Help with choosing router

[Odom Member]

Hi guys,

I was wondering whether you could help me choose a router. I am looking for one with certain features, but so far couldn't find one that had them all, or the info provided on the website isn't specific enough. I keep having to go into the manuals to check the details

I'd like the following:

- builti-in GB switch that supports Jumbo frames

- being able to control upload speed from specific IP addresses (is this via QoS?)

- Wireless (don't really care what speed, the faster the better)

- Traffic monitoring and/or logging (knowing how much is uploaded/downloaded)

- and the usual admin configs (port forwarding/blocking, etc.., but this should be standard)

If a router does this natively, that's great. Alternatively a router that allows 3rd party software and then is able to do all this.

I have a NAS that people can access via Internet. The problem is, I currently cannot control teh download speed. If someone downloads something from it, it always goes at the full available upload speed, which makes the internet very slow on the other PC(s).

I also don't have a problem combining router + switch, if there isn't one device that has all this.

Thanks a lot :)

[primexx]

Any of these starting from 310N: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRT300N#WRT310N

[Odom Member]

Thanks for the link Primexx.

I had a look at those models and they look interesting, sadly I cannot find any of those for sale in my usual stores over here in Germany. I'll try googling for it, see what turns up.

Also, the manufacturing website doesn't often state whether the built-in switch supports jumbo frames, so I'm assuming it probably doesn't, since it's not mentioned.

I was interested in a switch supporting Jumbo frames, as I've read that it would boost network performance when using large files, which I intend to use with my NAS. I mainly keep movies on it and stream them to the PC to watch. How much of an improvement would Jumbo frames provide? I've seen smart switches supporting 9K frames, but they're very expensive. Would this be worth it at all?

[primexx]

ah sorry I didn't notice the jumbo frames part, I have the 310N with DD-WRT and I could only go up to 1500, although I'm not sure if it's a hardware limit or a firmware limit or both.

I have no clue if it's worth your money to get a jumbo frames device though, I've never come across one around here and don't know what the price is :p

[IrfanL]

Is this for work or home?

If its for work then you better check out Cisco website. They have many routers/L4-switches that can fit...

[Odom Member]

Thanks for your replies, and sorry to take so long to get back. Had to go on a quick trip all of a sudden.

The router is for home. I have a PC and a NAS. My NAS can be accessed via internet (accounts, permissions, etc..) and people I grant access can download and upload. Problem is, when they download, the full upload bandwith is used, so internet on my PC gets really slow. I know this can be done with QoS, so was also looking for a router with this.

QNAP website says there are performance increases when using and upping the Jumbo Frames values. Seems like default is 1500. You can probably check this on the NIC properties of your PC, not sure if everyone has this already. The thing is, I can find a lot about Jumbo Frames, but nothing that really tells me what kind of a performance increase this provides in real-life. Is it a lot or negligible?

I've found a switch last week that allows Jumbo Frames to be set up (don't remember which it was), but these switches in general cost 80? and upwards, so not sure if this is worth it.

As for the router, I didn't have a lot of time to check out the details from the ones on the list that Primexx provided, work took up all my time. I'll have a look at them today.

Thing is, I probably have a too varied wish list of features on a router and don't know whether all these can be found in a single one. Some colleagues at work mentioned the FritzBox, apparently somewhat popular in Germany, and at first glance they seem to have it all, albeit no GB switch and builtin ADSL modems. I'm trying to find out if these work with cable modems too, if the switch is used instead of the usual WAN port.