my problem is this every couple of days my router seems to get clogged up, web pages are really slow or dont open and gets worse and worse, e mule starts dropping sources and diconnecting from server, only cure i've found is to switch the power off from the router when i shut down the pc ,leave it unplugged for about a min then start up again and it seems to sort itself out, web pages load fine, e mule pumps away , i have port forwarded e mule so i dont think it's that,
thanks in advance

cheap router / chipset I'm afraid. Your only real option is to abandon p2p altogether or buy a quality router.

The problem is that routers need to track the individual connections, as they rise the memory management goes to shit and the whole thing either drops your net connection or slows down. Might get hot too.

That's why managed switches cost several £100 and a simple run of the mill switch costs 1p off ebay.

You could try easing the load; turning on DMZ and turning off any advanced functions to see if that works. on some routers DMZ just passes all traffic straight through without trying to spend too much time managing it, so they can take more of a battering.

Next time get a better router

<blockquote>Next time get a better router</blockquote>
Thought that might be it, the one i've got was a freebie from a friend who did just that
Just have to live with it then as dont have spare cash

Thought that might be it, the one i've got was a freebie from a friend who did just that
Just have to live with it then as dont have spare cash

help.. help... we are stuck in some kind of shit product bermuda triangle!

Or just bin it. Buy a decent router or nothing at all. Me, I haven't got one; I feel the need sometimes - but then I awaken and see sense. If I ever do buy a router it HAS to be 100% as good as a direct ethernet connection. I feel that day may be close, but not quite yet.

Is there really a need for a router? Couldn't u just make a network of the computers and share the connection?

uurgghhh, ICS is shite, slow and crappy. There's a linux distro so you can put a modem in an old machine and use that as a router, but its essentially the same as owning a decent router.

Yes there's a point of a router, its a heck of a lot more convienant and faster than using a normal pc with ics since it has the whole singular task of sharing the connection and adding service.

ICS is shite, anything but a dedicated box will be a huge hit on performance.

Making your own router or buying a decent router will have the same performance, but ICS needs avoiding like the plague.

Link please

There's quite a number of linux distros that can act as a router. I have a few cds laying around, but i can't recall a name.

Essentially, you put in a PCI modem and then link an eternet to a switch and you got yourself a decent router

edit:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=linux+ ... 8&oe=utf-8

gives:
http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS4389397127.html
http://www.linuxlinks.com/Distributions ... ributions/
http://cyber-knowledge.net/blog/2006/09 ... too-linux/

I'll try and find the name of a dedicated install cd for a solely router linux distro, there's a number of them

btw:
http://tomshardware.co.uk/tomsnetworkin ... ?chart=124

At the moment I've got 14 torrents running ul and dl. God knows how many emule connections and the rest of my bandwidth is taken up witth a regular 10 connections to binary downloads with newshosting. Can a router really handle all that shit, as well as streaming video to 2 Xboxes and data to 2 other PCs.

Spud I've seen that list before and am tempted by the top 2, the dlink dgl-4300 and netgear wpnt834. But I'm really loathe to splurge £70 on a router that is going to lock up (even if it's only once a week). ICS ain't all that bad and certainly isn't slow and crappy, in fact it has never failed me - ever. All I want is some wireless, preferrably without getting a router that will never be as good as a direct ethernet connection.

Return the shit if it locks up. I know that netgear have a good rep, and my mate has the rangemax one, but i don't think he pushes it.



I used it for years before getting a router, and it was wank.

It so f*cking lame, it was pathetic. M$ one, linux is much better and miles more stable as long as its setup right, but still hella flakey next to a dedicated box (ICS + linux + dedicated box = router btw). Doesn't manage the conneciton probably, the host swamps the connection if its actively used, the host crashes (m$) when its too busy (check the knowledgebase)... has to be the shittiest networking experience i've had in well over 10 years of networking. using emule on an ICS client is a pathetic experience.

For sharing some faggy lite checking your emails or the www its probably bareable, but all the restrictions make it a really pathetic solution for real internet sharing. Not to mention the hundreds of applications that don't work ranging from Steam to Messenger problems to god only knows what else.

With a router you have the fact its always on, dedicated and more powerful, balances traffic better, doesn't require a host to be on, etc. For wireless access, i simply plugged a pennie switch into my router, then a access point into the switch. Much better

Well, hark at me, I did bite the bullet after all. Splurged £70 on a D-Link DGL-4300.

I can only say my past experiences of routers (Linksys mainly) must have really tainted any opinion I must have had. Because so far this thing is a breeze.

Took minutes to set up and forward all the ports for Azureus, emule and sabnzbd. Fully 'connected' on all trackers too, which is nice and something I thought I would really struggle with. High id on emule (something else I've struggled with past routers). Wireless works great as well (stiil have to figure out why shares don't work wirelessly though), and my Xboxes take the video streams perfectly. And all this in less than one hour.

I've even hammered it too, lots of high connection torrents, emule with lots of downloads, and sabnzbd with 10 connections running as well and running great.

Now all it has to do is survive one week without a reset and then I will be impressed, then I'll eat some humble pie and blame everything on Linksys for making think so bad about routers.

This will certainly do and I'm impressed with these d-link routers:

I'm using PFSense as a router now running on an old PC.

It's INCREDIBLE in comparison to any of my old routers.

It handles thousands of simultaneous connections as opposed to the ~250 of standalone routers.
It detects intrusion attempts by IP and blocks that IP completely
It can filter traffic on a per packet basis and reject it bases on rules of your choice
You can black/white list any PC, any type of traffic or website of your choice
It has traffic shaping built in so your p2p doesn't interfere with say WoW (whilst not affecting speed)
It has captive portal security, wpa2 etc

I'm NEVER going back to a "normal" router again

I've had sveral standalone (dsl)routers. Both wired and wireless. The only one that I can say have behaved decent is Zyxel routers. Tested 3Com, Billion, SMC and Jensen standalones and they have all been crap. Underpowered with useless buggy firmware!

PC_Arcade, believe me if I had a choice I would go down that route. Alas, lack of space and a nagging wife precludes such an option.

However, I'm happy now with this router- up for over 3 weeks, and easy to use.

Funnily enough it was the missus that finally pushed my into this solution, my old Belkin would drop it's wireless connection regularly, and that wan't good enough

This box has NEVER dropped the wireless connection (nor any other for that matter) and Marie is a happy girl


Good news

what are the specs and topology of your 'old pc'? ie. brands supported for wireless, wired, etc. number of cards/switches/wired components, etc.?