Routers & Other Networking Stuff

It's just dumb that they treat it as a bundle rather than a ... kit? What I mean is that their other Amazon device bundles don't actually give a discount on the items, it's just a convenient way to order accessories. If they make you order separately so the discount applies to just the main item it's no big deal, you can just order the accessories separately and still get a good deal. Here, you'd end up paying $96 for the first one and $120 for the second one, which is considerably more than just buying the bundle for $180 (Prime Day / BF sale prices). I'll bug their chat people about it when the time comes anyway.

Having a few doubts about the eero the more I look into it too. Seems it has no support for VLAN tags which would be a deal breaker except that I also read that if you only need two SSIDs you can make use of the guest network for that purpose. All I really want to do is put all my home automation stuff on one VLAN and my phone, tablet, Switch in portable mode, etc. on another so maybe that would be adequate. However, the Deco mesh systems have full support for VLANs, multiple SSIDs, etc. built in. And I can buy a couple X55 units today for $80 each (or even 3 for $190) which is the same price as on Prime Day and most likely BF too. There's also a lot of recommendations for them on the pfSense reddit and elsewhere, making it even more tempting.

Lanx said:

looking at my receipt i got a bundle? cuz thats how i got this gay ass sticker

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Weird. I guess they changed the listing since Prime Day but it's probably something that support can fix. I ordered the Deco X55 3-pack today, couldn't pass up a chance at getting what I need for ~$63 per unit and it gives me time to test it and if it doesn't work out I can still grab the eero during BF week.

So far, so good on the Deco X55 system. Only running two of the three nodes until I decide where there's a lack of coverage, and with them connected via ethernet backhaul I'm getting the same performance as with the Spectrum kit on everything but my phone (no more 6E or Spectrum Mobile boost so it's down from 1.3Gbps to around 500-800Mbps depending on where I am... not like I use the phone for huge downloads anyway). The management webpage and app are actually not bad either, it's quite a bit more robust than Tether was for my AX55/RE700X combo. I don't think it'll be a problem to use it as a router until I get my last two boxes (pfSense appliance and a miniITX Unraid NAS) built in the next month or two.

Just downloaded Like a Dragon Gaiden at over 800Mbps with Hulu streaming elsewhere on the network so no complaints there. I've never seen anything close to that from my Series X before.

Vorph said:

So far, so good on the Deco X55 system. Only running two of the three nodes until I decide where there's a lack of coverage, and with them connected via ethernet backhaul I'm getting the same performance as with the Spectrum kit on everything but my phone (no more 6E or Spectrum Mobile boost so it's down from 1.3Gbps to around 500-800Mbps depending on where I am... not like I use the phone for huge downloads anyway). The management webpage and app are actually not bad either, it's quite a bit more robust than Tether was for my AX55/RE700X combo. I don't think it'll be a problem to use it as a router until I get my last two boxes (pfSense appliance and a miniITX Unraid NAS) built in the next month or two.

Just downloaded Like a Dragon Gaiden at over 800Mbps with Hulu streaming elsewhere on the network so no complaints there. I've never seen anything close to that from my Series X before.

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Yea I just upgraded to a Deco 6E a few months ago and was going to go through the hassle to run Ethernet cables but I'm getting 900Mbps on dedicated 6ghz backhaul sooo yea guess wireless is finally for real. I plug my desktop into Ethernet port so it can't get any signal issues. I frequently am hitting 600MBps+ on servers that support it (basically steam...) which is nuts.

I hate that Steam is the only thing that can even push those kind of numbers. It becomes painfully obvious who has garbage server infrastructure, even companies who by all rights should have decent shit.

Kiki said:

I hate that Steam is the only thing that can even push those kind of numbers. It becomes painfully obvious who has garbage server infrastructure, even companies who by all rights should have decent shit.

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Yea it makes the whole 2.5Gbps ethernet push kinda pointless. I mean yay I can get 2Gbps fiber at home... And still download 25 MBps because everything is rate limited to shit.

Not saying there aren't weirdos who have multiple 20TB NAS with ripped Disney DVDs and replicate it to their outbuilding for security but the Internet as a whole is just mid at this point.

Yeah, 2.5Gbps gear still isn't worth the price bump unless you actually get more than gigabit service from your ISP or you have some extreme use-case that wouldn't apply to 99% of home networks.

I was definitely impressed with MS download speed yesterday though. 800 Mbps is right on par with the speed I got on Steam this morning downloading a patch for Cyberpunk. Sony and (especially) Nintendo still don't seem to give a fuck though. Sony peaks in the 200-300Mbps range and with Nintendo you're lucky to break into triple digits even when the Switch is docked with a wired connection.

Lanx said:

lulz i forget the switch has an ethernet port, ha, i keep on thinking it's all wireless

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That was one of the best parts of the OLED upgrade, no more need for a USB dongle hanging off of it. The eShop is always slow as shit, but it's not quite so terrible when you plug it in.

I've got a few of their managed (non-PoE) switches and for the money I don't think they can be beat. That one looks to have the same management web UI; QoS and VLAN support is basic but plenty adequate for a home network. If I needed a PoE switch, that's the one I'd get too.

I'd like to upgrade my home network to 10Gb preferrably. Are there any decent cheap unmanaged 8 port 10Gb switches available yet? And what are people using for NICs? I need at least 3 NICs for server and main PC/plex server.

Break said:

I'd like to upgrade my home network to 10Gb preferrably. Are there any decent cheap unmanaged 8 port 10Gb switches available yet? And what are people using for NICs? I need at least 3 NICs for server and main PC/plex server.

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Do you really need full 10GbE? If not a hybrid 2.5/10 setup is fairly affordable now. I'd definitely go with SFP+, since fiber seems a lot cheaper for both the switches and NICs. Less heat too, which is a major problem for 10G copper.

Vorph said:

Do you really need full 10GbE? If not a hybrid 2.5/10 setup is fairly affordable now. I'd definitely go with SFP+, since fiber seems a lot cheaper for both the switches and NICs. Less heat too, which is a major problem for 10G copper.

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2.5gb would be fine probably, honestly this is more of a nice to have anyway for transferring large bluray rips and whatnot. Running fiber through the house might be fun but not something I want to commit to right now.

There are lots of used cheap dual RJ45 10gb nics on ebay for <$100 from Dell, HP etc but from what I can tell they can't negotiate to 2.5 or 5.0, just 1/10. Or I can buy 2.5Gb no-name NICs for around $40 each which doesn't fill me with much confidence.

Yeah, I don't think 10G is quite 'there' yet for home use either. Full 10G you're looking at stuff from AliExpress or else spending a crazy amount of money for business class stuff. Hybrid you can get from QNAP or Mikrotik which are more trustworthy but the 10G part still seems like a hassle for questionable gains. I'm sticking to gigabit for now, maybe sometime down the road I'll upgrade a couple switches and the NICs in my gaming PC and NAS to 2.5G. For now, it's simple enough to just remote into my NAS and do all my USENET and torrent downloading directly to it. All I need is gigabit hardware to go with my gigabit cable service.