When at home we have 4 computers all attached to one DLink Router (two wired and two wireless), and this causes disconnects quite often. My first question is, do you think this is the routers fault? The second is, if so can you recommend a router that deals with traffic well?
Yes and no. I've tried so many different routers, and all of them end up being pieces of shit, and I can't recommend any of them that I've tried. I think if you want to get a cheap router, reboots and disconnects are just something you'll have to live with. I'm eventually going to get a Cisco 871W....when I have $600. And maybe then, I can finally have a router that works.
Since you're probably going to end up buying a consumer router anyways (unless you want to spend $600 on said Cisco router and learn the extremely complicated IOS command line to configure everything ), I might as well add that Netgear is the brand I've had the best luck with (which isn't saying much). Mine can go a couple weeks without a reboot...much better than the 2 Linksyses I've had that needed a swift kick in the ass several times a day
Impossible and completely illogical! [/sarcasm] I'd suggest a Linksys WRT54GS, ONLY if you can find something before V5 (serial number prefixed with CDF and a number of 0-6 [do not get 7,8,9,A], best is a 0 [version 1] or 4 (version 2.1]). If you can't find one, then get a WRT54GL, or WRTSL54GS. After that, install a custom firmware, DD-WRT, as default firmware is usually useless. D-Link is absolute shit.
*looks down under the desk and sees a fat D-LINK sign on a silver box* yeah.. i just found out that thing had a Reset button... the only button it has, donno if it works though. The thing is so freaking faulty, i usually just unplug it and directly connect the internet to my computer and face the consequences of my family yelling at me.
Mine can disconnect many times a day with everyone using it. If something like a torrent file or the like is opened it dies even faster. Just to specify my problem. Thanks again for the help. Hm, at my local Radioshack they said it might be the router, or might be my DSL ISP itself. They also said that pretty much all four port routers can handle the traffic and that the brand doesn't really matter. They also recommended trying a gaming router. Do you guys agree? EDIT: Sorry for the double post. I thought double posts were merged now...
They also recommend that your put on a blindfold while they go and empty your wallet. A gaming router is going to make a huge difference... ...in your next bank statement. It's a well-known fact that big chains [Best Buy, Future Shop, Radioshack, Office Depot, whatever] are terrible for tech support. They want [actually, need] to sell you something, so half the time they'll bullshit you into buying something. Actually, most of the time, they haven't much of a clue what they're talking about. The ports probably can handle the traffic, but it's the firmware and how it uses and stores the traffic that's the problem [brand does matters, as D-Link doesn't use Linux, Linksys does. Now what?]. I mean, your ISP is definitely sending packets to crash your router... Hell, you might even have some luck RMAing your router and getting a new one from D-Link, but I still suggest you use something better [Linksys]. And Todd, since when would you use a Cisco router in a home? I mean, for a home network, rather going overboard, I'd say...
I've heard some bad stuff about Linksys, including from Todd. Do you really think I should use it instead of Netgear?
I've heard hardly anything bad about Linksys. At least nothing about the models I recommend. I've heard nothing but shit about D-Link, and mixed opinions about Netgear. Most people recommend Linksys, if you go asking around.
Original firmware, not quite. DD-WRT firmware, yes. I'm on a Linksys WRT54GS with DD-WRT firmware, and I have uTorrent constantly downloading without any problems.
WRT54GL - $80 WRTSL54GS - $130 Only buy the WRT54GS ($100) if you can find a version below v5. If you buy a v5 or later [uses VxWorks OS, not Linux] it's not really the greatest to hack, as they don't have the greatest hardware [2MB of flash RAM], and you can only use the mini version of DD-WRT on them.