will 2 routers help network traffic if they use the same cable Internet Modem?

smackay95 · Nov 3, 2014

Hi,

I work at a small nonprofit school and we recently got a grant for 15 new computers. Yay, right? Well, getting more than 6 wired and 10 wirelessly to connect causes a big bottleneck. We have a cable connection that is 7Gb down and 100MB upload. There are often 4-6 phones connecting at busy times as well.

In addition to the bottleneck to the Internet, about half of those are also trying to get to the File Server. (Just a win7Pro machine with file sharing enabled. People keep their work in folder inside the Public Folder so they can access it from any computer easily.) We still have some computers on XP but the bulk are running Win7.

Someone suggested that I get an additional router to handle the traffic. Will that make any difference if they both go through the same cable modem?
The Cable modem is: ARRIS Model TM604G
The router is: SMCD3GN2
There is also a switch in the wired lab: SMC-EZ1016DT

Any assistance is most welcome, even links or suggestions on what to read up on.

popatim · Nov 3, 2014

If the current router isn't capable of handling all the traffic then the extra one can help alleviate some of the load but unfortunately the only improvement would be in the access to the file server. The internet traffic would still all go thru the modem. Are you sure you have 7g down and 100mb up? That's rather high and should handle what you describe rather easily. Whats the make and model# of the current router?

smackay95 · Nov 3, 2014

popatim :

I ran speedtest.net and it shows speeds of 93+mb down and 7mb up right now. OF course only 3 computers ar running at this time of day (6:45 pm) The current router is and SMC brand. SMCD3GN2

I was sure that it was enough to handle our traffic. In fact, it is as high as our local cable company can give us at this time.

bill001g · Nov 3, 2014

I really don't know how you managed to get that hooked up both those have cable modem in them.

In any case you will never exceed 100m with either of those devices they only have 100m ports on them.

You will need a device with 1g ports on it. Even then I am not so sure how they say you have 7g. There is a new docsis 3.1 standard that nobody has implemented yet that might go that fast. In any case the modem you have will not even run the 1.5g docsis 3.0 There is only 1 modem that I think even does that and the cable companies can only get it to really run at 350m.

popatim · Nov 4, 2014

the SMCD3GN2 is your cable model. It has four gigabit capable ports on it.
it must feed the Arris which breaks out your cable phone into (up to) 4 lines.

SMC-EZ1016DT is your switch, and it needs replacing for the reasons Bill mentioned above.

test your speed

Uberragen21 · Nov 8, 2014

A router creates a network by performing MAC address routing and often acting as the DHCP server. You can only have ONE on a network delegating DHCP duty. If you have a second router on the same network, you can set it in bridged mode, but that will create a separate subnet. You can also set a second router as a Wi-Fi access point. Alternatively you can simply buy a wired to wireless access point which are much simpler to setup if you're unsure of your networking abilities.

Ideally you will want to setup a solid DHCP server connected to a 1 Gb network. You want the internal network to be as fast and consistent as possible. In most network configurations, the slowest thing is your external connection to the Internet.

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