Best Router for HEAVY traffic and VoIP? 15-20 PCs

Okay so Im looking for the BEST r outer to handle heavy trafficing as we're around 15-20 college students living off campus and usually we're all connected to the internet at the same time, and usually using VoIP services the most e.g. skype but mostly Yahoo Conferencing to connect with everyone together and have have LAN parties with everyone and we ALWAYS have problems with VoIP and gaming, so basically any type of heavy traffic? is it suited to get a gaming router if yes then which one?
I have looked at a few routers, hoping maybe someone can give me some pointers on their performance.
Linksys by Cisco WRT610N
Belkin Double N+
D-Link DGL-4500 Xtreme N Gaming Router
NETGEAR WNDR3700

We need a more suited router** for VoIP sessions so if gaming could be a problem then just rate them or suggest a router based on heavy VoIP only.

 

Avoid Belkin. For wireless the WNDR3700 and a 15-24 port gige switch.

 

With that kind of traffic you are going to want to check with your local cable or dsl provider for 'business class' services. You will have contractually guaranteed uptimes, bandwidth, low latency, and low packet loss that are simply NOT offered with consumer-class broadband.

You will also NOT be subject to the download/surf gigabyte caps that most consumer broadband services are implementing. The current caps in the US seem to be stabilizing at around 8 Gb per day (some 250Gb per month) which works out to a pair of DVD .iso images each day. Not a lot when you divide it out 20 ways.

VOIP is very dependent on having a low latency and low packet loss connection. Too many of these running on a consumer-grade broadband line and everyone suffers. Add the typical surfing and downloading and gaming of 20+ people and things get worse.

Broadband router? If the ISP doesn't supply a router with business class service, look at the current generation of Motorola SurfBoard modems in either dsl or cable modem flavors. If they are supported by your provider these are simply the best around.

Now you will need things like in-house switches and wireless access points. Cisco/Linksys SOHO stuff is comparable in price to consumer-grade gear.

On the surface, the differences between consumer and business class broadband might not seem to be worth the money. But when you start to multiply potential problems with consumer-class services pooled and used by 20+ people and how much of a challenge it WILL be to solve them, the quality of service and contractual guarantees of a business class should be evident.

Yes, all of this will cost you money. But done right, you will have the kind of in-house broadband necessary to support 20+ internet-hungry students and their surfing, downloading, torrenting, gaming, voiping, and emailing.

 

Newegg Link

If you know how to adjust the QoS settings, this router should be more than enough with its Broadcom 4718 chip and 128MB of RAM.

 

I agree. This router with DD-WRT will work beautifully. I use this exact one at the company I work for. We have around 35 clients on the network at all times. But I do have to say we have a business class connection though, because I've caught our daily usage hit about 25GB↓/15GB↑. With those numbers on a regular consumers line, you'll get throttled at the 15GB mark with your speeds getting cut in half.

 

Which build do you use?

 

Your gonna need a fast connection and a good QoS management.

Linksys WRT610N or Asus RT-N16 for the WAN router

and HP Procurve 2510 switch or a D-Link GigE smart switch

 

QoS may or may not help if you're going with a consumer-grade router. 15-20 machines each sending out chat and gaming packets through a single consumer-grade router can easily max out older (even 1-2 yr old) routers. When I config QoS for BT and gaming, I tend to use similar settings, only gaming gets a much higher priority. I'd really suggest considering settings up multiple routers or adding some cheap switches or maybe just a cheap hub to handle some of the routing problems. Also, wire in as many of the connections as possible. If (as I fear) you have 15-20 people chatting over wireless, that's another possible bottleneck

 

V24 Beta Build 14311. We were on v24 K26 build 13309, but just recently upgraded about a month ago.

EDIT: What OS is primarily being used? (client wise)

 

the fastest router and most capable dd-wrt build will BE WORTHLESS unless your broadband connection is up to the job of supporting all of your users.

the reverse is also true; you need a good router and switches/access points to make good use of a properly provisioned broadband connection.

unless you are willing/able to do the whole package, any partial efforts will be wasted.

 

well I have 50MB Internet package by Virgin Media UK(they use fiber optic cable rather than phone line)

 

what QoS or bandwidth/latency guarantees does Virgin place on that package?

it's NOT the raw speed you need. you need classically available and reliable internet. low latency and low packet loss. consumer packages typically have NO guarantees in that regard.

You could, in theory, go with a 25 meg/sec package if that package gives you better guarantees for uptime, latency, and packet loss.

 

Dont mess with any of that junk, especially the belkin nonsense. Get a proper peice of equipment like a Draytek router.

 

Drayteks are decent as far as low budget high function routers go, but personally I've often had stability issues even for home use. DDWRT'd 54G, etc - even less suitable IMO.

The router I use at home is the Wireless-N Sonicwall TZ 210, while an older Fortiwifi-60B does the same job on the other link. No issues - although both may be more than the OP would be willing to spend.

Perhaps a Draytek with the appropriate granular control over featujres you're interested in with a timer to switch it off in the dead of night - to give it a rest - might be the thing.

 

A WRT54G would be fine if it wasn't 20 college students using VOIP and all of the normal things they will do. Worse, you can bet many will have a similar schedule, so expect most of them to be on at the same times. This setup will need A LOT of memory, more than the WRT54g can do.

Aim for the fastest processor and most ram you can get.

 

Agreed. Asus RT-N16 would do- 480MHz CPU, 128MB RAM, 32MB flash and DD-WRT support. It's not too expensive too.

 

Actually, on the contrary the stability is the thing about the Drayteks. I use a 2100VG that has sick uptime. Basically once I had set up, the only times i turned it off are when I am away on vacation and I dont feel like leaving my network up there as a target for no good reason. It justs runs for months on end - with multiple users in the house and heavy torrenting too. Had it for 4 years now with that performance.

Thats part of the difference with these and the dinky stuff, they are built properly with good designs for cooling. Routers are not rocket science to design but most of the consumer guys cant be be bothered to spend the exrta 50 cents to cool the router properly. They prefer that it conks out and you buy another one six months later.

 

The WNDR3700 from NETGEAR is really good. It's got good reviews. Check out the review at smallnetbuilder. I purchased from Staples and tested it for 4 to 5 days with some heavy traffic (torrenting, VOIP, on demand with FIOS, one N laptop, one G laptop, one G desktop, 1 WHS doing backups, 1 computer remoting into work, and another computer for newsgroup stuff and XBOX media extender running). I was able to max out my FIOS connection upload and download (25/25). Pretty much everything listed above was running. There were no hiccups and wireless signal on 5GHz and 2.4GHz band was very strong even through 4 walls.

Tested from Staples and later bought it for cheaper with no tax and free shipping from Amazon for $132. Might be expensive, but it definitely handles all the load. Plus, you can put DDWRT on it.

 

looks like this thread is officially over. people are starting to argue teeny-tiny points and ignoring the big picture.

 

a Cisco router will be good when it comes to large amount traffic , i know its a bit expensive but it really worth it , i don't know an exact model , but i am sure people here can recommend u one

 

Cisco would be over kill, though a Juniper 5GT or SSG5(500 ish bucks if you look) would be more than ample for the tasks. But I am a cisco lover and thats what I would run.

 

I would recommend the old faithful DIR-655 to you, as I do to most of my friends and clients, but the most I've ever had connected to it wirelessly is 12 users. This was during a gaming session with Ventrillo VOIP active. It worked flawlessly.

That said, I am no longer quite as confident with the DIR-655 these days, as it took DLINK over 9 months to fix one of their firmwares. The current version works great, but their reputation with me is unrepairably sullied.

Also, the DIR-655, while it has gone through 4 impressive hardware revisions, is getting on in age, so I'm not sure if it's nearly as awesome these days.

One strong piece of advise -- if you are going to run only 1 router, set the router to G only mode. Mixed modes degrade performance and are often pointless because most users are still on G and and an N network will slow to G speeds or below if it senses a single G user transmitting on the network.

Ideally, if you have several N users and several G users, you should set up two separate routers on different channels. One should be set to G only, and the other one should be set to N only.

For a really great resource on networking (and router reviews), check out this site.

SmallNetBuilder

Deep down though, I'm still kinda rooting for the DIR-655, it can handle more simultaneous connections than any other router I've tested. I'm talking 6 of people BitTorrenting on the same network connection...serious stuff.

 

So why the heck are you recommending it?


For the record it took over a year and it's not the only D-link to take a long time to get working properly. I could say a lot about this router, but if anyone wants to know my feelings on that pile of garbage they can do a search. My advice is spend your money on a product and company that is worth it.

 

still ignoring the big picture of 20+ college kids making simultaneous bandwidth and latency demands on a home system.........

 

Buy the Netgear WNDR3700 from Staples. Try it out for a week and see if it works out. If it doesn't you can return to Staples within 2 weeks for a full refund. Make sure to save the receipt and all the packaging and wires.

If it does work, return it to Staples anyway and find it on Amazon for cheaper and without tax if there is no Amazon warehouse in your state.

Edit: RJ, London I see. Well, there should be some b&m that carries the router. So, best bet would be to buy it in store and try it for a couple of days.

 

"buy it from Staples"?

Did you read the OPs first post? Notice where he lives?

 

For that many people who will all be using it around the same time, you need to go with a small business class router. I have a Sonicwall at one office that is pretty nice. It requires a bit of knowledge to setup, it's no Linksys. Try the product selector at Network Security, Firewall & Wireless - Product Selector - SonicWALL, Inc.
To get the best performance for 20 people with VOIP and Gaming, probably some P2P sharing too, you're going to need to spend some money.
Other ideas are Cisco's 500 or 800 series. But they get into the $1000 range. If you had everyone chip in, you could get a nice router that won't be the bottleneck.

 

I agree, it's asking A LOT from any home system, even the latest and greatest.

 

If I check all 2000+ of your posts am I going to find they are all you just threadcrapping?

 

Perhaps in that case my mode of use gives routers more to chew on that what you do, and I might be a better judge of what constitutes 'heavy load.

I do acknowledge that the Drayteks are much more reliable than the rest of the lowest-of-the-low stuff that's being bandied about here, but I'm saying that they're not reliable enough for me and that the Fortigate / Sonicwall (and undoubtedly others in the same class) provides a level of stability under load that is higher than the Drayteks without going totally overboard in terms of cost and/or noise in a domestic situation.

But, as I said, this class of router is more expensive - basically around a thousand bucks - so as I suggested, if you're not willing to stump up the cost, it may be worth going for a Draytek and a timer switch - which might do as good a job in the OP's case.