Reliable ADSL router? Not Belkin or DLink!

Hello peeps, I am having broadband woes, I don't like dedicated
broadband routers as it's hard to know how capable they are, and it
seems my fears are being bourne out.

I have a DLink DSL-504T and a Belkin F5D7630-4A, I started with the
DLink but when I had connection problems that pointed at the router, I
switched to the Belkin. This solved the problems but now I have tried
to make use of another feature of the Belkin and now it won't stay up
for more than 10 mins. Are there any decent routers out there?

I am pushing something like 100 connections through the router at any
one time for filesharing, automated web downloads, VPNs etc. I also
have a single incoming port forward set up for port 22 (ssh).

In the case of the DLink this doesn't work, TCP connections repeatedly
time out or can't be made if there are more than about 40 or so
connections through at once, and I can't disable the firewall without
disabling NAT. The incoming SSH session needs to be repeatedly
restarted as the TCP connection keeps breaking.

The Belkin suffers the same problem unless I disable the firewall
(which can be done without disabling NAT) and this has been working
fine for some time. I don't get any dropped connections and the
incoming ssh sessions stay up all day.

I now decided to open up another port forward for file sharing, and
this is what's caused the machine to start crashing every few minutes,
it becomes unresponsive despite all the front lights being normal (all
ADSL/PPP lights on).

I'm not asking for technical help on the above, as the matters are in
hand, but what I am trying to find is a reliable router that can
handle about 100 outgoing connections and perhaps 40 or so incoming
connections at once. If I could get an ADSL modem board to work in my
linux box I'd use that, I'll be looking into this route in the
future. Does anyone use any of the other brand routers with a similar
pattern of usage to mine without problems?

Thanks all!

--
For every expert, there is an equal but opposite expert

Ian Rawlings wrote:
> Hello peeps, I am having broadband woes, I don't like dedicated
> broadband routers as it's hard to know how capable they are, and it
> seems my fears are being bourne out.
>
> I have a DLink DSL-504T and a Belkin F5D7630-4A, I started with the
> DLink but when I had connection problems that pointed at the router, I
> switched to the Belkin. This solved the problems but now I have tried
> to make use of another feature of the Belkin and now it won't stay up
> for more than 10 mins. Are there any decent routers out there?
>

<snip>

look at a Vigor 2600, I've seen them in shared offices with hundreds of
users all accessing a single ADSL connection

Ian Rawlings wrote:
> Hello peeps, I am having broadband woes, I don't like dedicated
> broadband routers as it's hard to know how capable they are, and it
> seems my fears are being bourne out.
>
> I have a DLink DSL-504T and a Belkin F5D7630-4A, I started with the
> DLink but when I had connection problems that pointed at the router, I
> switched to the Belkin. This solved the problems but now I have tried
> to make use of another feature of the Belkin and now it won't stay up
> for more than 10 mins. Are there any decent routers out there?
>
> I am pushing something like 100 connections through the router at any
> one time for filesharing, automated web downloads, VPNs etc. I also
> have a single incoming port forward set up for port 22 (ssh).
>
> In the case of the DLink this doesn't work, TCP connections repeatedly
> time out or can't be made if there are more than about 40 or so
> connections through at once, and I can't disable the firewall without
> disabling NAT. The incoming SSH session needs to be repeatedly
> restarted as the TCP connection keeps breaking.
>
> The Belkin suffers the same problem unless I disable the firewall
> (which can be done without disabling NAT) and this has been working
> fine for some time. I don't get any dropped connections and the
> incoming ssh sessions stay up all day.
>
> I now decided to open up another port forward for file sharing, and
> this is what's caused the machine to start crashing every few minutes,
> it becomes unresponsive despite all the front lights being normal (all
> ADSL/PPP lights on).
>
> I'm not asking for technical help on the above, as the matters are in
> hand, but what I am trying to find is a reliable router that can
> handle about 100 outgoing connections and perhaps 40 or so incoming
> connections at once. If I could get an ADSL modem board to work in my
> linux box I'd use that, I'll be looking into this route in the
> future. Does anyone use any of the other brand routers with a similar
> pattern of usage to mine without problems?
>
> Thanks all!

Well don't look at any of the cheaper ranges then, Netgear, 3Com & Linksys
all suffer problems with that type of usage....

I've recently changed the firmware on my D-Link 604T to the Australian
release due to having similar problems & it's been nearly 7 days now & the
only down time was when I discovered I had set the internal clock
incorrectly (you have to save/reboot for all changes with this version).
But I have restricted the open channels to 50 as well (it still fell over
with the old firmware at this level).....

On 2005-01-12, Martin <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> look at a Vigor 2600, I've seen them in shared offices with hundreds
> of users all accessing a single ADSL connection

I should hope so, it's about 120-130 quid, 3x the price of the DLink,
however I am conscious that the DLink is a low-end ADSL router,
whereas the Vigor would appear to be a mid or high-end ADSL router.

I'll bear it in mind, given that I seem to be generating an office's
worth of traffic on my own ;-)

Thanks.

--
For every expert, there is an equal but opposite expert

On 2005-01-12, kraftee <kraftee@spamoff&> wrote:

> Well don't look at any of the cheaper ranges then, Netgear, 3Com &
> Linksys all suffer problems with that type of usage....

Yes, I suspect this is the case! I would like an ADSL card in a linux
box, but my ISP uses PPPOA and I'm not sure how the ATM support is
going under linux these days, I will investigate.

> I've recently changed the firmware on my D-Link 604T to the
> Australian release due to having similar problems & it's been nearly
> 7 days now & the only down time was when I discovered I had set the
> internal clock incorrectly (you have to save/reboot for all changes
> with this version).

I can't set my internal clock, nothing I've tried will work so the
logs always have the wrong times. Mind you at least it's *got* logs
unlike the Belkin....

I've already updated the DLink firmware but it had no effect, I may
try phoning support, the mark of a desperate man ;-)

> But I have restricted the open channels to 50 as well (it still fell
> over with the old firmware at this level).....

I have opened up the external filesharing port on the Belkin again but
UDP only, so far it's fine, no problems, I will try opening up the TCP
port too but on a seperate rule (last time it was a combined tcp/udp
port forward) and will see if it makes a difference. It shouldn't I
know, but you never know with these things..

--
For every expert, there is an equal but opposite expert

On 2005-01-12, Ian Rawlings <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I have opened up the external filesharing port on the Belkin again
> but UDP only, so far it's fine, no problems, I will try opening up
> the TCP port too but on a seperate rule (last time it was a combined
> tcp/udp port forward) and will see if it makes a difference. It
> shouldn't I know, but you never know with these things..

Opening up both ports causes the router to crash after a few minutes,
but I can have either the UDP or the TCP port open and it works fine.
Very irritating.

Someone suggested a Zyxel router via email, anyone got any experience
of those?

--
For every expert, there is an equal but opposite expert

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Ian Rawlings
says...
> Hello peeps, I am having broadband woes, I don't like dedicated
> broadband routers as it's hard to know how capable they are, and it
> seems my fears are being bourne out.
>
> I have a DLink DSL-504T and a Belkin F5D7630-4A, I started with the
> DLink but when I had connection problems that pointed at the router, I
> switched to the Belkin. This solved the problems but now I have tried
> to make use of another feature of the Belkin and now it won't stay up
> for more than 10 mins. Are there any decent routers out there?
>
So let me get this right.

You can't configure them properly so its their fault?


--
Conor

An imperfect plan executed violently is far superior to a perfect plan.
-- George Patton

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Ian Rawlings
says...

> I can't set my internal clock, nothing I've tried will work so the
> logs always have the wrong times. Mind you at least it's *got* logs
> unlike the Belkin....
>
My Belkin has logs and it syncs with the NTP server I selected.

--
Conor

An imperfect plan executed violently is far superior to a perfect plan.
-- George Patton

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005, in uk.telecom.broadband, Conor wrote:

>So let me get this right.

>You can't configure them properly so its their fault?

Hardly. Read the original again and there's nothing to suggest that
config is the cause of the problem, but that when using the Belkin's
firewall, it cannot handle the (excesive) number of connections that
the OP wishes to handle. I'd say either (a) do some hosting on some
dedicated hosting service, or (b) buy a Cisco (I'm kidding, but then
again the load is more than many 'home' users would push through) so
one might have to 'pay the price' to achieve what's being expected.

I have two connections so could share how my load is handled across
two ISPs more easily, but that's an even more costly exercise. I'd
just add, for the OP, when you are ready to flog the Belkin, there's
a 'reply-to' address on this post which should still work :-) Peter.



--
PlusNet <http://tinyurl.com/24ymz> - I recommend them and save some cash.

My other ISP : UK Free Software Network <http://www.ukfsn.org>
UKFSN passes all profits to Free Software projects in the UK.

On 2005-01-12, Conor <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> So let me get this right.

OK, try harder. Read my post, it's configured right.

--
For every expert, there is an equal but opposite expert