need xp router

[Shinta]

i'm looking for an xp router that won't give me problems if i play games on both systems same time

i want to set up a lan.. preferably a max of 3-4 computers nothing more..

the router also has to be compatible with windows xp.. i'm on a budget and don't really wanna spend more than $180 or so

i was looking at home portal and my cousin bought it and it's basically a piece of ****.. does anyone have any suggestions?

[valachimus]

You can get a linksys dsl router\ 10\100 4port switch at compusa.com or officemax.com for about $150. They are pretty common. DO NOT buy a piece of **** off brand router because it's cheap, they may work hardware wise, but the setup and maintanance is not worth the hassle.

[elroy]

I've got an SMC Barricade 7004ABR, I got it on special for about $45. I've had it for maybe 9 months and am very happy with it. I believe it is the same as a D-Link 704. I run 2 computers and a server on it.

[fishninja007]

I got a netgear router. Its pretty cool. I got the one with wireless so I can use a laptop from my couch to see whats on TV... man, I'm gonna get fat. Most games (anything in the past couple years) are ok but some games just don't work with multiple comps from the same IP.

As a side note, the netgear supports Dynamic DNS (DDNS) which is cool. If you have a DNS name you set up with a service and configure it in the router such that your DNS name points to your computer whenever its online. Its ok even if you don't have a static IP. I think mine was about $180.

There's a version without the wireless that has a cool firewall built in too.

[Shinta]

thanks ive heard most people talking about the linksys router so i think ill go with that 1

[carolinajoe]

If you know someone going thru the Cisco courses see if they would order you the 800 series router it is sweet. The only other drawback is its $250 but the retail is over $750. Its offer at that price for Cisco Academy students.

[KissmyDonkey]

Originally posted by carolinajoe
If you know someone going thru the Cisco courses see if they would order you the 800 series router it is sweet. The only other drawback is its $250 but the retail is over $750. Its offer at that price for Cisco Academy students.

Yep I am in the academy right now and its a sweet deal.....

But I already have a linksys router......

Have you thought about using a switch for a lan party....much cheaper solution

[Shinta]

i never heard anyone talking about using a switch..

can you explain that one

[Slipknot]

First off, lets clear up a couple things. A router in the home enviorment is used to share internet connections, not network PCs. Hubs and Switches are the devices that allow you to network your computers so they can talk to each other (and play games). So first off, you need to decied if you are also going to be sharing highspeed internet access with these computers. If you are, then you will be buying one of the 2 devices.

router/hub (both devices in the same unit)
or
router/switch(both devices in the same unit)


If you don't have to share internet access, then you will only be buying either a Hub or a Switch.


A switch is better then a hub. They don't cost that much more then name brand hubs, but if all of your PCs are busy at the same time, it allows then to operate at the full 100Mbit speed.....I will try to give you an example.



|---------------|--------------|
| | |
| 1 | 2 |
| | |
|---------------|--------------|
| | |
| 3 | 4 |
| | |
|---------------|--------------|


I will try to show the difference between a 100Mbit switch and a 100Mbit hub. I saw an example like this somewhere, but I dont remeber where. Imaging the 4 boxes as 4 PCs in your house. With a switch, you can send a file at 100Mbits from PC1 to PC2 while you are also sending a file from PC3 to PC4 at 100Mbits. In a way, a switch will give you a dedicated full speed pipe to each of the locations while the other locations remain at full speed too. The reason it seems like this, is because switches are "smart". Instead of spamming the entire network with information, it only sends the information to the PC it is suppose to.
With a Hub, you have 100Mb of TOTAL bandwidth, not 100Mbit per port. That means, If PC1 is sending a large file to PC2 it could possible take up all the bandwidth. If PC3 then started sending a file to PC4, ALL the PCs would slow down because they all share the same single 100Mb pipe. Does that make since.
Here is another example. When a hub recieves information into one of its ports, It will spit that information back out to all of the ports at the same. A hub is nothing more then network repeater. When using a hub, it is the PCs job to decided if that information belongs to it or not. When it receives a data from a PC on the network, the switch will look at the data packet and will then read where the packets is going and only sends that packet to the port on the switch that the destination computer is plugged into.

Any questions? :)

[Slipknot]

my graph didn't show to good, but hopefully you will get the idea from teh information

[iconoclastic]

Checkout the Buslink router gateway/switch 10-100 on sale at www.tigerDirect.com they have it for $49.00 it is a 4 port unit
that should serve your needs very well

[rockjockjared]

I have a SOHO Ware Broadguard router that we currently have 5 computers hooked up to on a cable connection. It works great but we still lag out whenever there are 2 comps playing UT online. But, I don't blame this on my router...I'm pretty sure that it's my ISP. Since the Excite@home service went down we have been having this problem, never had the problem before. But all in all I'm .... eh... we'll say pleased with the router, it's not the best thing out there, and if I had it to do over again i think I would buy a Linksys, but it was only $60 at the time so I can't complain too much :)