What does a router do to enhance an internet users experience?

[erocker]

Nope, only 1 ethernet jack on the modem itself.

Well.. if you have more than one computer that you want hooked up to your internet, you need a router. Wireless or wired is up to you.

 

[Mussels]

just get a router with shaping, or lock the wireless speeds to a slow setting (2Mb or something) so that he cant choke the net connection and screw up your gaming.


seriously, i'm surprised you only have one device online. i've got two PC's, two smartphones, two laptops (ones housemates) three VOIP phones and a wifi printer, none of which would work out without a router. i've not seen someone using a plain old modem in years.

 

[happita]

Well, we can't all be as leet as you Mussels

I'm probably going to get a router with the bandwidth shaping feature, that way like you said I can limit his speeds.
Any recommendations now as far as routers go? Preferably in the $50 range and is able to have strong signals to be able to penetrate through walls and a floor.

 

[ChristTheGreat]

So the router will only be beneficial to me for both computers I see. And from what I read, the only way getting a router will be beneficial for a single system is that it lets me have that extra layer of security before a hacker gets into my computer vs. getting into the router first then the computer.
So, no speed increase with the use of a good quality wireless router? Like for example, my ISP enables me to get a max of 15MB down, but it never even scratches the surface of that. The best DL speed I have ever gotten is a steady 1.6MB.
The concensus seems like so then:
Scenario 1 = out
Scenario 2 = in

Your ISP offer you 15mbits, which is the Bandwidth.. in megabits per second. When you download, the speed you see is in megabytes..

1 bytes = 8 bits, so 15mbits / 8 = 1.875mb/s, which you said you have 1.6mb/s, so it is good... to have 15mb/s, you would need 120mbits You download a the right speed

 

[1freedude]

.
Any recommendations now as far as routers go? Preferably in the $50 range and is able to have strong signals to be able to penetrate through walls and a floor.

Have you used Craigslist.org before? Great deals, if you look often enough. Otherwise, I prefer dlink out of familiarity. The dir-615 would be a great starter router.

Edit.....this one is definitely better, gb LAN connection
Recertified: Linksys E2000-RM Gigabit Advanced Wir...

 

[happita]

What about this Linksys: Linksys WRT54GL Wireless Broadband Router 802.11b/...
I see no other router as popular as this one, not to mention there's a sticky in this section on the WRT54GL itself
And it is well within my budget. The only question is that do I have the power to limit the amount of network speed possible on the other PC and reserve most of it for my own computer? That is the real selling point for me.

 

[Mussels]

What about this Linksys: Linksys WRT54GL Wireless Broadband Router 802.11b/...
I see no other router as popular as this one, not to mention there's a sticky in this section on the WRT54GL itself
And it is well within my budget. The only question is that do I have the power to limit the amount of network speed possible on the other PC and reserve most of it for my own computer? That is the real selling point for me.

i dont think it can on stock firmware, but modded it can. personally however, i'd recommend you a router with the feature at stock - you've never used a router before, so why throw yoou in the deep end?


the router i have cost me $40 (on special) and its a TP-link TL-WR941N - wifi N 300Mb, shaping/bandwidth control for wired and wireless (i make it auto assign my PC's a certain range of IP addresses which get full speed, then the rest are all shaped to 512/128 for anyone else who connects)

 

[puccki]

I'm so envious of you guys, china's network speed is always so slow
i download a file only 70-80kb/s

 

[qubit]

The Motorola Surfboard modem I have also works as a router. It would be useless adding another. The Surfboard has all the options a normal router does. To access it, the username is: admin and the password is: motorola.

About security.. meh. I've run machines in DMZ mode for years without a problem. Of course many will believe the hype about security through marketing.

Or you don't realize there is a problem. Hacks often go completely undetected. How do you think all these botnets made from user's computers all over the world are created?

 

[newtekie1]

What about this Linksys: Linksys WRT54GL Wireless Broadband Router 802.11b/...
I see no other router as popular as this one, not to mention there's a sticky in this section on the WRT54GL itself
And it is well within my budget. The only question is that do I have the power to limit the amount of network speed possible on the other PC and reserve most of it for my own computer? That is the real selling point for me.

You need a 3rd party firmware to limit the bandwidth with that router. Though I now recommend an E1000 router in place of the WRT54GL. It has better hardware, including wireless N and a faster CPU for higher thoughput between the WAN and LAN connections. Plus you can pick them up from Buy.com for under $40.

Or you don't realize there is a problem. Hacks often go completely undetected. How do you think all these botnets made from user's computers all over the world are created?

Most of the computers in botnets are created by the user downloading and executing a malicious piece of code. It certainly isn't true all a person needs is an IP and they can put your PC in a botnet, at least not if your PC is fully updated and has a software firewall and AV running, as well as UAC enabled and passworded accounts.

 

[Batou1986]

I have a WNR3500L its an awesome open source router, ive had to reset it once with it running dd-wrt for about a year an a half now.

 

[Jstn7477]

Yeah, I'd find a newer router than the WRT54GL. That router has been around for years and there are much better solutions.

As far as routers go, they are used to:
-Share an internet connection among devices
-Create home networks where computers can share files, print to a networked printer, etc.
-Sort of protect you from some threats (they are in no way a total solution for anything)
-Create a wireless network (in the case of a wireless router) for mobile devices or laptops.

I'd maybe look for a router that supports DD-WRT (look in their router guide at dd-wrt.com) so if you become more knowledgeable about routers later on, you can flash it and get rid of the typically bad stock firmware.

 

[qubit]

Most of the computers in botnets are created by the user downloading and executing a malicious piece of code. It certainly isn't true all a person needs is an IP and they can put your PC in a botnet, at least not if your PC is fully updated and has a software firewall and AV running, as well as UAC enabled and passworded accounts.

Yes, running dodgy attachments probably is the number one way to get infected. However, leave a PC online long enough with a public IP address and it will get nailed, fully patched or not - and that's with doing nothing else, just sitting there visible on the internet, let alone accessing a site with drive-by malware on it.

Think about it, Microsoft has just released 15 important updates for Windows 7 (which I haven't installed yet lol). That's a lot of holes and the hackers might well know about some or all of them before they are released, downloaded and applied. And even then, Windows isn't bullet-proof, running a/v software or not.

No, a good hardware firewall is a primary a component of PC security. I'd say the most important one of all.

 

[twilyth]

I think anti-malware software is essential too. I have Norton, Avira, Malwarebytes and MSE installed, but then I do go to some dodgy sites and may or may not download certain questionable files.

I'm not going to argue the point though, I just want to share something that relates to what qubit said about leaving a rig exposed on the net.

I had a VM I was using that briefly needed internet access. So I opened up the ethernet port for it. It just had XP with SP3 I think. No AV or anything else, just whatever "protection" was built into XP. So I'm admitting in advance that this isn't a fair comparison.

I come back to the rig later and I see that my desktop is all screwed up. Taskbar is now on the left side, other shit is moved around and I have to fight with the cursor. It didn't occur to me right away because we're talking about mere hours of exposure, but eventually I realized that the VM had been hijacked.

I thought this was hilarious. I tried to imagine the frustration of the script kiddie who got into it and couldn't go anywhere, do anything and couldn't even find any software to steal.

Once I got what I needed I closed the port and that was the end of any strange behavior. I did take a few precautions to be safe but otherwise, that was the end of it.

 

[erocker]

Or you don't realize there is a problem. Hacks often go completely undetected. How do you think all these botnets made from user's computers all over the world are created?

No, but go ahead and install any security measures you see fit. If you honestly believe that these security measures can't be worked around. I hope it doesn't pain you too much.

 

[qubit]

No, but go ahead and install any security measures you see fit. If you honestly believe that these security measures can't be worked around. I hope it doesn't pain you too much.

Nothing's perfect, obviously, but there's a massive difference between putting a high barrier between your PC and the hackers and just leaving it wide open with a bullseye painted on it.

And as home users, you and me aren't such attractive targets anyway, so if the usual opportunistic attacks don't work, then they'll go bug someone else. Hence, the security measures I outlined will protect you very well indeed. Now, if you're a bank however...

 

[Mussels]

i've certainly been hit by worm attacks when i was DMZ'd (which is the same as no router)


nod32 let them slip past and really screw with my network (any PC with full access file shares got hosed and attempted to infect other networked machines), while kaspersky was all ''HOLY SHIT! NETWORK ATTAAAAAAAACK!" from WAN (forwarded ports) and LAN IP's

 

[qubit]

i've certainly been hit by worm attacks when i was DMZ'd (which is the same as no router)


nod32 let them slip past and really screw with my network (any PC with full access file shares got hosed and attempted to infect other networked machines), while kaspersky was all ''HOLY SHIT! NETWORK ATTAAAAAAAACK!" from WAN (forwarded ports) and LAN IP's

Yeah, I can imagine K freaking out like that. Tell me, did it actually stop the attack though?

 

[erocker]

Nothing's perfect, obviously, but there's a massive difference between putting a high barrier between your PC and the hackers and just leaving it wide open with a bullseye painted on it.

And as home users, you and me aren't such attractive targets anyway, so if the usual opportunistic attacks don't work, then they'll go bug someone else. Hence, the security measures I outlined will protect you very well indeed. Now, if you're a bank however...

Yes qubit, I know what security measures to use if I choose to do so. I use them at work afterall.

 

[brandonwh64]

Invest in some of these. My friend uses them with no issue (same set as URL below). All he has done is plugged his router into the wall jack next to his PC and he uses the other ones in rooms were other PCs are.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833156283

 

[newtekie1]

However, leave a PC online long enough with a public IP address and it will get nailed, fully patched or not - and that's with doing nothing else, just sitting there visible on the internet, let alone accessing a site with drive-by malware on it.

Think about it, Microsoft has just released 15 important updates for Windows 7 (which I haven't installed yet lol). That's a lot of holes and the hackers might well know about some or all of them before they are released, downloaded and applied. And even then, Windows isn't bullet-proof, running a/v software or not.

No, a good hardware firewall is a primary a component of PC security. I'd say the most important one of all.

Not true at all. What do the patches address? Most of them address vulnerabilities that allow malicious code to be executed once the user executes a seemingling legit piece of software or visits a webpage. In terms of being vulnerable from a network attack, those days are long gone. With the windows firewall pretty much stopping all traffic on all ports anyway, the need for a hardware firewall isn't a important as you think.

 

[erocker]

windows firewall pretty much stopping all traffic on all ports anyway

Thank you! So true, and in many cases I find Windows firewall to be overly aggressive.

 

[qubit]

Not true at all. What do the patches address? Most of them address vulnerabilities that allow malicious code to be executed once the user executes a seemingling legit piece of software or visits a webpage. In terms of being vulnerable from a network attack, those days are long gone. With the windows firewall pretty much stopping all traffic on all ports anyway, the need for a hardware firewall isn't a important as you think.

Thank you! So true, and in many cases I find Windows firewall to be overly aggressive.

Ok, whatever keeps you happy guys. I hope your machines don't get nailed and I can't explain these basic security principles any more clearly, which should be obvious to anybody who's competent with computers. I don't want this to go round and round in circles, so I'm happy to agree to disagree and leave it at that.

 

[erocker]

I can't explain these basic security principles any more clearly, which should be obvious to anybody who's competent with computers. I don't want this to go round and round in circles, so I'm happy to agree to disagree and leave it at that.

People who already know don't need it explained to them. Agree to disagree, sure.

 

[Jetster]

Wow, this thread is awesome. Good point counter point. Anyhow I think your little brother or who ever is still going to keep putting his hands on your keyboard until you hook him up with some internet. You have options now go for it

puccki: Welcome