Wired router recommendations?

My ancient Linksys router, a BEFSR41 v.2.0, bit the dust a week ago. I'd
bought it on Craigslist for $5. It worked great since about last April,
but now it has gone the way of so many other Linksys products. Can
anybody recommend a good, inexpensive, wired router replacement?

TIA
--
John Corliss

On 1/14/2014 4:30 AM, John Corliss wrote:
My ancient Linksys router, a BEFSR41 v.2.0, bit the dust a week ago. I'd
bought it on Craigslist for $5. It worked great since about last April,
but now it has gone the way of so many other Linksys products. Can
anybody recommend a good, inexpensive, wired router replacement?

The retail cost of a wireless vs. wired router is negligible, if you can
even find a wired one. Newegg, for instance, only has one
consumer-grade wired router. I would recommend just buying a wireless
one and turning off that feature.

Grinder wrote:
On 1/14/2014 4:30 AM, John Corliss wrote:
My ancient Linksys router, a BEFSR41 v.2.0, bit the dust a week ago. I'd
bought it on Craigslist for $5. It worked great since about last April,
but now it has gone the way of so many other Linksys products. Can
anybody recommend a good, inexpensive, wired router replacement?

The retail cost of a wireless vs. wired router is negligible, if you can
even find a wired one. Newegg, for instance, only has one
consumer-grade wired router. I would recommend just buying a wireless
one and turning off that feature.

Well, I just set up a Wireless router (Cisco Linksys WRT54G2 v1.0) which
a friend had given me, but believed to be no longer working. I reset it
before I even plugged anything other than the power cord. This seems to
have worked. Only problem is that setting it up installed that Cisco
Network Magic software crap and without any choice on my part. However,
before I did any of this I set a System Restore point (I'm running XP
MCE SP3.) I monitored the setup and installation of the program using
Total Uninstall 2.35. After the router was running nicely and everything
was done, I rebooted, then uninstalled Cisco Network Magic. That
uninstall was extremely incomplete, leaving hundreds of orphan registry
entries and gobs of orphan files. I rebooted again, then ran Total
Uninstall to remove the traces of the program. I then rebooted again and
went back to the System Restore point. The software is completely gone,
but now I will have to monitor the situation to see if the router has
any resulting issues because of all the crap I had to go through just to
get that bundled software removed.

I went into the router settings and disabled the wireless portion. I
don't know if it will still be broadcasting the network though, so I'll
have to ask my neighbor if she can see it still. If it's still
broadcasting that network, I will yank this router out and throw it away.

I detest wireless networking. 80(

--
John Corliss

On 01/14/2014 02:30 AM, John Corliss wrote:
My ancient Linksys router, a BEFSR41 v.2.0, bit the dust a week ago. I'd
bought it on Craigslist for $5. It worked great since about last April,
but now it has gone the way of so many other Linksys products. Can
anybody recommend a good, inexpensive, wired router replacement?

I say go craigslist again; I recently picked up a nice router (wireless,
cuz that's my thing now) for ten bucks, and installed different firmware
to it (DD-WRT).

Jon

On 1/14/2014 11:00 AM, John Corliss wrote:
Grinder wrote:
On 1/14/2014 4:30 AM, John Corliss wrote:
My ancient Linksys router, a BEFSR41 v.2.0, bit the dust a week ago. I'd
bought it on Craigslist for $5. It worked great since about last April,
but now it has gone the way of so many other Linksys products. Can
anybody recommend a good, inexpensive, wired router replacement?

The retail cost of a wireless vs. wired router is negligible, if you can
even find a wired one. Newegg, for instance, only has one
consumer-grade wired router. I would recommend just buying a wireless
one and turning off that feature.

Well, I just set up a Wireless router (Cisco Linksys WRT54G2 v1.0) which
a friend had given me, but believed to be no longer working. I reset it
before I even plugged anything other than the power cord. This seems to
have worked. Only problem is that setting it up installed that Cisco
Network Magic software crap and without any choice on my part. However,
before I did any of this I set a System Restore point (I'm running XP
MCE SP3.) I monitored the setup and installation of the program using
Total Uninstall 2.35. After the router was running nicely and everything
was done, I rebooted, then uninstalled Cisco Network Magic. That
uninstall was extremely incomplete, leaving hundreds of orphan registry
entries and gobs of orphan files. I rebooted again, then ran Total
Uninstall to remove the traces of the program. I then rebooted again and
went back to the System Restore point. The software is completely gone,
but now I will have to monitor the situation to see if the router has
any resulting issues because of all the crap I had to go through just to
get that bundled software removed.

I went into the router settings and disabled the wireless portion. I
don't know if it will still be broadcasting the network though, so I'll
have to ask my neighbor if she can see it still. If it's still
broadcasting that network, I will yank this router out and throw it away.

I detest wireless networking. 80(


You needn't bother with a router's installation disc. There is never
anything on them that is necessary to use the router.

"John Corliss" wrote

My ancient Linksys router, a BEFSR41 v.2.0, bit the dust a week ago. I'd
bought it on Craigslist for $5. It worked great since about last April,
but now it has gone the way of so many other Linksys products. Can anybody
recommend a good, inexpensive, wired router replacement?

TIA
--
John Corliss

Faced with the same problem I discovered that my WiFi router was a wired
Ethernet HUB. Not good for sustainable performance. I got a new 5 port
D-Link Ethernet SWITCH at FutureShop for $20, locally. There is no useless
management page. It works much better and I have never looked back.
Reference: Wikipedia for theory regarding Ethernet hub and switch

On 1/14/2014 3:01 PM, Norm X wrote:
"John Corliss" wrote

My ancient Linksys router, a BEFSR41 v.2.0, bit the dust a week ago. I'd
bought it on Craigslist for $5. It worked great since about last April,
but now it has gone the way of so many other Linksys products. Can anybody
recommend a good, inexpensive, wired router replacement?

TIA
--
John Corliss

Faced with the same problem I discovered that my WiFi router was a wired
Ethernet HUB. Not good for sustainable performance. I got a new 5 port
D-Link Ethernet SWITCH at FutureShop for $20, locally. There is no useless
management page. It works much better and I have never looked back.
Reference: Wikipedia for theory regarding Ethernet hub and switch



A wired router is normally nothing more than a one-port-router
plus an N-port-switch.

On my BEFSR41, it was quite explicit. There were two PCBs, the
one port router chip was on one board, the switch chip and LAN
ports were on the other board. The PCBs sandwiched together.

Later routers, a single chip contains the one-port-router function
as well as the switch function. The higher level of integration is
intended to save money. The manufacturer can then save money (to make
a low end box), by not equipping the transformer chips needed per
port, saving money on wired ports if they're not wanted.

And that means there's not going to be a difference between a 4 port
router and a one port router plus a four port switch. They never seem
to design them with the equivalent of four or five Ethernet chips,
all chugging away on their own. If you want that, there are companies
that make "router boards" that sometimes design them that way.

Where buying in a modular fashion can pay off, is if you buy a GbE
switch box. Allowing home computers on the LAN side to transfer
files at gigabit rates. Since the broadband connection typically
runs at lower speeds, there is no need for the router box and
one-port-router function to run that fast. I run my $40 router
as a one port 10/100BT router, then connect a $40 GbE switch
box to it. Achieving GbE rates where I need them (for moving
files about, at 100MB/sec), and 312 KB/sec through my ISP (doh!).

Also be aware, that in compute-limited router boxes, the router
may actually be slower than the link. My first router, could
handle WAN traffic at 3MB/sec, not even up to the capacities of
100BT (12.5MB/sec). So the routing function can be
rate limited in any case, and a bit of a pig. The router may use
a MIPS processor running at somewhere between 200MHz and 600MHz say.
It can't be too much more powerful, or the router chip
will need a heatsink :-)

Paul

Grinder wrote:
On 1/14/2014 11:00 AM, John Corliss wrote:
Grinder wrote:
On 1/14/2014 4:30 AM, John Corliss wrote:
My ancient Linksys router, a BEFSR41 v.2.0, bit the dust a week ago.
I'd
bought it on Craigslist for $5. It worked great since about last April,
but now it has gone the way of so many other Linksys products. Can
anybody recommend a good, inexpensive, wired router replacement?

The retail cost of a wireless vs. wired router is negligible, if you can
even find a wired one. Newegg, for instance, only has one
consumer-grade wired router. I would recommend just buying a wireless
one and turning off that feature.

Well, I just set up a Wireless router (Cisco Linksys WRT54G2 v1.0) which
a friend had given me, but believed to be no longer working. I reset it
before I even plugged anything other than the power cord. This seems to
have worked. Only problem is that setting it up installed that Cisco
Network Magic software crap and without any choice on my part. However,
before I did any of this I set a System Restore point (I'm running XP
MCE SP3.) I monitored the setup and installation of the program using
Total Uninstall 2.35. After the router was running nicely and everything
was done, I rebooted, then uninstalled Cisco Network Magic. That
uninstall was extremely incomplete, leaving hundreds of orphan registry
entries and gobs of orphan files. I rebooted again, then ran Total
Uninstall to remove the traces of the program. I then rebooted again and
went back to the System Restore point. The software is completely gone,
but now I will have to monitor the situation to see if the router has
any resulting issues because of all the crap I had to go through just to
get that bundled software removed.

I went into the router settings and disabled the wireless portion. I
don't know if it will still be broadcasting the network though, so I'll
have to ask my neighbor if she can see it still. If it's still
broadcasting that network, I will yank this router out and throw it away.

I detest wireless networking. 80(

You needn't bother with a router's installation disc. There is never
anything on them that is necessary to use the router.

Yeah, I guess you're right. This is the second router I've used. Only
thing you need to know in advance is the password after the thing has
been reset, and that's usually "admin" I guess. If not, it can be found
on the internet.

--
John Corliss

"Paul" wrote in message ...
On 1/14/2014 3:01 PM, Norm X wrote:
"John Corliss" wrote

My ancient Linksys router, a BEFSR41 v.2.0, bit the dust a week ago. I'd
bought it on Craigslist for $5. It worked great since about last April,
but now it has gone the way of so many other Linksys products. Can
anybody
recommend a good, inexpensive, wired router replacement?

TIA
--
John Corliss

Faced with the same problem I discovered that my WiFi router was a wired
Ethernet HUB. Not good for sustainable performance. I got a new 5 port
D-Link Ethernet SWITCH at FutureShop for $20, locally. There is no
useless
management page. It works much better and I have never looked back.
Reference: Wikipedia for theory regarding Ethernet hub and switch


My Bad. I bought the 5-port Ethernet switch at 'The Source'. The Future Shop
does not provide sophisticated products at low prices. Best Buy is even
worse.


A wired router is normally nothing more than a one-port-router
plus an N-port-switch.

On my BEFSR41, it was quite explicit. There were two PCBs, the
one port router chip was on one board, the switch chip and LAN
ports were on the other board. The PCBs sandwiched together.

Later routers, a single chip contains the one-port-router function
as well as the switch function. The higher level of integration is
intended to save money. The manufacturer can then save money (to make
a low end box), by not equipping the transformer chips needed per
port, saving money on wired ports if they're not wanted.

And that means there's not going to be a difference between a 4 port
router and a one port router plus a four port switch. They never seem
to design them with the equivalent of four or five Ethernet chips,
all chugging away on their own. If you want that, there are companies
that make "router boards" that sometimes design them that way.

Where buying in a modular fashion can pay off, is if you buy a GbE
switch box. Allowing home computers on the LAN side to transfer
files at gigabit rates. Since the broadband connection typically
runs at lower speeds, there is no need for the router box and
one-port-router function to run that fast. I run my $40 router
as a one port 10/100BT router, then connect a $40 GbE switch
box to it. Achieving GbE rates where I need them (for moving
files about, at 100MB/sec), and 312 KB/sec through my ISP (doh!).

Also be aware, that in compute-limited router boxes, the router
may actually be slower than the link. My first router, could
handle WAN traffic at 3MB/sec, not even up to the capacities of
100BT (12.5MB/sec). So the routing function can be
rate limited in any case, and a bit of a pig. The router may use
a MIPS processor running at somewhere between 200MHz and 600MHz say.
It can't be too much more powerful, or the router chip
will need a heatsink :-)

Paul

See my comment above. All five ports of my 5 port D-Link Ethernet switch are
populated. The device is made in China and is quite small. It is only large
enough to house five Ethernet Ports and a power plug. Knowing the advantage
of an Ethernet switch, next time I will shop eBay for a good used Cisco
switch. Cisco switches are stackable, can be daisy chained and they are
programmable.

As I write this, my network 'farm' is connected at 39.0 Mbps via wireless
link to a neighbor's wireless router, which in turn is connected to the
Internet via ADSL. I like to work with RDP and VNC. These protocols work
well with a switch but work poorly with a hub. Guess what? Performance with
a hub is identical to performance when all device connect via WiFi to the
same access point. WiFi is a hub. All clients receive the same radio
packets.

In addition, it is environmentally unsound to have too many radio frequency
sources. I know of a professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry who is
on an anti-cancer campaign due to low power RF. Personally, I believe we are
all going to die from an asteroid impact before one of us dies from low
power RF induced cancer.

Point to note: my copy of Kismet can detect more than 60 WiFi APs using a
cheap WiFi adapter in a netbook. Kismet only works with Linux and I cannot
get my Netgear USB N600 dual channel WiFi adapter to work with Linux.

Jon Danniken wrote:
On 01/14/2014 02:30 AM, John Corliss wrote:
My ancient Linksys router, a BEFSR41 v.2.0, bit the dust a week ago. I'd
bought it on Craigslist for $5. It worked great since about last April,
but now it has gone the way of so many other Linksys products. Can
anybody recommend a good, inexpensive, wired router replacement?

I say go craigslist again; I recently picked up a nice router (wireless,
cuz that's my thing now) for ten bucks, and installed different firmware
to it (DD-WRT).

No longer in the market. A router a friend had given me, thinking that
it was shot, turned out to be working. It's a Cisco Linksys WRT54G2
v1.0. This time I'm going to leave it running all the time. I was
turning off the other router when I wasn't using the computer, and that
may have led to it failing.

To that end, now I'm in the market for an individually switched power
strip (no surge protection) like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/OUTLET-PROTECT...dp/B002YKPWH0/

Although the ad says it's got built in surge protection, I'm almost
positive that it doesn't since no specs in joules are provided.

I've looked into installing different firmware and agree that might be a
good idea.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index

The site says that the firmware is Linux-based. I wonder if it would
work with a Windows based computer.

--
John Corliss