Gigabit Router - Worth the price?

[ODG6Actual]

So for a long time things have been good on the connection end of the household since for the most part its just me abusing the connectivity. I have had 10/100 cards and matching router attached to broadband cable based internet.

Now.. kids are old enough and I have this going

Wife on laptop wifi
Wife on iphone wifi
Kids on ipods with wifi (skype and all that too)
Xbox live wired
Kids PC wired
My PC wired
My blackberry wifi

Starting to see the 'oh, [insert name here] must be playing or watching videos, my connection is going to hell'

Since I just got the Killer 2100 card to do a review which of course is a gigabit card that will step down I am wondering if its time to retire the router and move up to gigabit.

1. Wondering how big a different it might make in order to guage the cost effectivness
2. Looking for recommendations

While we're on routers, I have about 3 others around the house and I was considering picking one out and chaining it to the first to expand from 4 port current limit. Never done it but seems easy enough but wondering if I have to disable something in it so it just asks as a dumb hub.

[Major-G8tor]

Hey Rigger, I've had similar degradation on my Internet connection and network for the last two months. In fact that's why I kept dropping from Teamspeak and game servers when I tried to sign on BFBC2 with you guys a few weeks ago. At first I blamed it on my cable provider and maybe too many people watching movies through the Internet causing cable congestion. I'm guilty of that too since I do like Netflix Instant Watch.

However I think it could be my router which is getting kind of old. It's the Linksys WRT54GS. I've used it for last six years without issue and I've updated the firmware in it a few times. My home network starts with a telephone/cable modem, then to the router and then divides up the network between 3 desktops using Linksys Powerline adapters (http://www.linksysbycisco.com/APAC/en/promo/Powerline%20Network%20Adapter) and the wireless port for notebooks.

That many connections and throughput could be burning it out. I just put an order in for the newer Linksys E-series gigabit router that hopefully will stabilize my network and bring back the performance I used to have.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124386&cm_re=e2000-_-33-124-386-_-Product I'm only sticking with Linksys because of the Powerline adapters. Similar routers from other companies are selling for less then $100.

Right now my download speed is less than 1Mbps and it drops frequently but the upload is still normal? http://www.speedtest.net/ Very frustrating since my "performance" plan claims over 15Mbps :mad: I understand cable throughput varies a lot but this is horrible.

If this new router doesn't make a difference I may look at another Internet service plan with DOCSIS 3.0. Anyway I'll see how it goes this weekend after the router arrives.

[Lunch Meat]

That's a lot of crap all at once, I would be interested in seeing the difference between speeds before and after the card, and if you upgrade the router before and after that.

[Major-G8tor]

Here’s my follow-up report:
The new gigabit router helped. My home network is better connected and stable but the larger problem with the Internet lag remains. My download speeds range from 3Mbps to less than 1 and it stays below 1 during typical peak use times. Upload speeds are double the rate of download when it should be the other way around. I spoke with my cable provider representative who ran some ping checks and they noticed some delay. They said I should be getting around 6Mbps at a minimum. They’re putting in a service call. They mentioned a signal booster and maybe swap out the DOCSIS 2.0 cable modem I’m renting from them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS)
This area does have the DOCSIS 3.0 “wide-band” standard with plans offering up to 50 Mbps with averages probably in the 20-30 Mbps range for the Philadelphia-Central Jersey area. It’s an additional $50 per month. I’m on the fence since that’s a lot to pay if there’s not much of a difference.

[.Heavy]

I have thought over carefully what I might say.

Picture this for a moment. Suppose each individual in the home has it's own Ethernet to a switch and thence to a router?

What if your Cable company is "Managing Traffic" Aka... I aint letting you hog all our bandwidth so you get throttled, now cough up some more dough and I might let you run faster.

Is that it?

All computers today should have NIC cards in the Gigabit range anyway. Ethernet can handle gigabit and so forth so on. Wifi also. Needs to have a one hell of a fiber optic line to feed a university filled with ethernet and wi fi's

But even the dorms fight each other sucking on this hell of a fiber line to the rest of the world. So everyone using it gets knocked down or dropped.

So what good is it?

Now Cable... you have to get sloppy seconds by the time all your fellow neighbors between you and the telco that hands the traffic to the main exchange gets it. Everyone fights for the same pipe.

A third solution was to figure out which computer in your home, does what and when and why. Then work around them. I do a lot of my gaming at night when the wife is asleep so that the other computer is off.

Nothing wrong with gigabit goodies. But what good is all that gold plated crap when you cannot get the world to your home with a clean connection?

Is 50 dollars worth the aggravation? Just to wait a few minutes longer for that download?

Pretty expensive if you ask me. Cable companies taking advantage of impatient customers who tasted speed and want more when the milk bottle gets cold, empty or both.

Something to consider.

Oh, if you are all pulling that much traffic off the pipe into your home for all those hungry greedy computers gulping and gorging on gaming, you tube and all the other crap everyone is doing... you have not yet hit any kind of total use cap for the month yet have ya?

[Major-G8tor]

True, cable users are vulnerable to how much traffic is congesting the pipe in the neighborhood. I'm the only on-line gamer in my house and I don't even try to run a game and a streaming movie at the same time.

If my Internet connection remained steady over 2-3 Mbps I could live with it but it flucuates a lot right now. The cable compnay is going to look into it since they agreed it's not normal.

Fortunately there's not a cap on household Internet use in my area but I won't be surprised if the number of "terminals" get regulated and charged more in the future.

[Major-G8tor]

The cable guy helped me trouble shoot the issue. Good guy and a gamer too. Found out there is a lot of loss happening through my AC wiring which is dragging down the Mbps 90% or more. Mobile phone chargers, HDTVs, arc fault circuit breakers and other electrical appliances all cause signal noise that degrades the Internet data stream.

This site explains why:
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-basics/31238-slow-homeplug-five-ways-to-boost-powerline-network-speed

So I'm no longer using the powerline adapters and going with a direct ethernet wire from router to PC. It runs at around 20Mbps. Wireless is good too with just a minor loss depending on the distance to the router.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1171133994.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Now I have to run about 75ft of ethernet from one end of the house to the other side and try to hide it as much as possible :blink: