I know nothing about routers but I need one and there are a million options.

HailCardassia · May 8, 2018

So, my router is pretty old and its time for a new one. Trouble is despite hours of research I think I actually know less now than I did when I started.

I have 1gbps up/down fiber from my ISP and might possibly be upgrading to 10gbps up/down in the near future though I could always buy a new router then.

The way I have it set up now is my router is hooked up to my ethernet cable drilled by my ISP and then another cable goes to my PC with a Drivepool setup(Haven't gotten around to building a NAS yet) everything else is on Wi-Fi.

Here is would like:

Not a ton of money (definitely less than 200 more like 100-150max but cheaper is better as long as it does what I need it to.)

Would like to keep the ethernet>router>PC+ WiFi setup I have now. (Bonus: ability to easily add a NAS down the road)

Would like to take advantage of my 1gbps up/down connection at least through wired connections and decent enough WiFi for streaming content around the house.

Easy to set up and port-forward(maybe a decent UI?)

Preferably DDWRT

DLNA certification

Ideally I'd like to be able to limit what each device can use. So PC get 100% other things get X%, and I can throttle other connects as needed.

I really don't think I want to go the switch+wifi+whatever setup that requires multiple pieces of hardware. Not only because I don't know much about it but I assume it will be a lot more expensive as well.

Some more questions:

How much will I have to set up again once I get a new router? Is it just plug it in, install drivers if needed, setup password and username, and then carry on as usual?

I have a lot of legal Linux ISOs seeding in my client. Will it have any effect on those? Anything special I need to do/know about that?

Am I correct in thinking that once I get my standalone NAS build I just plug it into my router the same way I do my PC now or is that considered Direct Attached Storage? I definitely don't want to be accessing my NAS through WiFi(sorry if that is a dumb question)

Do I need a modem or one with a build in modem?

That is about all I can think of at the moment but I may add more questions later.

If there is any other info you need, advice you have for me, or you have any questions for me please ask away. I appreciate your help. I'm clueless when it comes to routers.

Bonus question: I live with my brother. He wants to get an ethernet cable put directly in his room so it can go directly to his PC as well instead of going over WiFi. Am I correct that he just needs a switch(I think that is what they are called) to go ethernet>switch>PC? I've heard it was a bad idea to go straight from the wall ethernet to your PC.

bill001g · May 8, 2018

I would consider asus routers that can run merlin.

The big issue you will find when you have a internet connection that can really run more than 250mbps is that the router will bottleneck the connection. This is mostly because of NAT and the CPU. The cpu even in the fastest routers is too slow to keep up.

The solution many manufacture have is some special hardware assist feature that offloads the NAT function to the switch chip. The problem is they do not release the support for this to the third party market. The only third party firmware that has full support of this hardware assist function is the merlin image.

Now even worse if you use any of the advanced features like QoS or firewall features the hardware assist is disabled and all the traffic flows through the CPU again bottlenecking the connection. Even fairly simple feature like monitoring active utilization rates do not function unless you disable the hardware assist.

This means there is almost no reason to even load third party firmware since you can not use the advanced features anyway.

The only way you get full support on a fast internet connection is to use a actual PC with 2 nic cards running as a firewall. You would need something like a AP to provide WiFi since using just a computer to provide the wifi function does not work the best.

zoltan.boese · May 8, 2018

bill001g :

Like the ASUS RT-AC51U
Here is a list: https://wikidevi.com/wiki/List_of_Merlin_firmware_supported_devices

kanewolf · May 8, 2018

If you have gigabit ISP service, I would recommend a mikrotik WIRED router like a HEX -- https://mikrotik.com/product/RB750Gr3 to handle the gigabit part. Then add a WIFI access point to handle WIFI.

failboat · May 9, 2018

If you build a computer you will have a lot of options. When you need to upgrade in the future add-in cards will give you more flexibility. You won't be locked into RJ45 or SFP+. You can run a NAS, Pfsense, and what ever you want on the same machine. If you get a SFP+ for 10Gbs or SFP on 1Gbs into your home you won't need a modem.

If you only need your seed to have the bandwidth then there won't be extra cost. If you want to bring 10Gbs to other devices in the house it will be very costly. Just a link to one pc is $150. If you need more than a few PCs with links then you need a switch.
10Gbs switches are very expensive.

HailCardassia · May 31, 2018

kanewolf :

Can you suggest anything as far as a WIFI access point? I've been looking around and I mostly just get articles on what they are and how they work and not really about models or even where I can buy one. The pictures just look like "regular" wifi routers to me.

Sorry if this is a stupid question I just have no knowledge about this type of stuff.

I just need a new router to handle my 1gbps connection(wired), wireless internet for the rest of the house and the ability to easily port forward and stuff like that with the router. Nothing fancy. I don't understand most of the responses I've gotten ITT. Preferably i'd like DDWRT, DLNA certification, to be able to limit what each device can use. So PC get 100% other things get X%, and I can throttle other connects as needed as well as the WiFi being good enough to stream to.

bill001g · May 31, 2018

If you want actual AP look at ubiquiti. The reason main reason a lot of AP look like routers is that you can actually use cheap routers and disable the router part of the box.

A big feature in a real AP from say ubiquiti is that you can power it over ethernet so it does not have to be located near a electrical outlet. Ubiquiti also has software that lets you centrally manage multiple devices..and many other feature used by businesses mostly.

If you do not need those feature just buy simplistic routers and use them as AP. Many actually have a "AP" setting in the wifi settings but almost any router can be used as a AP.

Again do not run dd-wrt on a gigabit internet connection it will not keep up.

DLNA is mostly a application function the router just blindly passes the data between the end devices. Most routers you see with DLNA certification are acting as NAS. You really don't want to do that with your router especially when you have a gigabit connection the router will be busy enough supporting the connection.

I would ignore any limitation function for now. If you can exceed a gigabit connection you have a massive issue that I don't think any simple router will solve. Most these type of problem are more asking why the person overloading the connection is doing what they are doing. Pretty much the only thing that you will find overloading a huge connection is something like bit torrent. Almost everyone who is using torrent is downloading illegal movies or software.

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