th Chamber posted:

Powerline adapters are subject to a whole other realm of issues (bad grounding, noise, outlets being on different phases, etc), but if they're working fine now there is no reason that should change, but I doubt they won't be better. I have a pair of TP-Link ones that only hit a sync of like 100Mbps in my house.

And yes I meant shouldn't.

Cheers, I went ahead and ordered the Asus AC87U. If my problems do turn out to be that the 2.4Ghz range is saturated (looking on my phone, there are 7 other WiFi networks within range), and the 5GHz signal isn't good enough to stream HD video reliably downstairs, is my only other option to use Ethernet?

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



WattsvilleBlues posted:

Cheers, I went ahead and ordered the Asus AC87U. If my problems do turn out to be that the 2.4Ghz range is saturated (looking on my phone, there are 7 other WiFi networks within range), and the 5GHz signal isn't good enough to stream HD video reliably downstairs, is my only other option to use Ethernet?

Unless you have metal (usually an I or H beam in the way) in your floor, 802.11n(5GHz) should work fine. Yes, the range is shorter by a bit for 5GHz and it does have issues with material penetration, but not over that short of a distance (I'm assuming less than 50' from antenna to antenna). MIMO should reduce the effects of multipathing so normal house/floor construction should be fine. I don't know about Chromecast or the XBOX 360. Do they have adapters that support 802.11n(5GHz)?

But, yeah. If 5GHz won't do it then ethernet is pretty much your last option.


EDIT: Oh and don't place the client devices DIRECTLY beneath the AP. Omni's are not true mono-poles, so RF coverage is actually toroidal. Directly above or directly below an omni can get weird depending on orientation of the antennas. It's not terrible, and most of the times it doesn't affect anyone, but I've seen it happen. It will be more pronounced if you use the orientation of the external paddles shown in the picture on amazon. Offset them so they aren't all lined up like that.

Proteus Jones fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Jan 21, 2015

bobua
Mar 23, 2003
I'd trade it all for just a little more.

SamDabbers posted:

Never tried it, but that looks expensive for what it is. It's probably a 2-port switch chip powered by PoE to regenerate the signal. If physical space is not a big concern, maybe this would do the job for less money? It's 24V passive PoE though.
http://routerboard.com/RB260GSP + http://routerboard.com/RBGPOE

I'm actually already doing PC---50m----[gb poe switch powered by poe injector like the one you linked]---200m---camera

Figured this little device would likely use less 'resources' than doubling up on routers again.

Ham Sandwiches
Jul 7, 2000

WattsvilleBlues posted:

5GHz signal isn't good enough to stream HD video reliably downstairs, is my only other option to use Ethernet?

Nope, you can use powerline adapters. Smallnetbuilder has some detailed articles and reviews for more information:
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tags/powerline

Here is their ranker with a whopping 3 products on it ;)
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-features/32452-announcing-smallnetbuilders-powerline-ranker

I checked Amazon UK to get an idea of what's on the market, it looks like tp-link and netgear. Here's a comparison of the av500 to av600 devices from tplink, you can basically use the av500 data to get a sense of how it would probably work in your environment.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-reviews/32454-tp-link-homeplug-head-to-head

In general as long as the plugs you're trying to connect are on the same circuit breaker panel, it should work fine unless your house has goofy or ancient wiring. Still if you get them from a retailer that allows returns it's not much of a gamble.

WattsvilleBlues
Jan 25, 2005

Every demon wants his pound of flesh

Rakthar posted:

Nope, you can use powerline adapters. Smallnetbuilder has some detailed articles and reviews for more information:
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tags/powerline

Here is their ranker with a whopping 3 products on it ;)
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-features/32452-announcing-smallnetbuilders-powerline-ranker

I checked Amazon UK to get an idea of what's on the market, it looks like tp-link and netgear. Here's a comparison of the av500 to av600 devices from tplink, you can basically use the av500 data to get a sense of how it would probably work in your environment.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-reviews/32454-tp-link-homeplug-head-to-head

In general as long as the plugs you're trying to connect are on the same circuit breaker panel, it should work fine unless your house has goofy or ancient wiring. Still if you get them from a retailer that allows returns it's not much of a gamble.

I have these.

I'm hoping this new router sorts out my problems. I get connection issues downstairs on both wired (via those adapters) and wireless, so hopefully the common denominator is the router.

WattsvilleBlues fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Jan 21, 2015

Ham Sandwiches
Jul 7, 2000

WattsvilleBlues posted:

I have these.

I'm hoping this new router sorts out my problems. I get connection issues downstairs on both wired (via those adapters) and wireless, so hopefully the common denominator is the router.

Well hopefully the new router sorts it out then. I've been using an AC-66U for a while and I've been very happy with it.

Rexxed
May 1, 2010

Dis is amazing!
I gotta try dis!

bobua posted:

I'm actually already doing PC---50m----[gb poe switch powered by poe injector like the one you linked]---200m---camera

Figured this little device would likely use less 'resources' than doubling up on routers again.

I've used http://www.amazon.com/OUTREACH-Max-POE-Powered-extender/dp/B003WDAHVO but afaik they're 100 megabit, not gigabit. The security camera installers set up one per camera and then didn't bother adding one to the computer networking cable (they ran 4 drops of cat 6 in between buildings) so after a while the internet connection got weird (it was just over max range so it kind of worked for a while) with almost no upstream and a solid 30 megabits downstream. With the extender inline and a poe injector it works great. I only used that brand because the security company already had 3 of them in their junction box with a regular coupler for the computer's ethernet, and I figured I'd just use the same brand. As a temporary fix until it arrived I zip tied a 5 port switch in there which also worked, but the one I used didn't run on POE so there was a lot of fun zip tying an extension cord up there as well.

Rexxed fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Jan 21, 2015

Civil
Apr 21, 2003

Do you see this? This means "Have a nice day".
I have a pretty heavily used network (~35 devices), and am looking for a new gateway. Right now, I'm using an older Airport Extreme, but it's having issues - port forwarding is failing, it has a very flaky connection to the windows-based admin tool which keeps dying while using, and my android devices can't connect to its wireless signal - either the 2.4 or the 5ghz. So I'm going to replace it.

I have a couple AC devices in the house, so I wouldn't mind getting an AC router, but common recommendations, like the RT-AC66U seem to have a funny thing going on with the reviews, with a significant amount of 1-star reviews coming in, talking about signal degregation over time.
http://www.amazon.com/RT-AC66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC1750-Gigabit-Router/dp/B008ABOJKS/

The funny thing is that the older N66U (N-only, no AC) seems to have much better reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/RT-N66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-N900-Gigabit-Router/dp/B006QB1RPY

The other option I was looking at was the newest airport extreme, which seems to have pretty good reviews across the board.
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-AirPort-Extreme-Station-ME918LL/dp/B00DB9WCR6/

Is the choice obvious?

stevewm
May 10, 2005
I've had a RT-AC66U since they where introduced and couldn't be more happier with it. Has been 100% stable, never have to touch it. All my devices just work with it, and have great range. I have several AC devices. I can pull anywhere from 25 to 55MB/sec over 802.11ac depending on where I am at in the house.

Reviews about signal for any AP should really be taken with a grain of salt... Signal is going to be highly variable depending on the local environment. If your local airwaves are crowded with other 2.4Ghz devices, then your 2.4Ghz performance no matter what AP you have is likely not going to be that great.


If you do end up going with the AC66 (or others in that series). I recommend this firmware: http://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/download It is the stock Asus firmware, with some hidden features re-enabled.

meatpath
Feb 13, 2003

Is there anything that I need to know about using a VPN along with a Linksys router? I have an E1200 (one with DD-WRT, one without) and a Mullvad VPN sub. The reason I ask is because it seems like if I connect, disconnect, reconnect any number of times in an evening, my connection (Comcast) gets hosed up and my speed bottoms out for a while regardless of whether I'm going through the VPN or not. Is there something about the VPN connection process that fucks with the router, and if so, are there some settings I need to add to the router if I'm using the VPN service? For the record, I'm using OpenVPN to connect to Mullvad.

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Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



68k posted:

Is there anything that I need to know about using a VPN along with a Linksys router? I have an E1200 (one with DD-WRT, one without) and a Mullvad VPN sub. The reason I ask is because it seems like if I connect, disconnect, reconnect any number of times in an evening, my connection (Comcast) gets hosed up and my speed bottoms out for a while regardless of whether I'm going through the VPN or not. Is there something about the VPN connection process that fucks with the router, and if so, are there some settings I need to add to the router if I'm using the VPN service? For the record, I'm using OpenVPN to connect to Mullvad.

Is your E1200-VPN the gateway or behind it? Are you maybe double NATing?

I ran similar setup years ago before with dissimilar devices. A DD-WRT for VPN and a AirPort Extreme for wireless. But the DD-WRT was the gateway and did the NAT and the AirPort was a set up only to serve up wireless. I ran it Comcast and had no issues with that config. However I was using it as a VPN server for when I was out and about to encrypt traffic on hot spots and use my home internet connection.

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