Routers & Other Networking Stuff

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Remit_sl

shitlord
521
-1
I run my own WISP (wireless internet service provider) business, serving 5 or so rural towns. All my routers are tiks. They are amazing. My upstream has even swapped out most of their Juniper gear for tiks, running 1100AHx2's on their edge running full BGP on gig links. The price/performance/stability blows anything else out of the water.

And once you set one up for home use, you will never know how you managed without HTB queues.

http://mikrotikuniversity.com/index....aining-videos/
 

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
29,948
29,762
Ok, when I get some time I am going to do a huge writeup on my routerboard and see if you guys can walk me through things.
 

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
<Nazi Janitors>
28,311
43,092
I've never even heard of 'Routerboard' until some posts on here recently. What makes them awesome?
 

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
29,948
29,762
I've never even heard of 'Routerboard' until some posts on here recently. What makes them awesome?
They are impressively powerful with options in their OS that outclass any commercial product end users buy and at a fraction of the cost.

The only issue with them is configuration can be scary.
 

Izo

Tranny Chaser
18,344
20,944
What about documentation on their os - is it extensive? I kinda dig Cisco ios' documentation, was awesome when studying CCNA back in the days. Thanks for the tip guys
smile.png
 

eldub_sl

shitlord
8
0
Anyone have experience with the Asus RT-660U 802.11c router? Is it noticeably better then the 802.11N version? Any comments on the range/coverage across a house?
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
37,961
14,508
I still love my D-Link DIR-655. I had a lot of shitty routers in the past (linksys, Belkin, Verizon's oh god that was the worst). This thing has never given me a single issue and it has pretty good range. Somehow I get service outside of our apartment complex on the lawn with about 45 other routers in range, so I can't complain. Also with the other routers I would constantly have to power cycle them because shit would just randomly stop working. I think I've power cycled the D-Link about 3 times in 2 years, and pretty sure two of those times was because I was nervous it would stop working like the others. I recommend it to all my family, and they don't experience issues either.

My fiance's family has the worst Comcast setup ever, like a separate modem for the phone and a separate one for internet, and routers just were working so shitty there. After a few years of nothing but headaches I convinced them to buy the DIR-655 and all the issues disappeared. I love the thing.

I would definitely try the routerboard ones if this shit the bed though.
 

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
<Gold Donor>
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Anyone have experience with the Asus RT-660U 802.11c router? Is it noticeably better then the 802.11N version? Any comments on the range/coverage across a house?
I just replaced my DIR-655 with the ASUS N66U. Was going to go with the AC version but after reading a bit and going off Smallnetbuilder's review (Link), it just seemed not worth it. Being rev 1 tech, increased cost, plus having to go with an AC NIC/adapter. If I read their analysis correctly the largest gains aren't easily realizable depending on your 2.4 GHz congestion. Plus most of what I do is wired streaming.

My DIR-655 had been crapping the bed the past two weeks. Constantly dropping, wireless speeds abysmally slow, and some strange network performance issues related to streaming using the on board LAN. The N66U was pretty much plug and play. Getting 30+ MBps wireless and wired GigE has been flawless between the NUC and NAS. The DIR-655 was honestly perfect for the last two years or so, but all of a sudden went poop.

*edit: well it's always something... now my PS3 won't reach the internet. Browsing around it looked like turning off b/g protection was supposed to solve the issue, to no avail. Some key exchange time out, although once it actually received an IP, just wouldn't get outside. MacBook Air won't hit the internet, although it has an IP and shows as connected fully. Everything is set up pretty default. 20/40 MHz channel to auto, b/c I know the older iPhone's can't do 40 MHz channels. Regular WPA2 with no strange key. G + N on wireless.... no idea, will have to play more tomorrow.
 

brekk

Dancing Dino Superstar
<Bronze Donator>
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We've been installing Sonicwall Router/Gateway/VPN devices for most of our small business customers without dedicated servers to handle VPN connections. They work very well, VERY customizable. Sonicwall's Global VPN client is easy as pie to get working. They have configurable back ports, some can be configured for Dual WAN's, VLANs, multiple SSID's with varying access.

And as a recommendation for small business WAP's. DO NOT USE THE Cisco WAP4410N POE WAP. These devices are total crap, with numerous issues that Cisco support could not resolve.

We Finally replaced the pair of them with WAP321's which have been fantastic so far.

Personally I run a DIR-655 at home with a 12db antenna in place of one of the three stock antennas. I love that router have had it for 2+ years trouble free, and now its loaded down with 3 techies using it on our Uverse line. My roommate has a basic Linksys router as a second gateway handling his comcast connection.
 

Wolfen_sl

shitlord
746
12
I had a DIR-655 for a long time and it always worked great. I upgraded to the Asus RT-N66U and I freaking love it. Best router I've ever owned, and I've owned lots of routers. The VPN feature works great, too.
 

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
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Still no luck getting any of the fiance's Apple products working on the N66U. Her Macbook Air and iPhone both connect, get IPs, etc... but can't reach any page. Tried 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz on the Air without luck. DNS appears to be working as it can resolve Google and the such to correct IPs, but can't ping it, trace it, or anything. Nothing strange shows up in the log for the N66U, I can see where her laptop connects and gets the 192.168.1.106 address I set up. I know so little about Apple products and am stumped. The "Network Diagnostic" function built in seems to also think it is working as all green lights.
 

Intrinsic

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Yeah, it's the strangest thing, and I'm sure something obvious that is being overlooked. My PC, Phone, work laptop, Kindle, and XBMC box are all fine. Haven't actually tried the XBox yet. Oh well will keep tinkering. May try out Tomato or DD-WRT.
 

Scaffa_sl

shitlord
122
1
Check the gateway IP address the problematic devices are using. Also sanity check any VLAN's and ensure they're going in the right one (if you have guest networks etc).
 

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
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Check the gateway IP address the problematic devices are using. Also sanity check any VLAN's and ensure they're going in the right one (if you have guest networks etc).
That's what it was, more or less. For some reason the Mac stuff, and my PS3, were being assigned a default gateway of 192.168.1.251, which according to the N66U belonged to a Netgear device. That didn't make sense because the only Netgear equipment was an old switch that wasn't being used anymore. Then laying in bed tonight I remembered the adapter on my sprinkler controller (irrigation cady). Unplugged it, and now the other devices get the correct gateway and work fine. Not sure why some devices were being assigned that as the gateway, so will need to get that straightened out next weekend. Not that I even use the sprinkler system.
 

Tripamang

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
5,169
31,557
Anyone have any experience with setting up a long distance wireless network? My gf's appartment is directly line of sight from my condo window and I was thinking of setting it up so she's part of my LAN and we can share files etc. It's at max about 1km (probably closer to 500m) away.. I'm on the 21st floor, she's on ground level with some light tree cover in the way. Would it just be a matter of buying two antennas and having a router on each side? Is it viable at all? Thanks

Edit: I'm also planning on transmitting the signal through my window (I have no balcony).
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
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Might work if you use a spider antenna to simulate a parabolic dish, but that distance seems to be really pushing it.