Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I am looking for a new router that I would have thought would be popular.

1) Gigabit LAN
2) High speed wireless connectivity
3) 8 LAN ports, but could cope with 4.

I just don't get why I cannot find a router that has Gigabit speeds for the LAN connections.

jowl

D-Link DIR-655 Wireless N Gigabit Router

Netgear also have one. However, they all appear to be Cable Routers and not ADSL Modem/routers.

spectrum48k

OR YOU COULD ALWAYS BUY A CHEAP GIGABIT SWITCH AND PLUG IT IN

oops - sorry my CAPS lock was on

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

and the backspace broke?

You want to look at the next gen Netgear jobbies:

NETGEAR WNR854T RangeMax NEXT Wireless-N Router - Gigabit Edition

spectrum48k

I've just bought one of these:
Netgear WNR854T 300Mbps RangeMax NEXT Gigabit Edition Wireless Cable/DSL Router

boomer

Surely you are better off buying a Gigabit router and plugging a Wireless Access Point into your LAN. That way, when 802.<ten brazillian><zed> wireless is announced, you simply replace the WAP and the rest stays as it is.

You can also place the wireless bit where it will do most good, and not slap-bang next to your phone point!

mb

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the advice That Netgear one does look like it will do the trick nicely. Its classed as a Cable/DSL modem, so I presume that means it works with good old fashioned ADSL.

I'm reading up on it now, as it would be nice to have a much faster LAN than we currently have to make do with.

I'm trying to understand what this bit means atm:
Bulit-in Ultra Fast 5-port Gigabit Switch (1 LAN + 4 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Ports)

That confuses me, as I don't know if it has 4 ports or 5 I'm guessing one of the ports is meant for connecting to another switch or something, with 4 remaining ones for computers?

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

I have to admit that despite my posting the link you wanted I agree with the advice to simply buy a gigabit switch and uplink to the router.

Your local network will run at 1 gig speeds (which is what you are after) and you will keep your existing kit.

This is actually what I have done. I have a 5 port gigabit switch upstairs with the offices wired together, and uplinked to a the 834G downstairs via CAT5 ducted down the stairs

This means that I have the router plugged directly into the master socket (clean connection) the whole downstairs covered for wireless (sorts out the Wii and DS-Lite) while having a fast network upstairs.

I have this: Netgear GS605 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch as the switch upstairs, but if you want 8-port get this one: Netgear GS608 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch

The beauty of these ones is that they auto sense whether you are straight connected or uplinking so you don't need to fart around with cross-over cables.

(oh and this solution is WAY cheaper!)

jowl

A cable router is not the same as an ADSL Modem/router.

If you get one, you will need a seprate modem - whether that be ADSL or Cable.


Personally, I have a Bog standard netgear wireless router, and connect a couple of ASUS gigabit swicthes into it. I only need gigabit for shifting video files around my network - the only thing that I plug into the router is a Skype phone - which is 10/100 anyway.

Make sure your switches support Jumbo frames for better performance.

spectrum48k

Luminous, this is a 4 port Gigabit switch
Netgear GS605 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch

This is the 8 port switch
Netgear GS608 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch

To achieve gigabit speeds, your computer(s) MUST have a network card that is capable of working at gigabit speeds.

Everything would plug into the switch (above) and no configuration is needed.
Your computer would plug into it
Your laptop would plug into it
Your ADSL router would plug into it

The devices that plug into the switch are speed limited by whatever type of network adapters they have built into them eg. If your computers have gigabit network adapters they'll work at super fast speeds 1000Mb/s (approx) - so transferring a file between your computers (via the switch) will be VERY quick.

However your ADSL router is speed limited by its 100Mb/s network adapter built into it, so communication between the swtich and anything plugged into the ADSL router will only happen at 100Mb/s or less.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Thanks people, you are being most helpful

I do understand that Cable is different to ADSL, I got confused when they started talking about the router being Cable/DSL thinking it could do both.

Switches seem to be the best option at the moment from what people have said. I just wanted to keep the number of devices on the network to a minimum, mostly to make sure compatibility is not an issue, and also to keep things running quickly. It is amazing how fussy bits of kit can be.

Switches look to be the answer, I cannot cope with waiting 2 hours for large file transfers over the network when we need to do them. Its rare, but when it happens it needs to happen faster!

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

As said above - make sure your cards can run at gigabit speeds, and make sure you force them to run as such. Sometimes auto-negotiate can get set to 100mbps

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

rgr that, switches it is for the moment

Some cards will need an upgrade, but thats just the way things go.