[SGVLUG] Recommendations for > 100 MBbs routers

Wed Aug 17 20:29:10 PDT 2016

Wow, learning about a cisco router is going to be a far bigger project than what I time for so I'm going to have to go with something intermediate that just works because the family wants something that works yesterday.

To answer Jess B, while it would be nice to run third-party firmware, again, I need something that I won't have to keep tweaking so I'm not opposed to not being able to hack everything anymore.

And while I like the LED indicators on the ubiquity edgemax elite 3, I'm also leaning toward an integrated router/switch/wifi because I've got so many outlet strips connected to the UPS's that it's not funny.  Having a console port and minimum number of ports reminds me of my Netgear RT311 router i still have mounted on the wall in my closet.

I was able to temporarily connect my desktop directly to the Giggle Fiber modem and run a couple speed tests and I was pleasantly surprised to see 230-320 Mbps down and 20-24 Mbps up at about 1 am against a couple of different speed testing web sites. 

So I'm still sitting on the fence between the TP-Link Archer C9 and the UTT router.   I was happy with the TL-SG108E and the manual for the UTT AC750GW looks pretty good with the number of features and that multi WAN option looks pretty neat.  The guy in the cubical next door has been pretty happy with his.  Both are available on Amazon for under $120.

Claude

> On Aug 17, 2016, at 12:21 AM, Matthew Campbell <dvdmatt at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hey Claude,
> 
> Here are a couple of suggestions for Cisco gear.  They are
> professional routers with full programability and functionality.  The
> interface is all cli which is freely documented... if you take the $6k
> Cisco certification class.  Having taken the class I found I knew more
> than the instructor before the class even started.  He couldn't get
> the lab equipment hooked up so I set it up for the class, all without
> training.  He thought I was a re-cert.
> 
> In the end the syntax is a bit obscure but the operations fairly intuitive.
> 
> There are dozens of 2k and 3k routers on eBay in the $70-$170 range.
> Here's one picked at random for $90:
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cisco-3825-Gigabit-Router-15-1-IOS-CCNA-CCNP-CISCO3825-1-Year-Warranty-/262462974020?hash=item3d1c032844:g:npoAAOSw4q9XTgDy
> 
> It comes with only 2 1G ports, but comes with VPN, firewall,
> encryption and a whole lot of expansion slots.  Voice, ATM, DSL, etc.
> all fairly easy to add but if you are going to do a lot the modules
> add up and you should buy a router already equipped.
> 
> Here's the technical detail:
> http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/routers/3825-integrated-services-router-isr/index.html
> 
> Do your research, there are a lot of options and it's a fun project to
> play with.  If you take a couple of days and work this out there is a
> lot of application in the workplace.
> 
> One of the things I learned is that you need to make sure you get a
> unit with maxed memory so you can download the latest firmware.  I
> ended up paying an extra $35 for an expansion.
> 
> At the end of the day you can get a Ferrari for the same price as a
> new VW if you are careful.
> 
> Matt
> ---------
> Matthew Campbell
> Storage and Cloud Strategy
> Office of the CTO
> 
> Kaiser Permanente
> 99 S. Oakland
> Pasadena, CA 91101
> 
> 626-564-7228 (office)
> 8-338-7228 (tie-line)
> 818-314-9897 (mobile phone)
> Green Center 3-North, 031W29
> ---------
> kp.org/thrive
> 
> 
> On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 9:45 PM, Munjal Thakkar <m00njal at gmail.com> wrote:
>> +1 for the ubiquiti erlite 3. Router. You'll be amazed at how they perform
>> for the cost. Google the brand, you'll find a lot on them, surprised you
>> haven't heard of them.
>> 
>> I've switched all my equipment, my clients, and my work network
>> infrastructure to UbNt routers and their Unifi line of work equipment.
>> 
>> 
>> On Aug 16, 2016 20:34, "Jess Bermudes" <jbermudes at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> A word of warning about the TP-Link router. TP-Link jumped the gun on the
>>> new FCC regulations and tried to lock down the flashing of third-party
>>> firmware. While it's not impossible, it can be quite the task if you're new
>>> to the firmware flashing game. I have an Archer C7 you can play around with
>>> at HAK this Thursday if you want to see it. I'll probably be trying to
>>> restore the original firmware as flashing OpenWRT on it was unsuccessful for
>>> reasons I won't know until I open it up and connect a serial cable to it.
>>> 
>>> Were you looking for something specifically to run third-party firmware?
>>> 
>>> On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 8:12 PM, Claude Felizardo <cafelizardo at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> So how much is a used Cisco pro router or a new linksys router?  I really
>>>> don't need to know how to configure a cisco router.  I've never heard of
>>>> Ubiquiti.  The Netgear's look pretty cool but a bit too expensive.
>>>> 
>>>> I have been looking at the TP-Link AC1900 Archer C9 which is available on
>>>> amazon for $120 but someone told me about the UTT AC750GW that supports
>>>> IPSec/PPTP VPN, detachable antennas and multiple WAN ports which sounds very
>>>> interesting as it can do link aggregation or you can configure it to send
>>>> outbound traffic to different ISPs based on destination or source IP.
>>>> 
>>>> http://www.uttglobal.com
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Aug 15, 2016, at 4:49 PM, Matthew Campbell <dvdmatt at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> I picked up a used Cisco professional router on eBay for about the
>>>> same cost as a good Linksys runs new.  For the learning experience
>>>> alone it was worth every penny.
>>>> 
>>>> Matt
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Aug 16, 2016, at 2:18 PM, Christopher Hicks <chicks.net at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> I've had good luck with https://routerboard.com/ which supports 1G ports
>>>> and has a rustic but usable web GUI.  You can get them as raw boards or
>>>> integrated into rack-mountable package.
>>>> 
>>>> On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 9:45 PM, Jess Bermudes <jbermudes at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> I've heard a lot of praise for Ubiqiti's stuff, and have used it in the
>>>>> past and agree it's lot of bang for your buck, but I'm hesitant to give them
>>>>> my full support when they're not a good citizen of the open source world and
>>>>> actively violate the GPL:
>>>>> 
>>>>> http://libertybsd.net/ubiquiti/
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 9:34 PM, Dan Buthusiem <dan.buthusiem at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> SmallNetBuilder's review of Ubiquiti's EdgeRouter Lite sold me on it,
>>>>>> since it was able to hold 950 Mbps per port at a $100 price point. My
>>>>>> Netgears aren't supposed to be able to hold much more than about 500 Mbps
>>>>>> per port WAN to LAN, so I only use them as APs. It seems WiFi goes obsolete
>>>>>> much faster than routers and switches, which is why I keep the access points
>>>>>> as separate boxes from the rest of my network - having to take down my
>>>>>> entire network for a different wireless box is annoying.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I've got a dual WAN router I'm due to migrate off of soon, since it's
>>>>>> nearing its EOL. If you'd like to borrow the ErLite3, I've got a spare you
>>>>>> can play with for a bit. I haven't noticed anything else that beats it for
>>>>>> its price point. Their Unifi APs look very tempting, too.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> As far as your modem question, there's nothing you should need to tune.
>>>>>> I would look into its statistics page to see your speed profile, negotiated
>>>>>> rate (the fastest speed your modem can manage to the node, based on line
>>>>>> conditions), and your attenuation / noise. This way, you'll be able to see
>>>>>> if your speed issues are due to poor line conditions or possible
>>>>>> oversubscription of the node.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Dan
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Aug 15, 2016 4:51 PM, "Matthew Campbell" <dvdmatt at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I picked up a used Cisco professional router on eBay for about the
>>>>>>> same cost as a good Linksys runs new.  For the learning experience
>>>>>>> alone it was worth every penny.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Matt
>>>>>>> ---------
>>>>>>> Matthew Campbell
>>>>>>> Storage and Cloud Strategy
>>>>>>> Office of the CTO
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Kaiser Permanente
>>>>>>> 99 S. Oakland
>>>>>>> Pasadena, CA 91101
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 626-564-7228 (office)
>>>>>>> 8-338-7228 (tie-line)
>>>>>>> 818-314-9897 (mobile phone)
>>>>>>> Green Center 3-North, 031W29
>>>>>>> ---------
>>>>>>> kp.org/thrive
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 3:54 PM, Claude Felizardo
>>>>>>> <cafelizardo at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>> The TimeWarner bundle promo ended so the rate went up so I decided
>>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>>> give Giggle Fiber a try.  That's giggle with an I, not two O's.
>>>>>>>> They
>>>>>>>> bought out Champion cable in Arcadia/Monrovia so it's fiber to a
>>>>>>>> node
>>>>>>>> somewhere in the the neighborhood then coax to your home.  With TWC
>>>>>>>> I
>>>>>>>> was getting 80-90 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up, obviously capped for
>>>>>>>> what
>>>>>>>> I was paying but we'd get drop outs constantly and the speeds would
>>>>>>>> vary so much depending on time of day.  Giggle claims on their web
>>>>>>>> site that most users get over 300 and when I talked to them last
>>>>>>>> year,
>>>>>>>> they said because they do not offer cable TV and had fewer
>>>>>>>> subscribers
>>>>>>>> this meant they had plenty of capacity.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I had the installer pull a brand new cable and run it to my wiring
>>>>>>>> closet because I was keeping TWC for TV programming and phone for
>>>>>>>> now
>>>>>>>> -- will try asterisk so Paul's talk was timely.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Using Giggle, the upload is hitting 20 Mbps up but down is less than
>>>>>>>> TWC at around 50-70 Mbps which is a far cry from 200 Mbps so I was
>>>>>>>> disappointed.  Now most of my equipment is 10/100 with cat5 home run
>>>>>>>> to a wiring closet where I have the routers installed (TWC and
>>>>>>>> Giggle)
>>>>>>>> which can then connect to a switch in the closet then to various
>>>>>>>> drops
>>>>>>>> in the house including two with switches because I have more
>>>>>>>> equipment
>>>>>>>> at those locations.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I did upgrade one of the switches to a TP-Link SG108E which is an
>>>>>>>> 8-port 10/100/1000 smart (web) switch with speed indicator LEDs
>>>>>>>> (10/100/1000).  It has a menu option to test the connections and it
>>>>>>>> will report cable lengths in meters as well as confirm connection
>>>>>>>> speed.  Now the newest router I have is a TP-Link WDR3600 with N600
>>>>>>>> or
>>>>>>>> an older Netgear WNR200 both of which I was using when I still had
>>>>>>>> DSL.   Both have 4 gigabit ports but no indicators lights.  Measured
>>>>>>>> cable distance from remote switch to closet is 18m which is about
>>>>>>>> what
>>>>>>>> I expected.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> For testing WiFi, the only AC device we haver is my son's
>>>>>>>> smartphone,
>>>>>>>> everything else is G or N speed.  For wired devices, the only thing
>>>>>>>> where we could run some kind of speed test was the Xbox One and the
>>>>>>>> best speed we saw was 140 Mbs down and that was when we connecting
>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>> Xbox directly to the modem and cycle power so it will give up an IP.
>>>>>>>> Otherwise going through the WDR3600, we're getting usually slower
>>>>>>>> than
>>>>>>>> TWC for download but upload is much better which will be good for
>>>>>>>> trying to backup to the cloud.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Now when I ordered Giggle Fiber, they suggested I get at least an
>>>>>>>> AC1900 router, the installer pretty much said the same.  I could see
>>>>>>>> doing that if we had more AC devices but since most of our equipment
>>>>>>>> is only N speed, I was hoping that my wired computers would see a
>>>>>>>> nice
>>>>>>>> speed increase but I'm wondering if my older router just can't push
>>>>>>>> the data fast enough.  Is this really the case?  The TWC rented
>>>>>>>> Arris
>>>>>>>> router has 4 gigabit ports and is doing better than the older
>>>>>>>> router.
>>>>>>>> I have not tried the WNR2000 yet because the specs say its only
>>>>>>>> capable of N300 wireless.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> So does anyone have suggestions for replacing my old router?  I may
>>>>>>>> need to pick up another gigabit switch for the other room if
>>>>>>>> replacing
>>>>>>>> the router makes a difference. And the speeds has seemed to get
>>>>>>>> better
>>>>>>>> since the first day - do modems need to be tuned?
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Claude
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> Christopher Hicks
>>>> http://www.chicks.net/
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>> 
> 