ICS vs Router

[SolidSnak3]

Hi,

After 5 years sharing my connection with ICS on my Win XP server pc (6-7 clients on the network) I have decided to buy a router (GIGABYTE GN-BR01G (2MB rom 16MB ram)) mainly because I needed the wireless part of it (I had a choice of buying a wireless network adapter for my server pc vs a router, and because the router was only a bit more expensive, I unfortunately bought the router). The thing is that the router is unreliable, already crashed 4-5 times, had it only for a month. I generally don’t have a good experience with Linux, any standalone Linux box I had was unreliable, crashed randomly (sat receivers, router). My Win XP server with ICS never crashed after 5 years serving 24/7.

What I would like to ask is there any tests available showing if a router is superior than Microsoft's ICS ? I would really appreciate if tomshardware would make a proper test of it, following the tests procedure for reviewing the commercial routers.

Also can anyone recommend a good QoS program for installing on my server? I want to give the least priority to p2p applications running on the client PCs on the network.

Thanks.

 

[riser]

I think a QoS for home is called SpeedTrap or something like that. I don't really use that stuff at home though but I recall hearing something like that to be a great program.

As far as your ICS & router issue. WinXp is really stable. Depending on what you're doing you might be over loading the SOHO router. You'll want to purchase something a little more powerful and thus, a little more expensive.

If ICS works great, use that. Include a wireless access point in there if need be. If you want a router, I always recommend Linksys brand. They have some business models that run around $100 and up, up from their BEFSR41 home routers. That would most likely resolve your crashing issues in using a router.

If ICS works fine, stick with it unless you see a performance issue. Though a router does use NAT and acts as a built-in firewall for added security. Depending on how your Server is set, you might be able to match that security.

 

[blue68f100]

I currently have a Netgear Bussiness class router w/QoS (FVS338, 16/32 meg, w/ 266mhz procesor). Locks up's are common on alot of home routers. The USR I have used in the past have never locked up. I don't like what linksys did with there v5, so stay away from that model. Depending on what speed you are needing there are several that will server you. I do not like combo units (wlan), prefer router + AP = better performace.