Need help setting up home network with multiple routers

Alduin94 · May 11, 2014

Hi, currently my home network is set up uses 1 modem and 3 other routers. The modem (which is not configurable) is connected to a router (the one without wi-fi) which is on another network (passes from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.2.1) and to it are connected two other routers (192.168.2.2 and 192.168.2.3) which have different wi-fi SSIDs (big house) and are used as switchers as they're on the same network. Image: http://i.imgur.com/hwVcFIX.png
The DIR-615 one has dd-wrt, the others don't as they're not supported.
My problem is that when somebody uses the OSX Mac for say watching a youtube video or using bandwidth in general, If I'm trying to play a multiplayer game like Battlefield or Legaue of Legends on one of the Windows PCs, it becomes unplayable due to the high ping (650+ ms, sometimes even higher). If I'm the only user at home base ping is really low (25-30 ms) and I have all bandwidth (5mbit down, 1mbit up). I've tried connecting the Intellinet one to DIR-615's WAN Port so I can make use of the QoS, but even assigning 192.168.3.1 to the DIR (with 192.168.2.1 as Gateway/Local DNS) there was no internet connection, it only works if I connect Intellinet to another DIR's LAN port.
What can I do to fix this? I've searched for Mac utilities similiar to NetLimiter and I've found one called Network Link Conditioner, which does exactly what I want (to limit the badwidth of the Mac) but the only problem is that you "install" it in the pref panel and it doesn't activate on startup for every user so it's not a solution (scumbag users don't go like "oh yeah let's limit our badwidth so sysadmin can play his stupid games". Also sysadmin's dad suggests to "prioritize your TCP/IP on that pc", yet he doesn't know how to and sysadmin doesn't know it either...sysadmin sucks at his job).
How can I do this so that all the the routers are on the same network (I have wi-fi printer and other stuff) and both of the Windows PCs are on the same "level" while the Mac has lower bandwidth priority?
(If you need more info please tell me)

halp plox

mbreslin1954 · May 11, 2014

Have you got DHCP turned off on all the routers except 192.168.2.1? The idea is to turn all the other routers except one into wireless access points, or switches (same thing). That way you have a flat network with no internal routing, just a bunch of switches. Make sure routing is also turned off on all the routers except for 2.1.

EDIT: Actually, IF your modem is handing out DHCP address and is routing, i.e., it is both a router and a modem, then the modem-router should be doing all the routing and ALL your house routers should be turned into dumb switches. Which means they should all be on the same network, i.e., 192.168.1.xxx. So your modem-router is 192.168.1.1, your next router is 192.168.1.2, the next is 192.168.1.3, etc. And all of them should have routing and DHCP turned off, so they're all switches and wireless access points and there is only one actual router in the home.

Alduin94 · May 11, 2014

mbreslin1954 :

yes, DHCP is turned off for DIR-615 and the Sitecom one while for the 2.1 is on, and right now the whole network works. The problem here is to limit that one client.

EDIT: One of the two first routers handles DHCP but I dont' think is relevant. And setting the other routers that way would be equivalent to my current setup, wouldn't it?

mbreslin1954 · May 11, 2014

It's hard to say, you have two routers handing out DHCP addresses, and possibly multiple routers routing data. I don't know what kind of problems that may be causing with regard to your Mac and bandwidth issues. I'm just saying that in order to eliminate potential problems I would simplify the network as much as possible, even though I can't guarantee it will fix your specific issue.

bill001g · May 11, 2014

I would replace the 2.1 router with the 615 that you have dd-wrt on. You must run the QoS on a router that all traffic must pass though.

Still to make it work requires a fairly advanced QoS config and most routers will not support it. dd-wrt does though.

The vast majority of routers only support outbound QoS. In almost all cases the bottleneck is inbound so even if a router has QoS it is not very effective.

Even inbound you are dependent on tricky software to slow down. The ISP is actually in control of the data that is dropped. You can do little if they drop your game data, its not like your router can un-drop it.

What you need to try to do is ensure you never exceed the download rates. What you do is create a artificial limit below the true limit of the connection. First you need to create a group of everyone except the game machines. You will then place a hard inbound limit on this group. So say you have 5m and you want to guarantee 2m for the game. What you do is place a inbound limit on everyone else except the game traffic to 3m. This will leave 2m unused for the gaming machine.

This does not always work, it is very dependent on the other machines detecting the errors you cause by dropping traffic and slowing the request for data. It also puts a hard limit on the users even when the game machine is not using the connection...the excess capacity will be wasted.

There really is no other way to make this work. You can't just set the game traffic to high priority because that would have to be done on the ISP side of the connection and they really could care less which traffic they deliver to you.

Alduin94 · May 12, 2014

bill001g :

I tried to replace the current 2.1 router with the 615, but I couldn't figure out how to set it up in order to have internet connection on the network. It looks like if you connect some "input" to the WAN port it doesn't pass the connection to the other lan ports. What configuration do I have to use to make the 615 a 2.1 (gateway and all that stuff) in order to make use of the QoS?

Also dd-wrt QoS has the option to "Prioritize small TCP-packets" and there are 4 different options: ACK, SYN, FIN and RST, which one should I chose?

bill001g · May 12, 2014

It should run in gateway mode by default. The dd-wrt load is very similar to most routers on its web interface. Only the real advanced stuff you need the cmd line to configure. You should be able to default it and then put in the wan and lan addresses.

Even on the dd-wrt load 99% of the QoS stuff is a complete waste of time to configure. The vast majority of all the fancy settings only control OUTBOUND traffic. Unless you are one of those rare people who are exceeding your upload limits it will make no difference. If there is no delays or contention all traffic will be sent as soon as it arrives, when there are no other packets its not like you can pick a better one. Some of these settings are used to try to limit inbound traffic by limiting outbound. It only works in a very controlled situation so it is generally not worth trying.

QoS is mostly used in a corporate environment where you control the traffic end to end. It is mostly window decoration in these router when you try to use it on the internet.

The only method that consistently works on the internet is to put hard bit/sec limits on the streams of data.

Alduin94 · May 12, 2014

UPDATE: I switched the Intellinet with the dd-wrt one and somehow I made it work. Now I'll play around with the QoS to see if I can solve my problem as well.
Thank to all of you, you've been really helpful

I'll post more updates if necessary.

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