Cisco Home Setup

[Kessian]

Greetings all!

I am looking at purchasing a Cisco Linksys E1000 paired with a Cisco Linksys AE1000 USB wireless adapter. The space between my PC and the router will be about 10m, separated by a wall.

What do people think of this combination? My connection is ADSL2+ if that helps.

One think i was worries about is that the AE1000 can operate at either 2.4 GHz or 5GHz frequency ranges, whereas the E1000 only operates at 2.4GHz. Will this be a problem in terms of performance?

I'm guessing it would be better to go with the E3000?

If this is the system that is right for my situation, where would be a good place to buy them? (In Aus offcourse).

Thankyou all for your help.

Regards,
Matt

[Apokalipse]

The main advantage 5GHz might bring is being in a less used frequency.
If there isn't much 2.4GHz activity near you anyway, 5GHz wont really be an advantage.

You can see the internal hardware differences here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linksys_routers#E1000

Personally I use an Asus RT-N16 (480MHz CPU, 128MB RAM, 32MB ROM) with Tomato firmware, which is 2.4GHz only. I pretty much always get 300mbps wireless speeds. Plus Tomato firmware allows me to do so much more with it.

I know the E4200 can run Tomato, but there isn't a driver out for it to use 5GHz, or more specifically for the Linux K26 kernel it uses (only for K24, which the stock firmware uses).
If the Asus RT-N66U ever gets released it will come with a K26 firmware and driver (it uses the same CPU + wireless chip as the E4200).

But I don't think 5GHz will usually provide much advantage over 2.4GHz.

[Serra]

The only two potential problems I see are:
1. You are using a USB port in this system
2. You are going to be limited to 2.4GHz

And they may not be problems, depending on the situation.

Potential Problem 1: USB
I have never been a fan of usb dongles for wireless access unless it is necessary. You may try a PCI/PCI-E card instead. It just seems like USB is often a cheaper system and a potential bottleneck if the USB chips in it aren't particularly speedy (though these days that's probably less of an issue than it used to be... these days you should see ~30MB/s throughput, which would be 240Mbps... more than fast enough for wireless). If you do get some convenience from the dongle (eg. if you plan on using it on a laptop as well or have no more PCI slots) then OK. This isn't 2004 anymore so chances are you'll be fine.


Problem 2: 2.4GHz vs 5GHz
This is one of those things that you'll probably never know what you need for until you try it unfortunately. 5GHz signals are much less prone to interference from things such as telephone handsets, microwaves, and neighboring wireless devices and networks... but without just trying it's difficult to quantify how much interference they really cause you, let alone whether the interference will degrade your user experience.

I live in what I would consider the definition of average suburbia as far as population density goes, with a few - but not too many - AP's around me from neighbors and such, and they don't seem to be heavily used. For my particular situation though I can't stand the 2.4GHz band. I don't get excessive packet loss, but when it starts it rolls through for a second or two, and that's enough to be very noticeable to the applications I am typically running (it's just long enough to kill telnet sessions, which I always require 1-2 of while studying). With the 5GHz band on the other hand I've never seen even 0.1% packet loss, and never more than one packet at a time (I'll sometimes tack up a command session pinging my home firewall so if a session dies I'll know whether it's a wireless issue or ISP issue).


I guess I'd summarize it by saying that for 95+% of the suburban population, your setup would work well and would be highly convenient, cost-effective, and as hassle-free as is reasonable. But if you start adding in additional interference (eg. if you live in an apartment building) or stricter packet-loss requirements (eg. using Skype a lot) you might find benefit in looking at more robust hardware.

[rogard]

argh linksys != cisco *off soap box*

[Serra]

argh linksys != cisco *off soap box*

+1

Not that I blame consumers, I blame Cisco. Horrible marketing practice.

[Kessian]

I would use a pci card but don't have space in either of my pcs. So the e3000 would be the way to go? The aE1000 has a separate docking station so you can move the USB to get the best position.

[Apokalipse]

I'd get a mini PCI-E to PCI-E adapter, as well as a decent 300mbps mini PCI-E card on Ebay.
I put in a Broadcom BCM43224 in my laptop.
You can also find some decent Atheros cards for really cheap.

If you want movable antenna placement, you can buy antennas attached with a cable + base.

I don't think there are any (regular) PCI-E wireless cards that do 300mbps both ways, or dual band.

[Kingcarcas]

Do you guys think it's worth switching routers to use DD-WRT?

[Serra]

Typically I say that the best path is to use the firmware supplied by your vendor first and switch only if it unstable or does not support a feature that you want which DD-WRT does. If you encounter a problem with your hardware the manufacturer won't support it if you change firmware, so switching without trying manufacturer firmware without specifically needing any other features is a bit silly IMO because all it does is lose you support.

With that said I do definitely support the idea that if you are purchasing a new device you should attempt to purchase something which DD-WRT does support in case you run in to a software error, as vendor support is typically awful and at least third-party support would give you an opportunity to overcome issues.

[Apokalipse]

I prefer Tomato over DD-WRT.
Better GUI, easier to do the same things.

Plus I think it's more stable than DD-WRT (I've never had to reboot for stability/issues)

[Kessian]

Well I bought the e3000 and ae1000. After trying to set it up I'm sure I have brought the wrong thing. I was going to use the e3000 and plug a phoneline into it and use it for the net. I'm guessing I can't do that with this router.

So what do I do now? Should I take back the e3000 and get a modem/router combo or should I just buy a modem?

What I want is a wireless solution that provides fast Internet to my pc.

[Serra]

Your ISP typically provides you with a modem, I'd just use that myself. If you are in a situation where your ISP-provided modem is also a router, disable routing on it and have it work just as a modem. ISP-provided routers tend to be pretty much garbage and can tend to overheat or have low connection limits, but turning off all routing and firewall features 99.98% of the time turn them into perfectly usable modems with no issues. With those features disabled it's not using it's overworked processor for anything and isn't trying to interfere with your data by tracking and blocking ports.

[Kessian]

I ended up grabbing and using my Billion 7800N modem/router from my old place atm. I've currently got it working but im trying to figure out if there is a better option to use to getting better net speed?

What can i use to find my line noise level, because i did a speed test before and im seeing around 510kbps, which i dont think is a lot for ADSL2+ ?