Which router is best?

[John Prophet]

Im getting cable tomorrow..yayyy!

I am gonna let the dude set it up on an old dell..just for the heck of it (and to keep him off my main rig)

But I will then hook up a router.

I have a Netgear RP614..a linksys BEFSR41, and a smc barricade (I forget the model).

Which should I use?

My idea right now is to not just set up a lil network but to learn home networking to expand my comp bizness oppurtunities..so I will want to do a LOT of setting, resetting, configuring etc etc.

Any of the routers above better or worse for that sort of thing?

is it possible on either of them to do something like this......have one port of the built in switch seperate from the other ports so that the two networks would see each other?

id like to learn how to do that cuz I know a church with a school that has cable internet in the kids computer lab....but they use dial up over in the various offices...the router is sitting right in the lab though...i need to learn if its possible to set it up so that on eport is seprate from the other ports...to make it two seperate lans so that the inquisitive kids wouldnt be messing with the sharing of the grownups files etc....so the grownups could have a little workgroup without fearing the kids messing with it.....what is that called? Is that a 'virtual lan" or is it just a form of vpn?

Can I practice that on any of the routers I have?

Thanks for any feedback on any of this...JP

[soulja]

i use a BEFSR41 and man its the greatest, no disconnects ever unless u set it to connect on demand = 0 then u'd be connected forever, or your isp disconnects u after a period of time. plus it raised my speeds up, unbelivable modem

[M_Six]

My idea right now is to not just set up a lil network but to learn home networking to expand my comp bizness oppurtunities

In that case, use all three in turn. Set one up, run it through its paces, and then replace it with the next and so. Become an expert with all three and you'll be way ahead of your competition.

[John Prophet]

yeah, I have thought of that too..the only slight catch is that then if I sell those routers they would already be open boxed etc. But if I wanted to do this for a living (which I already am, lol) then it might not be a bad idea.

The smc is a wireless also.

I am on the cable right now, its cool...I envision some downloading being done tonight, lol.

I just have it on a Dell optiplex gx1 with a p3-500 at the moment....probably not getting the full effect but even so its way faster.

Ill have to build a new w98 machine and see how quick the updates download, cuz on dialup its like 40 minutes, lol.

JP

[M_Six]

There's a really nasty port 135 worm floating around right now as well as a port 445 worm. If you're not behind a firewall, make darn sure you're fully patched/updated.

[John Prophet]

Well I am just on a spare comp right now so I am not too worried. I will sit and think it thru a little before I hook up my main comp etc. I have a quick restore disk for this one so its always about 2 minutes from being totally restored at any time.

So what is port 135 used for, is that a port that should be shut?

I have norton firewall on my main rig. I have a lot to learn about this stuff, lol...but thats why I have the cable now.

JP

[M_Six]

Port 135 is used for RPC (Remote Procedure Calls). It's essential to the internal workings of your network, but there's no need to have it open on a firewall. It does stuff like allow Network Neighborhood to browse for PCs on your network.

[pickel]

http://support.dlink.com/products/di614+.asp

I love my Dlink wireless router!!! Set was EASY and web pages flash onto my monitor. Works just as well with 4 computers and one laptop online. Got it at Tiger Direct. re-certified for $40.00.

[soulja]

well i love my linksys router, the name is very trusting, besides those cheap routers out there, the real competition is between D-Link & linksys routers, what do ppl choose? i choose linksys

[Telexen]

Originally posted by soulja
well i love my linksys router, the name is very trusting, besides those cheap routers out there, the real competition is between D-Link & linksys routers, what do ppl choose? i choose linksys

I choose D-Link actually, I love my 8 port switch, and I'm glad I got rid of my Linksys