yes latest firmware, no on dd-wrt, I don't think the plain olf WNR-3500 does it, it's some newer fancier version that does. After two bad Netgears in three years though I am not well disposed toward them, hence my post.
nate
Yes, there is a switch built-in. On mine (Linksys WRT54GS) it appears to be a 6-port switch. It has only 4 LAN ports on the outside, but consider 2 internal ports: one connects to the router and the other connects to the wireless access point.
Yes. This is true even if stated wireless speed it high. It is shared between all wireless devices on your network as well as any other networks on that wireless channel. Also, the wireless connection is half-duplex (only one direction at a time).
Most of my network is 100Mbit, with just one gigabit switch. 3 of my computers have gigabit capability, and are connected to that switch.
I've got 3 NetGears serving up to 26 computers each. Feeding into Cisco Giga Switches (2X24)
Agree. Pretty much all the routers targeted for home, small office come with at least 4 ethernet ports built in. For obvious reasons. IF you can get one that way for $75, who would buy one that did not.
Try to recognize that even when they're in the same box, a SWITCH and a ROUTER are different things. The ROUTER part is used only with the internet connection, and is limited in speed by that.
True. This fact has nothing to do with a particular user benefiting from gigabit rather than 100Mbit.
When I had intermittent dropouts, it was the cable modem.
Unexpectedly, when I called the ISP customer service I got someone who knew what "75% packet loss" meant.
Those ports are part of the built-in SWITCH, not the ROUTER. These can, and do, have different speed capabilities. There's usually also a WiFi access point in that box.
Avoiding such confusion has advantages.
So what? He buys a router with a 4 or 8 port switch built in. They are all on the same circuit board and cannot readily be serviced separately, so for all intents and purposes they ARE the same.
Don't complicate things more than they have to be.
If you have gigabit cards on all your computers as well as on a network printer there is an apreciable difference in speed when dealing with large files. On the printer it won't get the paper out any faster, but there is less delay on the computer waiting for everything to spool out to the printer. It is particularly noticeable if you do any video streaming from one computer to another (media server)
Can you buy a home ROUTER without a switch built in, today??? I have not seen one in several years, so your point is moot.
Chuckle. A year ago, I was tearing my hair out trying to get a Linksys blue-box router ($2 at a garage sale) working behind my father's Ma Bell Issue Motorola DSL modem. The 'official' instructions about 'bridging' did not work. I finally found a writeup in a forum that explained why- the DSL modem was a single-port router. Once I changed the Linksys to use a different IP, it all worked fine.
(Yes, I know I'm probably using the wrong terms- an IP/LAN geek I'm not.)
Try to recognize that when you posted this:
"And even if you do (need gigabit internally), you need one or more gigabit SWITCHES. The router is involved only for internet communication. Most aren't fast enough for gigabit. "
That sure implies that a typical homeowner could buy a gigabit router that you can't connect 4 PCs to via gigabit ethernet. Or that they need to buy two things, a router and a switch. I don't know about you, but if you go down to Best Buy or similar, I don't think you'd find a gigabit router that doesn't contain the switching function, ie one that has only a single WAN port and a single LAN port.
Here's a typical example:
Netgear calls it a GIGABIT ROUTER. And nowhere do they even talk about a switch. It has a WAN port for the internet and 4 gigabit LAN ports. Those 4 LAN ports handle gigabit ethernet between the local network PCs, printer, etc connected to them.
Is your purpose to try to add to the discussion or just confuse everyone?
funny thing is that after OCD style searching online (with much disconnecting and reconnecting required, making it take way longer than it should have) the "blue box" linksys was the ONLY home router that got 5 egg ratings on newegg. NONE of the wireless-N ones or ones with gigabit switches (yes, I know the difference between a switch and a router, but whoever said "show me a home router without a switch" was absolutely correct, and I was not being precise in that respect) and all of them had reviews with a consistent theme - short lifespan, flaky wireless, etc. In short, the same problems I've been having with all the routers I've owned.
I went ahead and ordered a "blue box" Linksys as they are still available for about $50. I know I won't be satisfied with it, but I can always drag it out whenever the good one dies.
nate
switch in this one is fine, and connection to the interwebs is fine. if I sit at desk and plug in it works fine. If I sit elsewhere in the house and connect wirelessly I maintain connection to router but lose internet, have to disconnect and reconnect. I'm 99% sure that it is the router b/c I have seen this on several devices (have Wii connected wirelessly for netflix, also other laptops running Windows not Linux)
nate
They are logically seperate components. Thinking of them as one might be simpler, but interferes with understanding.
Don't simplify things more than they are.
Did you think I was disagreeing with you there? Why?
Not that I know of.
And most router / switch boxes contain a third newtorking component, a wireless access point.
BTW, the connections between components can be switched electronically (at least in some routers). One of the devices (Linksys WRT54GS with Tomato firmware) I use here is set up with the WAN port and AP reversed, so the router uses a wireless WAN connection.
A router is a device that goes between 2 (or more) networks. These networks do have to have different IP ranges, or else the router wouldn't know when it should route data to the other side.
I see what I call battling routers all the time when I get a call to fix a network that a customer hooked up on their own and they can't understand the India based tech support people. :-)
TDD
Looks like it was in fact the wireless router that was dying... "blue box" showed up today - WRT54GL - and in a bout of insomnia I went ahead and configured it and then hooked it up to the router by the cable modem (don't ask, I didn't set it up.)
connection to the interwebs is noticeably faster, despite the "blue box" being a/g only. Will leave laptop running and see if it is still connected when I wake up in AM (will leave IM client running - with Netgear it would show disconnected after a couple hours.)
So I guess that makes me want to change my question - are there any good wireless-n routers on the market? preferably with gigabit switches? or are they all pretty much unreliable crap? (I suspect the latter, frankly, at least if we're talking consumer-grade equipment. Have to get one of those "wireless access points" like they use in the hallways of hotels and a real rack mount gigabit switch for something to last more than a couple of years? but that is expensive...)
nate
You can pick up a refurbished commercial unit from any one of several suppliers and it will look like a consumer grade box but the security features will be enhanced and it may stand up to 24/7 operation a lot better. For example:
reviews on that one are not reassuring!
that's what I got, but I really wanted 802.11n and gigabit. they're on sale for $50 from newegg right now (until Monday) and std. shipping was only two days
in your first link though I see they do have airlink refurbs with wireless-n, any opinion on them? never heard of them before.
was thinking that the blue box Linksys would be good to have around as a backup though, or maybe to hook up a wireless printer (someone mentioned that with dd-wrt you could rearrange things internally so it could be used as a wireless bridge)
nate
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