Do routers effect speed? what's best?

Question

Once I've got my super-dooper high speed connection, do routers have a "speed" factor that could ultimately hinder my vonage phone and internet performance? I only intend to use wired connections, so range/coverage isn't an issue. I don't want to waste my money on a fast connection just to end up with a sub-standard router that slows me down and causes choppy phone calls just b/c I happen to be surfing while I'm talking. So..do routers have a speed or other component that effect performance in a wired network?

Answer 1

Well since you're wired, you don't have any of the performance hassles/signal quality or speed ratings of wireless to worry about.

Most all consumer routers (Linksys, Netgear, D-LInk, Belkin etc) these days come with a built-in 10/100 fast Ethernet switch for wired connections. The 10/100 means it automatically senses if machines on your local network are trying to communicate at 10 or 100 mb, and communicates back to them at the same rate. So any computer with a 100mb network card communicates with your router at 100mb.

This covers 90% of most cases- maybe you JUST purchased a new high-end computer with a gigabit-capable network card- but it would be limited to 100mb since that's the fastest your router goes. A really old computer running Win98 with a 10mb network card (that you never spent $15 to replace) would communicate at 10mb.

But... most high-speed Internet services from phone and cable companies run well below those speeds- typically 1.5mb or 3mb. So even if you've got ancient 10mb network cards in your computers, that's still 3x faster than your pipeline to the Internet. Premium business grade DSL is 7mb, which is still less than a crusty old 10mb card, and less than 1/10th of the capacity of a standard 100mb card.

So in a nutshell... no, there's almost no chance you'll encounter problems running wired because of your router speed.

However you may very well encounter problems because your DSL or Cable *upstream* speed is too low (the rate at which you SEND data to the Internet as opposed to receiving it). For example, Yahoo's entry-level DSL service is advertised as 768k - which means you receive data at up to 768k, but your upstream speed is much less- probably 128k (many companies don't even state their upstream speeds in their ads- you have to call their support line to find out)

Since people browsing the web simply type a few characters at a time for web addresses, or a paragraph of e-mail, this is fine. It's all those pictures, audio and large files coming back downstream that requires high bandwidth.

VOIP supposedly doesn't require a lot of bandwidth to work- nowadays it's supposed to be fine with only 32K (yeah right)

Still, find out what your current upstream speed is- with 128k you're theoretically ok, but I'd recommend having 384k to be on the safe side (if that's not too expensive).

If you exhaust your upstream bandwidth with other activity, callers won't be able to hear you clearly, although you'll hear them just fine (their audio data is coming downstream to you).

Web browsing while on calls is usually ok, since it's short bursts of activity. Downloading large files or sending big attachments via e-mail will degrade call quality while those operations are going.

One thing which will destroy your VOIP quality is running a Peer-to-Peer filesharing program- they typically suck up all of your available bandwidth.

There are odd cases where people could run into hardware issues but those are rare- people using 10-year old hubs instead of their router's built-in switch, or who host web sites on the same connection they're trying to talk on- stuff like that.

Hope some of this helps!

Answer 2

Yes, USB does hinder your transfer speeds because of the nature of how USB is detected. I'm not sure where you live that you have such an awful plan, but I suggest looking for better cable broadband alternatives. If you are connecting USB from your modem then you are most likely not using a router and thus not receiving any protection. I suggest picking up a wireless router and going that way if your ethernet port on your laptop is shot. Routers in general do slow your connection down because of addressing, but not enough for you to notice at all. I'm just letting you know the facts. If you have any questions you can email me. --Kyle

Answer 3

All routers have a very slight effect on a network vs a no router network. For example, my router would bring my DSL connection down from 4.11 Mbps down to 4.06 Mbps. It is a piece crap (MN-500), but I can't notice the change at all. Just get a good brand such as Linksys or D-Link. The slight performance loss is not noticeable.

Answer 4

yes, wireless routers either come in 54 Mbps or 104 Mbps but these should be very sufficent for any internet speed under the rated speed.

Answer 5

You won't notice the difference.