Need Help - Small Network Problem

[sherlack]

Hi all,

was wondering if someone couild help me decide what basic components are good to ensure a quality of service in my office. Right now the only thing we have is a Lynksys WRT320N. We are like 12 employees in the company.

Right now 3 employees connects to the network via LAN cable and the other people connect to LAN via WiFi. We have a cable connection of 3mbs/500kbs. Problem we facing is that every time 1 employee start downloading/uploading something the network connection speed drops for everyone else.

Any guidance will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Unregistered]

wired network

You need to put in a GOOD Gibabit Switch and run Cat 5e/6 to every workstation. It will cost a bit, but wireless in NO way is ment to do what your doing.

chris

 

[joeybaker]

For the record: you're using this router.

A dozen people all trying to access the the net over a consumer grade router can cause problems. It is a good router, and you've got dual band and .11n – all of which bode well for you. However, as you're seeing, consumer grade is consumer grade. There are several things you can do to get around this. The first, quickest, and likely the cheapest is to buy another router. This will give you to effective APs and help out a lot on your bandwidth issues.

You won't get some of the more enterprise features by going that route – but it is cheap.

The next step up is go get some higher-end gear. Access points are more expensive than consumer routers+APs, but they're still cheap~ish and will eliminate your problem – which I'm sure is annoying and expensive.

*Shameless plug*
I actually work for Meraki which might very well suit your needs.

 

[thiggins]

For wired stations, you could use a smart switch with per-port ingress/egress rate control like the NETGEAR GS108T.

Or there are some routers, like the Engenius ESR9850 that allow you to set bandwidth limits by service port or IP.

See also Taming Your Network's Bandwidth Hogs - Part 1
and Taming Your Network's Bandwidth Hogs - Part 2
and Smart Switch How to - Part 3: Bandwidth Control