WAN / LAN Bandwidth Allocation

[lbax]

I have a great WAN connection via cable modem (8+Mbps) into a linksys router that distributes it to two home PCs. One of which is my teenage son's. He is a video download junkie & will suck up all of the bandwidth he can get. The remaining PC will behave like the old dial up days when he is connected. The only good thing is that the router is near my desk & I can exercise the must fundmental control of unpluging him from the router when I hit the wall.

Does anybody have any suggestions on how I can manage the WAN bandwidth allocation more elegantly? I would like to be able to "throttle" him at reasonable levels.

Thanks,
Larry

 

[blue68f100]

Managed switches have that capability. And some routers do also but not the linksys. You will have to upgrade to a business class router that has that function.

 

[SiliconDragon]

Or you can replace your router with a PC-based router (IPCop, Smoothwall, etc.). Those can be easily made from old 486 boxes, even. I chose IPCop, btw, and am adding a bandwidth shaper to regulate my bandwidth, especially between my LAN and DMZ. This solution is also a LOT easier to manage than with a managed switch, plus it's incredibly cheap.

 

[Madwand]

The Linksys WRT54GL and others can do some QoS with 3rd-party firmware such as DD-WRT. It's briefly mentioned with other options in the following thread.

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/network/bwidth-limiting-ftopict21489.html

 

[lbax]

Guys, Thank you for the replies. I will give the WRT54GL + firmware a try.

 

[openchut82]

I have the above mentioned Linksys router. Under QOS it will let you specificy a high priority to any given port or ports. The other ports can stay at low priority. This would be the easiest to do. You will need Linksys' latest firmware to get the QOS feature. I think it is 4.30.5. You do not need a third party firmware. As mentioned you can also set restrictions for access to the internet by day and time or by web site for each connected computer.

 

[itzssreddy]

hi ,, thnks for the info ... i will have to try linksys with QOS now..