Dual Band router or link aggregation

[Phe0nix]

My LAN is 10/100 and looking to upgrade my network to GB speeds and trying to decide if I should
by a dual band router or use FreeNAS to setup link aggregation ?

 

[havok2022]

Not sure I follow. Dual Band is for Wi-Fi. Link Aggregation would be hardwired using two physical ethernet ports.

 

[BigDave]

If you can give more detail of your current network hardware, wiring and wireless setup,
it will make recommendations easier.

 

[Phe0nix]

Not sure I follow. Dual Band is for Wi-Fi. Link Aggregation would be hardwired using two physical ethernet ports.

Both my routers are single band and never use Wi-Fi as I wired my home with Cat-5E years ago and just now looking into a new router and learned of Dual Band not knowing it was
strictly for wireless which i care nothing about. So thank you , I'll look for a single band router to keep the costs down and setup link aggregation.

 

[marbus90]

You can also just buy a switch and plug the 10/100 cable from your existing router in there. Less hassle to set up.

 

[Jailer]

If your house is already wired with CAT-5e why not get a GB router and a cheap un managed switch and call it a day? Turn off DHCP on your current router and you can likely use it as a wireless access point. That should meet all the network needs for most home users.

 

[depasseg]

$20 says that a cheap router is not going to support link aggregation. And even if it did, it's likely not worth the hassle.

 

[Phe0nix]

$20 says that a cheap router is not going to support link aggregation. And even if it did, it's likely not worth the hassle.

Looking at this router as it's not in the list of known incompatible devices for running DD-WRT fw. I said "keep the costs down" because single band routers cost less than dual band routers. I wasn't
referring to a budget router.

If your house is already wired with CAT-5e why not get a GB router and a cheap un managed switch and call it a day? Turn off DHCP on your current router and you can likely use it as a wireless access point. That should meet all the network needs for most home users.

I have run out of ports on my router and need a switch, sound you have experience with them. Could you recommend one ?
Currently I have 7 wired devices on my network and i'm always swapping around my connections on the router.

 

[depasseg]

Instead of replacing your router, just buy a 16 port Gigabit Ethernet switch. I'm a fan of the NetGear Prosafe. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/netgear...blue/8363086.p?id=1177718059038&skuId=8363086
Plug all of your devices into the switch and then run one wire to the router. If you ever increase your internet bandwidth beyond 100Mbps, then you will need to upgrade your router (since it only handles a 100Mbps connection).

 

[marbus90]

You don't need Wifi. Therefore you don't need a Wifi router.

Personally I'm using the DLink Green Ethernet series since about 5 years. No trouble so far - only that I'm running out of ports. The 8port model should work fine. If you have 100Mbps devices, plug them into the router instead of the switch. saves a few ports.

 

[anodos]

Appropriate juvenile neckbeard solution: add a switch as recommended above.

If you want a partial neckbeard solution: get a gigabit switch and replace your router with a pfsense device.

Full neckbeard: gigabit switch and replace router with vanilla BSD computer and configure firewall, NAT, dhcp, etc manually.

Now the question is, what type of neckbeard do you want?

 

[Phe0nix]

Instead of replacing your router, just buy a 16 port Gigabit Ethernet switch. I'm a fan of the NetGear Prosafe. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/netgear...blue/8363086.p?id=1177718059038&skuId=8363086
Plug all of your devices into the switch and then run one wire to the router. If you ever increase your internet bandwidth beyond 100Mbps, then you will need to upgrade your router (since it only handles a 100Mbps connection).

Thanks depasseg , while looking at the specs i don't see it stating if it's a managed or unmanaged switch and since i zero experience with switches and you own one maybe you know if it's managed or not. I was looking at upgrading the router
to help with file transfer speeds from my desktop to my NAS . The desktop is the source of my digital content and moving large files takes awhile and the GB router would dramaticlly increase my transfer speeds.

You don't need Wifi. Therefore you don't need a Wifi router.

Personally I'm using the DLink Green Ethernet series since about 5 years. No trouble so far - only that I'm running out of ports. The 8port model should work fine. If you have 100Mbps devices, plug them into the router instead of the switch. saves a few ports.

I did say i never use Wi-Fi but when my son comes by to visit he is always using a wireless device while here so i need a wireless router. I should have said Wi-Fi speeds aren't important to me .

 

[Jailer]

Thanks depasseg , while looking at the specs i don't see it stating if it's a managed or unmanaged switch and since i zero experience with switches and you own one maybe you know if it's managed or not. I was looking at upgrading the router
to help with file transfer speeds from my desktop to my NAS . The desktop is the source of my digital content and moving large files takes awhile and the GB router would dramaticlly increase my transfer speeds.

That's why a GB switch was suggested. All your devices will be connected to the switch at GB speed with each other. Your router will be passing only internet traffic and will be connected at Fast Ethernet speed which is inconsequential since you internet connection is likely less than 100Mb.

 

[Phe0nix]

That's why a GB switch was suggested. All your devices will be connected to the switch at GB speed with each other. Your router will be passing only internet traffic and will be connected at Fast Ethernet speed which is inconsequential since you internet connection is likely less than 100Mb.

You had suggested a GB router and cheap unmanaged switch but depasseg's post has changed your recommendations ?

So all my LAN traffic would be @ GB speeds and only my WAN speeds would be as they are now ?

My provider is Greenlight in Wilson, NC and i have the package that's $104.00 that has a 1 Gbps connection and that is why my son stops by to visit so often lol... . Currently browsing via my parents connection and it seems so slow at 10 Mbps but 56K wasn't that long ago.

Q1. If a switch will do all that you said for my LAN then i'm fine with not getting a router. Since I'll have a GB network I assume I would benefit from link aggregation for streaming HD content to multiple sources. Both my routers are Linksys and i know Linksys and Netgear run on different subnets so would I need to get a Linksys switch or doesn't it matter.

Q2. A unmanaged switch was suggested and it's in stock . I was researching how to configure link aggregation and the tutorial describes using your managed interface to setup link aggregation so does that mean i must have a managed switch ?

 

[Jailer]

I recommended a GB router because you said you wanted to upgrade your router. The cheaper alternative would be to keep your router and just add the switch as depasseg said.

And yes all your LAN traffic will be at GB speeds when hooked up through a GB switch.

I envy all of you and your fast internet connections. I was recently "upgraded" to a 2M down 700K up connection and would love to have something faster at my disposal.

 

[depasseg]

Link aggregation requires advanced features of a managed switch, but I STRONGLY advise against it. It's complicated to setup and it isn't going to increase the transfer speed between a single machine and the NAS. Don't bother. A single HD H.264 stream is ~ 20 Megabits/sec so your 1GB connection can provide lots of HD streams.

You can get whatever router you want. As for the different subnets, the machines will request a new IP address via DHCP. The simplest way once the routers are swapped, is to go around and restart your devices so they get a new address.

If you get a router with 1Gbps ports, you can still hook up a 1Gbps switch to one of the Router ports in order to expand the number of available ports.

 

[Phe0nix]

Instead of replacing your router, just buy a 16 port Gigabit Ethernet switch. I'm a fan of the NetGear Prosafe. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/netgear...blue/8363086.p?id=1177718059038&skuId=8363086
Plug all of your devices into the switch and then run one wire to the router. If you ever increase your internet bandwidth beyond 100Mbps, then you will need to upgrade your router (since it only handles a 100Mbps connection).

I was watching a video on link aggregation and the author mentioned the switch has to be a managed one or support the smart feature and Netgear's site lists all the smart switches and this one isn't in the list. I'm still searching the forum
here and via google to confirm if smart is a requirement for LAG or not.

Edit :

Yea, called Netgear and unmanaged switches do not support LAG and he suggested 6 smart switches that they manufacturer .

Models GS716 thru GS752

 

[pirateghost]

If you have 1gbps internet, wtf are you doing with a router that is only 10/100?

This is silly in and of itself. You are paying for something you will never be able to fully use in your current configuration.

I'm thoroughly confused by your setup now.

Get a proper router that does GB all the way through it. (I like Ubiquity Edge Router Lite) and a GB switch. Connect all your devices and enjoy faster internet and access to your server

 

[Phe0nix]

If you have 1gbps internet, wtf are you doing with a router that is only 10/100?

This is silly in and of itself. You are paying for something you will never be able to fully use in your current configuration.

I'm thoroughly confused by your setup now.

Get a proper router that does GB all the way through it. (I like Ubiquity Edge Router Lite) and a GB switch. Connect all your devices and enjoy faster internet and access to your server

LOL... Yea maybe i should have went into more detail, just didn't feel it was needed. I just moved to Wilson from a small town that didn't have any high speed options and i was paying $99 for internet
through Wild Blue which was their Freedom plan ( 12/3 Mbps ) and the latency was horrific. When it rained heavily at home my internet suffered and same when it rained in my NOC town not to mention
their Fair Access Policy ( FAP ) for which i was always losing my connection for. I had bandwidth monitoring S/W on my PC and DD WRT firmware on my router and they always reported less data consumption
that what Wild Blue said i used. When you get FAP'ed the speed is so slow you can't even check your email and you just have to wait until the month is over to get your speeds back.
I didn't even tell them that i was moving to a town that high speed as that they would understand , i told them i was always subjected to their FAP when i shouldn't have been and they offered me 6 months
of free internet just before i cancelled. The move has been costly plus i just dropped $1,750.00 on my NAS build and right now i was more concerned with increasing my LAN speeds so I'm going to hold off
on buying the router until next month and even though i not taking full advantage of my ISP's speeds i can't do it all at one time and I'm used to paying $100.00 per month for internet access so even though
i'm not utilizing my full speed I will be next moth or so after i regroup.

Thanks pirateghost for the help gdisking my drives ;)

P.S. Picked up this switch at Staples for $54 and is regularly priced @ $94.99 but Staples had the tags wrong and so they sold it to me for the price displayed on the shelf. It supports LAG and it was a steal, later i can buy a bigger one when i get my cash right again.