Recommend a good ADSL modem please

Licho · Post by **Licho** » 05 Dec 2006, 20:28

I'm looking for a good stable ADSL modem.

It should have 4 ethernet ports and be stable and very configurable.
Preferably without wifi.

I run stuff that needs a lot of connections (torrents, emule) and most modems can handle only limited number of connections (200-500). I need much more. It's usually not listed anywhere .. sometimes they call it max sessions, sometimes max NAT table size, but all modems I know have this limit and I want as much connections as possible.

Can those of you with tech skills recommend some good modem to me please?

AF · Post by AF » 05 Dec 2006, 23:00

I'm sorry but that sounds nothing like an ADSL modem at all, infact it sounds like a router.

A router would eb your best bet. You can get routers with built DSL modems cheap, and any good one will have wifi, which you can turn off.

I'd go for a cisco router or a linksys.

Neddie · Post by **Neddie** » 06 Dec 2006, 01:01

Linksys is horrible... get something better than that.

AF · Post by AF » 06 Dec 2006, 01:11

I have a safecom router with a built in modem providing internet, connected to a linksys router via ethernet because the safecom has broken wifi and the linksys routers wifi was always 2x as good, but the linksys routers old with no built in modem else I'd be using that.......

The safecom though, survived being swung around like a mace from the power cord at a brick wall till the wifi PCI card fell out and the case was smashed into 2 pieces and all the leds cracked then tossed in the garbage. I then salvaged it and it was working fine apart from the aerial which was later soldered back on by a friend..... Any crashes nowadays are blamed on sisters putting mountains of coats ontop of the router making it overheat...

Peet · Post by **Peet** » 06 Dec 2006, 01:18

AF wrote:The safecom though, survived being swung around like a mace from the power cord at a brick wall till the wifi PCI card fell out and the case was smashed into 2 pieces and all the leds cracked then tossed in the garbage. I then salvaged it and it was working fine apart from the aerial which was later soldered back on by a friend.....

0_0

grumpy_Bastard · Post by **grumpy_Bastard** » 06 Dec 2006, 02:37

AF wrote:I'd go for a cisco router or a linksys.

Cisco router would be a little overkill for home use, but linksys or Dlink would be a more reasonable choice.... Those are the only two I reccomend anymore for home use.

neddiedrow wrote:Linksys is horrible... get something better than that.

Making a bold statement like that without any additional supporting information is really asking for it.

Peet · Post by **Peet** » 06 Dec 2006, 02:40

grumpy_Bastard wrote:Dlink.

If you want one that randomly dies on you ingame, go for it.

Neddie · Post by **Neddie** » 06 Dec 2006, 02:51

Well, if you're going to try to call me out of all people, alright. I've had two, one wireless g, one standard four port. They've both had serious issues. There we go. It is personal experience, and I have claimed nothing else.

iamacup · Post by **iamacup** » 06 Dec 2006, 08:35

i use a shit 40 dolar generic adsl moden (dont even know the brand) and a shit 30 dolar switch combined togeather to make a router and they work fine, as long as you can configure stuff it works wicked

BUDGET FTW!

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 06 Dec 2006, 08:44

I recommend Belkin. Excellent interface, very easy and powerful to set up and use. Very solid. And forwarding ports is a total breeze, as is setting up wireless security.

AF · Post by AF » 06 Dec 2006, 18:30

iamacup wrote:i use a shit 40 dolar generic adsl moden (dont even know the brand) and a shit 30 dolar switch combined togeather to make a router and they work fine, as long as you can configure stuff it works wicked

BUDGET FTW!

In the UK my price hunting has lead me to the conclusion that a cheap ADSL modem + switch < router, both in value, cost and functionality.

Dlink are terrible from what experience I've had with them, especially for usb wifi add ons.

Belkin is windows only, I've spent a year trying to get a belkin pcmcia card to run on my laptop under ubuntu and Damn Small Linux to no avail using ndiswrapper, and ended up accidentally installing the pcmcia drivers on my PC only to find they cant be uninstalled without the uninstaller crashing. Finding the drivers to begin with was a nightmare, and the belkin wireless config tool is crap, the cheapo ├é┬ú10 AMD PCI card has a much much better config tool.

My Linksys router however is brilliant, I just wish I'd bought one with a built in modem at the time, it cuts through 2 neighbouring wifi networks on the same channel and gives me very nice performance, I've always found the battered safecom modem with the modem to be the weak link in my connection..

Licho · Post by **Licho** » 06 Dec 2006, 18:45

AF - modem + switch is NO SOLUTION for me.

All ethernet modems have built in switch and I won't be using my internet on more than 2-3 machines.
Switch is just switch, there is hardly any difference between one switch and another :) It has nothing to do with routing, NAT or anything, switch works on lower network layer..

But I need proper NAT implementation (NAT is in modem, it has nothing to do with switch). NAT tables in modes are limited, often to just several hundreds of entries and if you need more connections old entries are discarded (= connections interrupted).

AF · Post by AF » 06 Dec 2006, 22:45

I was crushign the mode+switch proposal not supporting it.

I suggest a good router, you'll get a good configurability out of it, and any half ass router will have 4 port hub at the back..

grumpy_Bastard · Post by **grumpy_Bastard** » 07 Dec 2006, 05:28

neddiedrow wrote:Well, if you're going to try to call me out of all people, alright.

Of all people, you were the one to state “Linksys is horrible”.

neddiedrow wrote:I've had two, one wireless g, one standard four port. They've both had serious issues. There we go.

Wireless-G and standard four port... that pretty much covers just about every home router made. Be more specific.

neddiedrow wrote:It is personal experience, and I have claimed nothing else.

You have claimed the entire company sucks, based off the “ive had two... They've both had serious issues” claim. Not only are you giving out poor information to Licho who is asking for advice on purchasing things, you are giving out BS information to anyone who stumbles upon this thread through google, or through the taspring website. This makes you no better than the rednecks who complain constantly about fords or chevrolets entire lineup of cars and trucks produced in the past half-century, because their worn out cheap car/truck with half a million miles on it broke constantly. Based solely off your two experiences, you have deduced that linksys entire product lineup, including ones made years ago and ones that have yet to be made in the years to come, are “horrible” and one should look for some brand/company that is “Better than that”.

People do not seem to realize, but you do get what you pay for. If you spent 40-50 dollars on a router, your getting just that... The bottom of the low end, or as linksys calls it “Basic Networking”. Routers range in price from $39.00 to $350,000.00 from various companies, figure out what will do the job and purchase one accordingly.

Linksys has produced many, many routers over the past years. Ill first start out with the popular

WRT54g

V1.0, 1.1 125Mhz cpu, 16MB ram, 4MB Flash
V2.0, 3.0, 4.0 , 5.0 200Mhz cpu, 16MB ram, 4MB flash
V2.2, 3.1 216Mhz cpu, 16MB ram, 4MB flash

WRT54GS
1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 200Mhz cpu, 32MB ram, 8MB Flash
2.0 216Mhz cpu, 32MB ram, 8MB Flash
4.0 200Mhz cpu, 16MB ram, 3MB Flash
5.0, 5.1, 6.0 200Mhz cpu, 16MB ram, 2MB Flash

Linksys is currently selling 30 different home routers, 17 wireless and 13 wired. Though, neddiedrow, I am sure you have already tested all of these 30 routers extensively and concluded that linksys only makes inferior products?

For a change, lets stray away from the low end crap routers, and look more toward the mid-range. The linksys RV082, $292.00 at amazon. It sports a 533 Mhz IXP425 CPU. which is enough for this thing to support 50VPN tunnels, which benchmarked at 88Mbps of throughput according to tomsnetworking. That beats the hell out of the 500Mhz AMD I use right now with Freebsd as a router, by far.

But assuming we do not want to spend $300.00+ on a router for our crappy DSL or cable Internet connection, but rather in the $100.00 range (and assuming we are not building our own), the cheapo's are the only choice. Yes, mostly the default config interfaces on these things suck, which is why the Internet people brought forth DD-WRT.

Ever hear of DD-WRT? If I have counted right, 46 routers are currently supported by this, 23 of them linksys. http://www.dd-wrt.com/

As long as you stay away from the WRT54G V5.0, theres no problem. The CPU's in the linksys and some of the belkin, Motorola, and buffalotec routers are far more than enough to handle what most sane people will do over their home connection.

The bottom line is it's really whats on the inside that counts. Regardless if it says linksys, Dlink, belkin, or made in china on the case, as long as it has decent hardware under the hood and a good operating system, it will perform well and give you your monies worth.

neddiedrow, if you still would like to futher discuss on how every router sucks and how nobody should ever buy one, contact my by PM rather than crapping up this thread, nobody wants to read through 20 pages of arguing, not even me.

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 07 Dec 2006, 05:34

AF, how could belkin be Windows only... Your talking about a card that is PCMCIA for a LAPTOP. I'm talking about a ROUTER. Read, type, cohere.

BTW grumpy,

Linksys is utter useless crap. The only way they would be considered good is by a nearly computer illiterate person. If you are comp illiterate, they are great because linksys makes it really easy to set up, but if you want and kind of advanced functions, you're shit out of luck unless you feel like drudging through mounds of crap to get to what you're looking for.

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 07 Dec 2006, 05:40

BTW I would like to point out to some people here who appearently don't understand...

Routers and Hubs are completely different pieces of equipment!

Google for more details.

Licho, you simply need a router. I personally like belkin. Other really good ones are Dlink and Netgear.

Neddie · Post by **Neddie** » 07 Dec 2006, 05:56

You know how to use Google. Congrats.

First, given that Licho already hosts an autoserver and plays separately, I must assume that he would specify if he needed anything beyond a four-port or eight-port, thus bringing our contributions down to those levels. In my experience, which is my own and does not necessarily cover all Linksys products, they have been terrible in that specific category. Unreliable, poor power supply design, reduced wireless range after a month of use, errors with in data routing and generally lacking in advanced features.

I'm entitled to an opinion based upon my experience, and unfortunately for you, your attack of such doesn't make anybody look bad aside from yourself.

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 07 Dec 2006, 06:09

One more note, just to crap all over this thread again...

Explain to me why a home user would want a fricking cisco router

jackalope · Post by **jackalope** » 07 Dec 2006, 06:51

grumpy either works for linksys or has a lot of time

Ishach · Post by **Ishach** » 07 Dec 2006, 11:24

Dont listen to anyone, you want a Cisco 2500.

On a serious note, I have had a ton of trouble with my D-link G604T and I wouldnt reccomend it to anyone, its been a nightmare since day one.

Spring RTS Engine

Recommend a good ADSL modem please

Recommend a good ADSL modem please