Router suggestions?

[bavman]

I'm building my own little home server that will stream my media/files through my home LAN and I will also use it to host some of my files so I can access them online.
I decided it'll be time to ditch my crappy 6 year old router for something more modern and speedier. My old one got around 700kb/s transferring large files over wifi on my LAN which sucked and took forever for large files. I've had this router suggested to me by a couple people:

NetGear WNR3500L
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122334

Seems nice and speedy so I can transfer stuff quickly throughout my LAN with a decent price tag. Also supports DD-WRT. Even though I generally don't know much about networking, i've read that dd-wrt generally increases performance by offering better settings and better firmware for the router.

Any suggestions or advice is welcome

[laffindude]

700kb/s? That's slow even for wireless G routers. Is wifi spectrum crowded where you live? DD-WRT can improve speeds, but won't help you at all if you have lots of neighbors crowding up the spectrum. I'd switch to the 5GHz spectrum if your devices supports it. It is MUCH less crowded. You need the higher up dual band models to have 5ghz support. Those "300mbps" routers only really have real throughput of ~20MB/s, less if there is a lot of wireless traffic around you.
I prefer going wired when I can. Both of my servers can sustain >100MB/s transfers over GbE line.

[Wildcard]

Unless there are specific features you want out of DD-WRT I'd stay with the stock firmware because Netgear will know better what firmware to use for the best performance of their router.

When I was researching for a good wireless router I found great specs and reviews on a Netgear WNDR3700. I get great performance from it using the 5ghz wireless. Newegg has them for about 93.00 here or a refurb for 80 with a wireless adapter here.

[bavman]

5ghz is only for N right? The server and my main desktop will definitely be hard-wired to my router since they both support 10/100/1000 so I'll probably be bottle-necked by harddrive speed which is completely fine with me. My laptop is an alienware m11x and I think it does support wireless n 5ghz from what I remember. As long as I can stream my movies and shows from my server while im at home to my laptop I think I'll be fine. Most of my stuff is SD or 720p, some 1080p movies with bit rates around 2mb/s or so. So as long as I can stream stuff like that to my laptop without a problem I'll be fine, and I'd rather not spend the extra money on the 3700 if I don't absolutely need the 5hz. As far as traffic, it should significantly decrease in the next 2 month as I move from apartments to a town home.

As for DD-WRT the reason I mentioned it is because I want to set up a VPN or something similar once I get everything set up, and I've heard that DD-WRT has excellent features for setting those up in your router. I'd like to be able to access my files and stuff on the move. I'm not exactly sure what I'll do yet as I'm still reading and finding out that VPN is a bandwidth hog so I might have to drop that idea if my internet isnt sufficient. Any suggestions for this part? I've been reading about FTP too which doesnt seem as secure. SSH also seems like an option. Server will probably run centOS or ubuntu, and all my machines run windows

[TexasFlood]

If you're looking at loading DD-WRT on a WNR3500L might want to read the smallnetbuilder article  Lots More Features, Lots Less Performance: NETGEAR WNR3500L with DD-WRT Reviewed. I do recommend smallnetbuilder for reviews. I -think- you can load Tomato (my favorite firmware) on it as well. If I were to upgrade, it would probably be the Asus RT-N66u.

[Malphas]

I'd get a Draytek.

[bavman]

All great suggestion guys but im not in a position on spending $200+ on a new router
Trying to keep it sub $100 closer to 50

[laffindude]

I would not even bother getting a new router until you moved. You may find speeds acceptable at your new location. Try changing the channel on your wireless to 1 or 11. Lots of router default to 6. If everyone around you is on channel6, there's your problem /Adam.

[The_Beast]

I have that same router (3500whatever), except I paid $130 2 years ago. Anyways, it's a great router but I've never been curious enough to test out transfer speeds on it

[Djuzuh]

Since you are building your own server, why don't you use this one to act as router?

Your router will then only be used as modem. The server will act as DHCP server, firewall, etc…

Of course, only if you have good networking and unix knowledge .

[Maarten]

I'd get a Draytek.

Im still running my good ol Vigor 2900G, shes nearly antique nowadays but after... erm... i think ive been using it for 6 years non-stop now and it hasn't skipped a beat ever. Dunno how current quality on the Draytek's is but if its anywhere near the old gear i can certainly recommend this brand!

[bavman]

Since you are building your own server, why don't you use this one to act as router?

Your router will then only be used as modem. The server will act as DHCP server, firewall, etc…

Of course, only if you have good networking and unix knowledge .

It's an interesting idea, but my knowledge in networking is pretty limited so it might take me a while to figure it out.
So if my server will act as a router how will I get hardwire several things to it, for example wire from the modem and another one from my desktop? Just use a simple switch?
Then do i just need a wireless card to create a WLAN?

Honestly, it seems like a lot of trouble for me just cause networking is one of my weak areas

[TexasFlood]

All great suggestion guys but im not in a position on spending $200+ on a new router
Trying to keep it sub $100 closer to 50

I can relate. That's why I don't have a Asus RT-N66u yet and am still running a  Cisco E3000.  The RT-N66u is clearly a better router but my E3000 does what I need and was a lot cheaper.  E3000s still sell around $150 but the refurb versions can be found much cheaper.  Right now Newegg has them for $59.99 shipped and about 3 weeks ago the Cisco online home store had them for $45.99 shipped.  Mine is a refurb that I've had for quite a while with no issues. Looks to me like it rates slightly better than the WNR3500L at smallnetbuilder, will run DD-WRT & Tomato, and can be had at a budget price if you aren't allergic to refurbs. I've had good luck with refurbs but as always YMMV and read reviews to form your own conclusions...

[bavman]

Thanks ill look at it. 45 would definitely be something I'd could get even if refurb

[TexasFlood]

You'll have to keep any eye on a site like slickdeals, preferably set up an alert, to get the best price.  Here is the recent deal which I mentioned in my last post.  You should be able to get it for around $50 anyway, as I said you can get it for $59.99 shipped today, right now. So can surely do better with some patient vigilance. How much better is probably somewhat luck of the draw.

[bavman]

Very cool, thank you, I think I'll grab it when I get back home.

I've also decided ill probably stick to Ubuntu since I'm most use to it vs other Linux distros. Will openVPN be a good solution for grabbing files off my server while I'm not home?

Edit: or will SSH be better because its faster but still secured?

[smknjoe]

5GHz is for a and some n. If you're just transferring files, and you don't need access to other network resources, ssh or sftp is fine.

[TexasFlood]

In case I didn't mention it, the E3000 is simultaneous dual band, meaning you can use the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios at the same time so can support 802.11G, 802.11N 2.4GHz and 5GHz all at the same time.  Some routers only allow one or the other.

I like Ubuntu very much.  You can run OpenVPN on your Ubuntu box or if you get an E3000 you could use a 3rd party firmware that includes OpenVPN.

I like/run Tomato, has a nice set of features including a QOS generally considered to be very good and better than the QOS in DD-WRT.   There are quite a few quite a number of versions of the Tomato firmware.  I like/run Toastman builds.  Checking my E3000, version I'm running now is shown as the "Tomato Firmware v1.28.7495 MIPSR2-Toastman-RT K26 USB VPN" build.  Looks like it's up to v1.28.7498 now but I usually don't worry about keeping up with every release unless I'm having problems.

If you do decide to load a 3rd party firmware, make sure you're comfortable with the process before loading it.  For Toastman, read the text files in the repository at 4shared.com. Note that you might have to set up a free account there now to download the files. Didn't have to in the old days but since the DMCA crackdowns, shared files aren't allowed on most such sites any more.

Also head over to the Linksysinfo and/or the  TomatoUSB forums & ask any questions you have.

I love Tomato firmware and have run it for many years.  But it's not for everyone.  I never run the stock Cisco/Linksys firmware and always load up Tomato immediately when I get a router.  And of course I only buy routers confirmed to be supported by Tomato. Actually I did buy a couple which wouldn't, one that was on sale and later regretted that.  Another was a travel sized router which I wanted but Tomato would not run on it but I did get DD-WRT on that one.  So I really can't comment a lot on the stock firmware but it's probably quite adequate for most purposes.

[TexasFlood]

In case I didn't mention it, the E3000 is simultaneous dual band, meaning you can use the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios at the same time so can support 802.11G, 802.11N 2.4GHz and 5GHz and yes, 802.11a 5GHz (but who uses that any more hah) all at the same time.  Some routers only allow one or the other.

I like Ubuntu very much.  You can run OpenVPN on your Ubuntu box or if you get an E3000 you could use a 3rd party firmware that includes OpenVPN.

I like/run Tomato, has a nice set of features including a QOS generally considered to be very good and better than the QOS in DD-WRT.   There are quite a few quite a number of versions of the Tomato firmware.  I like/run Toastman builds.  Checking my E3000, version I'm running now is shown as the "Tomato Firmware v1.28.7495 MIPSR2-Toastman-RT K26 USB VPN" build.  Looks like it's up to v1.28.7498 now but I usually don't worry about keeping up with every release unless I'm having problems.

If you do decide to load a 3rd party firmware, make sure you're comfortable with the process before loading it.  For Toastman, read the text files in the repository at 4shared.com. Note that you might have to set up a free account there now to download the files. Didn't have to in the old days but since the DMCA crackdowns, shared files aren't allowed on most such sites any more.

Also head over to the Linksysinfo and/or the  TomatoUSB forums & ask any questions you have.

I love Tomato firmware and have run it for many years.  But it's not for everyone.  I never run the stock Cisco/Linksys firmware and always load up Tomato immediately when I get a router.  And of course I only buy routers confirmed to be supported by Tomato. Actually I did buy a couple which wouldn't, one that was on sale and later regretted that.  Another was a travel sized router which I wanted but Tomato would not run on it but I did get DD-WRT on that one.  So I really can't comment a lot on the stock firmware but it's probably quite adequate for most purposes.

[The_Beast]

My mom uses a laptop with Ubuntu 10.04, that's how easy it is. But then again she only uses Firefox on it, lol

[Djuzuh]

It's an interesting idea, but my knowledge in networking is pretty limited so it might take me a while to figure it out.
So if my server will act as a router how will I get hardwire several things to it, for example wire from the modem and another one from my desktop? Just use a simple switch?
Then do i just need a wireless card to create a WLAN?

Honestly, it seems like a lot of trouble for me just cause networking is one of my weak areas

you need to add at least a second Ethernet Card. One to the modem, one to the rest of the network (where they'll be a switch)

[TexasFlood]

Since you are building your own server, why don't you use this one to act as router?

Your router will then only be used as modem. The server will act as DHCP server, firewall, etc…

Of course, only if you have good networking and unix knowledge .

You can simplify this by using a packaged router/firewall distribution like free Linux based IPCop.

[smknjoe]

5ghz is only for N right?

In case I didn't mention it, the E3000 is simultaneous dual band, meaning you can use the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios at the same time so can support 802.11G, 802.11N 2.4GHz and 5GHz and yes, 802.11a 5GHz (but who uses that any more hah) all at the same time.  Some routers only allow one or the other.

If you want the best wireless connection you need to use the 5GHz spectrum which is 802.11a/n. Since 802.11n can be implemented over 2.4GHz or 5GHz you need you use wireless equipment that supports 802.11a/n or specifically says 5GHz (I'm talking about your laptops and wireless dongles.)

[TexasFlood]

Probably depends on the environment.

If you live in a small apartment surrounded by other 2.4GHz signals then 5GHz might be better.  I have found that in homes 5GHz typically won't cover an entire home as it is more easily blocked by obstacles such as walls and furniture.  If the router is simultaneous dual band then you have the best of both worlds and can connect to either one so long as your client hardware is also capable. If you get client hardware capable of 5GHz, it should support 2.4GHz as well, but you should check anyway.

With the 2.4GHz variety of 802.11n one thing to be aware of is that it runs in two modes, 20MHz (or narrow) and 40MHz (or bonded, or wide).  20MHz will get greater range in many environments with a top data rate of 150Mbps, 40MHz is top 300Mbps but may not reach quite as far as 20MHz.  I usually stick to 20MHz as most of my traffic goes to and from the Internet where that extra speed isn't going to help me since my ISP connection will be the bottleneck anyway.

[smknjoe]

5GHz is shorter range and better bandwidth typically (your mileage mat vary.) 2.4GHz longer range and typically slower (your mileage mat vary.) If you have equipment that supports both you have covered your bases. You will have more freedom to experiment with what works best in your particular situation.

Probably depends on the environment.

I quit going into much detail anymore because most people don't give a $hit and just want short simple answers.

[TexasFlood]

I quit going into much detail anymore because most people don't give a $hit and just want short simple answers.

There is a big advantage to keeping it simple, get the main point across before to many folks glaze over.

[TexasFlood]

Those "300mbps" routers only really have real throughput of ~20MB/s, less if there is a lot of wireless traffic around you.
I prefer going wired when I can. Both of my servers can sustain >100MB/s transfers over GbE line.

Wireless has always lagged behind wired as it has more overhead, latency and is subject to environmental conditions. It's true that most "300mbps" routers only really have real throughput of ~20MB/s (160mbps), less with interference.  But some newer models like the RT-N66U I lust after (but have been too cheap to buy as of yet) roughly double that on uplink and triple it on downlink, with two streams.  With three streams, it is comparable to Gb wired speeds.

[gvfarns]

I own the WNR3500L and have tomato installed on it.  It was a bit of a pain to get on because I had to load DD-WRT first and then use that to load tomato (the stock firmware won't read tomato).  Also there is a version 1 and version 2 of this device that use different hardware and different versions of tomato.  Be sure to check that first.  The device is pretty nice, and was very cheap.  You can even attach a hard drive to the device itself by USB and use that as a NAS.

Tomato's functionality is excellent.  Things generally work better than they did under the stock firmware and are much more convenient (dhcp reservation, for example).  I am pretty sure the wireless speed was faster under the stock firmware, though.  Everything except my tablet is wired in my house, so it was a good trade.

I was reading this thread and wondering what the router has to do with streaming stuff off your NAS.  Are you planning on using wifi for that? 

I built a nice little Ubuntu NAS for my home network, ripped my 650+ movie collection (took forever) as well as the TV series I own, and put them on it.  I watch movies all the time on my computers and on my tv (through a WD Live streamer).  Some are standard def, some are high. The setup works perfectly, and the original DVD's are safely packed away.  The right thing to connect all those computers up is a gigabit switch.  If you are currently trying to stream stuff through wireless, then your biggest, easiest way to upgrade will be to give up on that idea completely and run some wires around.  The streaming will be flawless, whether in hi def or not.

The router is not involved in the streaming process at my house in any way, though.