Getting a router to handle more connections?

[hat]

I have a NETGEAR WGR614 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122016) and it's an awesome router, except that it can't handle many connections. When I run utorrent, even when I throttle the upload speed to 20KB/s (the download speed never really goes over 100), internet performance lags. BF2 gets stuttery/jittery and even Internet Explorer can be slow. Is there any way I can get it to handle more connections??

 

[TheLaughingMan]

I have a NETGEAR WGR614 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122016) and it's an awesome router, except that it can't handle many connections. When I run utorrent, even when I throttle the upload speed to 20KB/s (the download speed never really goes over 100), internet performance lags. BF2 gets stuttery/jittery and even Internet Explorer can be slow. Is there any way I can get it to handle more connections??

Simple start. Have you setup port forwarding for the router to specific programs? Have you tweaked utorrent to allow more connections and more connections per download? Is the double firewall on or off?

 

[Easy Rhino]

that could be an ISP issue. have you tried out any other routers? i know a lot of ISPs kill your download bandwidth when you are using even the smallest upload.

 

[hat]

Nope, has nothing to do with the ISP. I've never had this problem before but I could try forwarding the BF2 port in the router. I have my utorrent port already forwarded properly.

 

[Jstn7477]

I have a NETGEAR WNR3500 that seems to be experiencing a similar issue. When I play TF2 for a while (and refresh the master server list that shows maybe 3-4,000 servers), I simply cannot connect to any servers until I pull the power plug. TF2 works fine when connected directly to my apartment's Ethernet connection. It's almost as if the router (maybe the NAT table) overflows and refuses any more connections until the router is power cycled.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Nope, has nothing to do with the ISP. I've never had this problem before but I could try forwarding the BF2 port in the router. I have my utorrent port already forwarded properly.

has it always done this with this router or did it just start? how long have you been using this router?

 

[Wile E]

Depending on the version you have, you can try to throw DD-WRT on it.

The other options would be to save your money and buy a better router. I have a D-Link DIR-655, and I can crush it with 3 different machines running multiple torrents giving well over 200 open connections, and I can still surf or play online without problems, aside from a little extra ping. It was worth every penny of it's $100 price tag, not to mention it's a Gb switch for the wired connections instead of 10/100.

 

[hat]

I just got this router recently. Before I was using my pentium 3 computer as my router by rigging it up with Windows Internet Connection Sharing. Much more powerful on the hardware side, yet virtually non-existant on the feature side...

 

[Wile E]

I just got this router recently. Before I was using my pentium 3 computer as my router by rigging it up with Windows Internet Connection Sharing. Much more powerful on the hardware side, yet virtually non-existant on the feature side...

What do you need out of the p3 machine? Does it have to run windows? There are linux distros specialized in acting as a router. You would only need a switch.

 

[Easy Rhino]

bah, i would just return that router and get a different one. in my experience there is no need to hassle with a crappy router. there are tons of crappy routers out there and very few good ones. you may just swap for the same model and it could be great. who knows. but yea, why not install linux on your p3 and get it fired up.

 

[Mussels]

you need to reduce the amount of connections in utorrent, or replace the router with one that can take it.


its usually related to how much ram is inside the routers - they fill up, overflow, and drop connection til they catch up again.

 

[eidairaman1]

i encounter the same problem when my housemate runs utorrent in the background, Trust me Utorrent is a bandwidth hog and should not be run when gaming is occurring unless if you have an internet connection with a bandwidth sustainment capability for both upload and download speeds

 

[Wile E]

i encounter the same problem when my housemate runs utorrent in the background, Trust me Utorrent is a bandwidth hog and should not be run when gaming is occurring unless if you have an internet connection with a bandwidth sustainment capability for both upload and download speeds

If you have a good router, having uTorrent run doesn't hurt your gaming.

 

[Mussels]

its not utorrents BANDWIDTH, its the amount of connections.

a usual person uses 5-10 at any on time, utorrent (with DHT enabled) can use hundreds at any given moment - and routers arent made for it.


get the utorrent uses to cap it at 20 maximum connections, or replace the router.

 

[Easy Rhino]

even the crappy verizon fios router i have to use runs a billion utorrent connections at once.

 

[Mussels]

thats what i use, however i have a "known good" router for massive connections.


anything above say, 50 connections and things start to get erratic - i still get an average of 50ms ping to my game servers, but the jitter increases and things go a bit strange.

with 40 (or below) i can make VOIP calls perfectly clear with no issues while torrenting at 90% of my max down and upload speeds

 

[timta2]

I just replaced my WGR614 for the very same reasons a few weeks ago. It used to be okay before I started checking out torrents at which point its performance would drop and it would get hot and lockup often (especially when I lived in Florida). I bought a $22 (shipped) refurbished Netgear WNR2000 and it seems to be a major improvement. Don't forget that the WGR614 came out (V1.0 anyway) long before torrents started to be used.

 

[hat]

Mine's version 9

What does DHT do?

 

[newtekie1]

Get a WRT54GL and put a decent firmware on it. They are cheap, and amazing routers with 3rd party firmware(I use tomato).

 

[Mussels]

Mine's version 9

What does DHT do?

distributed hash tables.


allows you to connect to peers even if the tracker is down, but it makes a lot of connections that arent limited by any settings in the program itself. its an on or off deal.

 

[eidairaman1]

If you have a good router, having uTorrent run doesn't hurt your gaming.

well he has like the first Gen Linksys Draft N router, and to me they are crap, like the WRT54GS v5 and higher

 

[hat]

I had a WRT54GS before. I don't know what version it was, but I do know that it died on me. I wasn't even using the wireless either... I disabled it in the router featues. At that time I was all wired. However I am using wireless on my my mom's computer and on my laptop, and on my P3 as well but it's down right now.

Informative thread.

 

[eidairaman1]

Version 5 and higher were built cheaply, V4 and lower were very reliable, but after that mess i switched to a Netgear WPN 824 V2 which was very strong, just too bad it doesnt have wireless N otherwise id be using it over the friggin Linksys garbage

 

[newtekie1]

Version 5 and higher were built cheaply, V4 and lower were very reliable, but after that mess i switched to a Netgear WPN 824 V2 which was very strong, just too bad it doesnt have wireless N otherwise id be using it over the friggin Linksys garbage

To add to this, Linksys still sells the v4 router, they just rebranded it to WRT54GL, which is why I suggested it. My v2 WRT54G is still going strong, and it is well over 5 years old.

 

[eidairaman1]

well WRT54G and GL throughout are very Reliable, GS v5 and higher are crap.