Looking to get a new Router and/or Modem

[Bobbias]

Well, the current router I'm using sucks, it never forwards ports properly, the internal web server crashes after "applying" most if not all settings, and in general I'm constantly having trouble with it.

The other thing is that I think the modem we have is also a piece of crap. The SNR is about 5 dB (poor, 1 dB lower than the nominal recommended lowest value) and the line consumption is high (Idles at 88% consumption).

Our internet tends to just disconnect (requiring a modem reset) fairly often when I'm dealing with pages with numerous images (worse if they're hosted on different servers, such as many images from imageshack), though it can happen at any time. I'm pretty sure that is caused by the modem hitting the maximum line consumption rate and kicking off the connection (or alternately, crashing the entire modem, since it requires an actual reset to connect again).

My mom recently got a Dell laptop and between hers, mine, and my brother on my desktop computer in the basement, we see the net go down as many times as 5 times in an hour sometimes. It can stay relatively stable over periods as long as 6 hours, or it can crash 4 or 5 times in a row. It's really becoming a problem for everyone, and so my mom is thinking of replacing the router and/or modem.

Considering they're both like, 4 or 5 years old now, I'd say we're due for an update as well, but I know very little about what brands to look for, and what to stay away from.

I'm not sure what info you might need to find a modem that would work for us, but if you could give me some input on routers, that'd help.

Right now we're using a linksys router (it's not being sold on their site any more) with 4 Ethernet ports and wireless B access.

[Sneaky]

I can vouch for this router; since I've bought it, I've never had it crash under stress/multiple torrents/xblive/ etc. The only time it messes up is because of something I intentionally did to see what would happen :p. The reason I bought a new router and access card is because i accidentally cracked the antenna to my old adapter, and the old router sucked balls [free linksys one, provided by ISP]. Wireless N, because it's new, and i felt like it. It's got excellent range, and it never drops my connection on my laptop/desktop/ipod touch/xbox. It's also compatible with the other wireless standards, so there's no worry for it messing up just because of that. I have 3 things that connect to it wireless-ly, and one hardwired, none of which have ever shown any problems when it comes to internet connectivity.

I'm not big on modem knowledge, since I know ours has worked fine since the day Earthlink sent it to us. Even so, It's a Netopia model, used for DSL [so PPPoE etc]

hope I help'd D:

[Spectere]

I currently have a Linksys WRT56G and BEFSR41 over here and both of them work quite well.  The former is a wi-fi (802.11b/g) router and the latter is wired-only.

Additionally, when I lived in Maryland we used the WRT150N router that Sneaky pointed to.  Last time I checked, the wireless N routers are more expensive.  The WRT150N is a nice device but if you don't plan to use 802.11n you might as well get the cheaper WRT56G.

I will say this for sure: never get a US Robotics wireless router.  We ended up getting one for free that we use as a switch.  We tried to use it as an access point at one time and it did little but constantly drop the wireless connection.  Their configuration interface is also painful to use, and it's got this annoying shade of red covering most of the screen that'll burn your eyes.

[Bobbias]

If only it was a WRT56G. It's older than those things. I said it was pretty ancient.

Isn't the WRT56G able to run linux or something? This one is too old for that, even, lol. If I could havem I'd have replaced the firmware with one of the many custom firmwares out there, but alas, none of them support this old beast.

[Spectere]

The older models of the WRT56G run Linux out of the box, actually.  You can also reflash it with DD-WRT, which unlocks a bunch of additional functionality.

The newer models use Cisco's smaller VxWorks solution and have less RAM and a smaller EEPROM.  You can still get DD-WRT to run on them (I have) but it requires that you use a smaller build of DD-WRT with fewer features.  Even the smaller releases of DD-WRT have more features than VxWorks, though, so you don't lose any functionality when you reflash the newer ones.

[Bobbias]

Lol, well I may get one, but as I said, the current box of shit I have is less useful than a brick, at least a brick would make a good paperweight

I'll look into getting my mom to get one of the WRT56Gs, or something (I may decide we should go with wireless n, just so we're actually up to date with technology).

[Spectere]

Have her order it from Newegg: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124010.

It's kind of cool that I can actually pass you Newegg links now rather than having to relearn how to navigate TigerDirect.

[Bobbias]

Lol, Tigerdirect is pretty simple to navigate. I really like their interface personally. You can really customize how you browse.

Now the problem is what modem to get :/

[Spectere]

Yeah, TigerDirect's interface isn't bad, I've just gotten used to Newegg after doing business with them for so long, haha.

As far as the modem goes, are you on cable or DSL?  If the modem that you have is leased I'd try taking it back to your service provider and tell them that it crashes periodically.  If it's that old they'll probably just hand off a new one without asking why.

[Bobbias]

We bought it outright. We're on DSL. We connect through PPPoE, and our ISP is a small local virtual ISP called CompuSolve. They get their service from bell's infrastructure.

Csolve is a great small ISP though, I've found that they have better tech support than pretty much any other website I've been to.

I've experienced a number of issues, and they've been able to respond quickly. Not only that, but they are actually knowledgeable about what they're talking about, and nice to talk to.

[Spectere]

I wouldn't even know where to go with buying a DSL modem.  I've seen plenty of cable modem for sale.  DSL?  Not so much.

You might want to give them a call and ask if they can recommend anything.  I did a quick search on TigerDirect and only found one ADSL2+ modem (not sure if it's compatible with...standard...DSL?) that was $110. :x

[Bobbias]

Well, I looked for a firmware update for my router.

Nope, nothing since the latest one, which was released April 7, 2005.

Also, while unrelated, this has REALLY been pissing me off.

My internet is working fine, nothing slow, no problems reaching websites, etc.

Except when I play either of the MMOs I've been playing. All day both Sword of the New World and Atlantica Online have been totally unplayable due to EXTREME lag. Not consistent shitty lag, but it seems like a couple packets make it through, and then nothing. Of course, that only seems to count for upload, since the enemies can attack and kill me just fine in Atlantica, and I can't even get to an area with enemies in SOTNW.

And I should point out this only began today.

This is really frustrating, and I'd like to figure out what the hell is happening. I've done a tracert for all the servers for SOTNW (including ones I never play on) and all of them fail to resolve after entering the K2 games network, and I can't find the IPs to tracert for Atlantica, but I assume it's more or less doing the same thing (the lag works the same way on both).

As I said, unrelated, but frustrating as fuck, since the games are on different networks, and they both seem equally fucked thanks to the lag, yet my normal internet works perfectly.

[Spectere]

That actually sounds like the issue I was just having.  My Internet access was solid but every time I'd try to do a file transfer over the LAN or play anything that requires fast pings I would wind up lagging.  With the file transfer thing, I was looking at times of up to 12 hours to transfer only 2GB (!!!).  As far as games go, I had random disconnects and ping times of between 200 and 500 -- worse than I used to get with dialup on the upper end.

The problem?  The little five port switch on my desk was in a mood.  Unplugging it and plugging it back in fixed it.  Give that a shot.  Consumer routers are essentially a switch with an additional interface and a CPU (which is why the routing software can completely lock up and the LAN will continue to work) so it might help.  Worth a shot, at any rate.

[Bobbias]

I'll try it, but I'm pretty sure it's been reset, and this has still been happening. And it's not slowing file transfers down at all, just the 2 games (Atlantica Online and Sword of the New World). Pinging the servers for SOTNW ends up in 100% packet loss, and tracerting them fails past the first computer in their network.

The thing that bothers me is that Atlantica and SOTNW are run by different companies and have no ties at all.

I don't know the server IP addresses for Atlantica or I'd test out tracerting them as well.


And on the subject of ping, I guess there's no way to get a program to monitor the ping for a specific game, if the game doesn't have a built in monitor, is there?

[Spectere]

If you know the server IP, the standard ping command in the OS should give you the same thing as an in-game ping.