Old router died

[jpinks]

Had an old SMC Barricade that finally gave up. I need to now replace it. We are moving into a new home and my wife doesnt want me to tear the place up running cables So I guess I am going Wifi (at least that was my order). My laptop has a N card and her old one a G so I guess that means mixed mode. My children have a desktop that they use and I will be putting a wifi card in it as well. My desktop I usually hard wire and would like to try the 10/100/1000 route. My concern is wireless range. The modem and router will be in the office/basement of the house. Good news is the kids computer will be right above this room. The wife, well god only knows where she will use her laptop in the house. She will be surfing the web/emailing. Kids do play some online games, and so do I. I admit to being a WoW addict. I also play TF2 and a few others. Would really appreciate any recomendations as trying to sort through this stuff is making me crazy.

Thanks Jeff

 

[denali]

Maybe something like this? (Scroll down for the diagram in Figure 2)

 

[thiggins]

If you have just two levels, you might be ok with the router in the lower level. That's what I have.

The main thing would be to locate the router as centrally as possible.

If you have three floors, you'll need to get the router up to the middle floor. As denali indicated, you can use powerline to do this or now MoCA.

 

[jpinks]

I could put it in the sub basement stairwell but thats basically a concrete walled room (including the stairwell area) because thats where the main phone lines come in but I am hoping not to have to do this. I really want to keep my desktop hardwired though(its stairwell is in the center of lower living level). Are there any 10/100/1000 routers you guys might recomend? I know its all based on my locations structure as to range. Should I match brands if I use an access point setup?

 

[thiggins]

How many levels in your home?

Concrete walls will really reduce range.

Use the wireless charts to compare router ranges.

Matching clients and routers with brands is not as much of an issue as it used to be and isn't possible with notebooks that use Intel internal adapters.

 

[jpinks]

I guess I will try the WRT 610 or 400 but what I dont understand is why the throughput on the 600 is higher than on the 610 and what is going to be hurt by not having Jumbo Frames on either of these? Also isnt the wired throughput on the 610 kinda low for a gigabit connection?

Ok just saw the 320 review, is the wired connection on it have better throughput on it than the 610 or am I miss reading? Seems wierd to me that the top end router wouldnt have the best throughput.

 

[thiggins]

The Router charts show routing throughput, i.e. between LAN and Internet, not LAN to LAN.

All the products you mention can keep up with a 100 Mbps Internet connection if you have one.

Jumbo frames only matter if you have gigabit Ethernet adapters that support jumbo frames. They might help improve gigabit throughput 5-10% more. Not an issue for most users.

 

[jpinks]

So why is the throughput less on the top end model than on the 320, that really doesnt make sense, or is it just the difference in how you test now?

 

[thiggins]

So why is the throughput less on the top end model than on the 320, that really doesnt make sense, or is it just the difference in how you test now?

It's not a difference in test method.

The two products use different processors and the 320N's happens to be slightly faster.

Again, unless you have an Internet connection that provides > 100 Mbps, the difference doesn't matter.

 

[jpinks]

I thought the 610 was supposed to be the top end router of the Linksys line? Seems odd to me that it doesnt have the fastest processor? Or is its bells and whistles really worth that over the 320 or 400?