Dear All,
I'm deciding to take the plung of upgrading my network to gigabit (or is it
gigabyte)... anyways...I've come to the conclusion that there arn't very
many ADSL/Routers that have gigabit support just yet, we'll not in the home
users resonably price range (and in the UK)..
I was wondering if it is just me and my searches or are they not really
taken of the ground yet....I've search various places, Dabs, Amazon, Ebuyer,
RLSupplies and google itself.....I'm able to obtain Cat6 Cables, Gigabits
(or bytes) NIC Cards, Switchers and plain ole routers, but not with a ADSL
modem built in? (Seen some with DSL and Cable modems, but not ADSL)
Does anybody else know of any that are floating around, ideally I would like
NetGear as I've heard good things about them, the 3 routers/adsl I've had
keep failing and need a reset (on/off) as I download a lot of stuff and I
think they can't handle the transmissions...
Just wondering if anybody has any advice for me, before I take the plunge...
Regards
Paul.
AFAIK, no ADSL can approach 100Mb, so there is no real
reason to spend a lot on a all-in-one router with gigabit
WAN port. Get the router you find most cost effective with
the features you need, including at least 100Mb WAN port
(some very old models only have 10Mb, which is too slow for
some brandband, though perhaps fast enough for many
entry-level ADSL services, but regardless of this, the newer
models with 100Mb WAN port are not any more expensive so
there's no reason to not have at least 100Mb WAN port).
As for the gigabit ethernet on your LAN, buy a gigabit
switch with the number of ports you need, or if it makes
wiring your residence easier, buy two or more gigabit
switches. They are now affordable enough that it is cheaper
and less hassle to just buy another switch or two than to
try to find the perfect all-in-one device or to take
exceptional measure to string more ethernet cables than
needed in odd places in a pre-existing, finished home.
Keep in mind that a brand means very little. Netgear might
be fine, but hearing about certain models tells you little
to nothing about a different model. For example their
switches are fairly cheap and run hot because they couldn't
even spend the 50 cents to put a heatsink on some of them
(GS60(n)) version for example.
IMO, the first decision to make is whether you want the
router to include wifi functionality. It is little to no
extra cost these days, at least in the US there are ample
sales and rebates to make the cost no higher, often even
lower if a router has wifi functionality. The next step is
deciding whether to invest in newer 802.11n or stick with
the legacy 802.11g. Google searching can find the
differences, but also an "n" device will be a newer
generation which might be better or worse for other
differences... since as mentioned above you can't take one
or several models from a particula brand as an assumption
their next product will be the same, better, or worse
quality. Best is to seek reviews of the particular model
you are considering, without regard to manufacturer.
When a router works again after a reset, it is hardware or
firmware so you would attack both angles. If you find your
router needs reset often, odds are high one of two things
might help:
1) Update the firmware. Some bugs significant to your use
might be fixed.
2) Do more to keep it running cooler. There are
substantial numbers of people running these newer consumer
grade passively cooled routers who find the tiny slits in
the cases and the heatsinkless network processors just don't
stay cool enough. One user may have it work fine, but given
a different location, different ambient temp, higher network
load, instability can surface. Over a period of time
running hot, a router may also degrade the capacitors onto
the point where they are not sufficient anymore. This would
typically be seen with a router which ran ok when new but
given same ambient environment and same use, later failed to
remain as stable as it once did. Routers are like all
consumer computing equipment but perhaps even moreso,
subject to capacitor failures over time due to their passive
cooling and more recent plunge in construction costs to
remain competitive in an market where routers sometimes sell
for under $10 after a rebate.
