Which small network (4 users) wireless router has the richest management / troubleshooting features?

Question

Users on my home wireless network complain about outages, variable lag times, can't reconnect, takes too long to reconnect. I want to see what's really happening with a great log. Is the cable company or my router lagging? How many retransmitts to and from router? What is the cable bandwidth at 8 PM?

Answer 1

What you need is a router that features QoS - Quality of Service. What this features does is it routes the traffic from your computers in a timely fashion depending of the type of interesting traffic that the router detects.

In other words, the router distinguishes the type of protocols and packets that are trying to access the Internet (outbound) and the network (inbound) and looks for the most time critical ones to give them prioritization over other packets. For example, lets say you have a computer running a game server over the Internet and the rest of your computers are running web browsers and email clients. In this scenario the router would be hit with all these packets trying to get out/into the LAN almost all of them instantly almost at the same time. What the router will do then is look for the time critical packets and allow them the right of way (first in and out of the router) every time even though some of these packets might have gotten there AFTER all the other non-critical packets had arrived to the router first. This lets you run your game server (time critical packets) without a hitch while the other computers wont notice the slight lag in their browsing and email reading (non critical packets).

On another note, if you want to see the inner workings of your LAN, consider purchasing a network packet and protocol analyzer like Network Inspector (costly) if your serious about venturing into the fun world of network management. There are other less expensive and even free options, try googling them.

As for the answer Ryan Smith gave, its a very good answer indeed. Upgrading the firmware is good practice in all of troubleshooting practices, good for your hardware means good for you. Ryan, I haven't tried it on my linsys yet, but ill give it a try now that you brought up that point. Good job.

Answer 2

I have a crappy Linksys WRT54G router ~$50 at any store. I the downloaded dd-wrt (http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/index.php) firmware for it, and I have just been shocked at the performance.

The dd-wrt is open source frimware, so it's a little nerve-racking when you first install it because you can "Brick" your router. It's well worth the risk though.

It allows you to do a VPN pass through so you can access your networks from anywhere. The dd-wrt basicially turns your 50 router into a 600 router. This is what I would recommend if you are going to get a new router.