Author Topic: Good router for a lot of P2P-connections? (Read 3920 times)

Zirro · « **on:** February 11, 2011, 08:57:02 AM »

My story in all it's glorious shortness goes like this: My old router was a Linksys of some sort. It worked great and appeared to handle plenty of connections that I pushed through it with my P2P-activities, but one day it broke down. It was old, so this wasn't a surprise. In a rush to get my Internet back up, and with the belief that all routers were created equal I bought the most expensive D-link model that was for sale at a nearby store. Big mistake, it appears, as my connection gets really, really slow as soon as I connect to more than twenty peers.

I've had it for a few months now and it'll probably be here until it breaks down as well. My family does not like that I spend so much money on computer-related items as it is. I'll be moving to my own apartment later on though, and therefore I am basically looking for recommendations on routers that can handle as many connections as possible.

Thanks!

EDIT: Note that what I am looking for here is not a router that can handle higher speeds than normal, but a much larger amount of connections with other peers.

halfelite · « **Reply #1 on:** February 11, 2011, 05:43:15 PM »

What you want to look for is a router with a large NAT table. They very in sized from the crap ones in the fios router which will buckle under loading a steam game to some nice large 1mb or more.

this site used to have some good information

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_chart/Itemid,189/

Pentium100 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 11, 2011, 08:15:46 PM »

Or get a router that is Linux based and allows access to the command line.

The problem is not the amount of actual connections, since even 2000 would be enough, but the fact that by default, some Linux routers keep the entries in the table for 5 days. As a lot of P2P connections just fail and are not terminated properly, they quickly accumulate in the table and fill it. Reducing the timeout to 1 hour or so allows you to use P2P without problems.

This is based on my experience in using a PC with Linux as a router. A box with Linux in it should act the same.

Xiong Chiamiov · « **Reply #3 on:** February 12, 2011, 12:15:25 AM »

DD-WRT allows you to adjust the number of available connections; Tomato and similar should as well.

Zirro · « **Reply #4 on:** February 12, 2011, 04:54:40 PM »

Thanks guys. The site halfelite mentioned is of great help.

tomoya-kun · « **Reply #5 on:** February 13, 2011, 06:42:57 AM »

Quote from: Xiong Chiamiov on February 12, 2011, 12:15:25 AM

DD-WRT allows you to adjust the number of available connections; Tomato and similar should as well.

DD-WRT and similar works great, lots of things to customize to however you want it to be. Better than most stock router firmware, anyhow,

Gamerzhell · « **Reply #6 on:** February 13, 2011, 07:23:21 AM »

I can vouch for the Asus RT-N16, I'm using one right now flashed with DD-WRT. I have manually set the limit at 65536 connections, though it can theoretically hit 300k no probs. Highest amount of connections i've ever been at is only 5000 though. downsides are mediocre wireless performance.

edit: if you're using adsl then put your old modem in bridged mode and connect LAN port 1 to the WAN port on the router. set up connection settings from router config.

TorturdChaos · « **Reply #7 on:** February 24, 2011, 09:00:15 PM »

Personally I like any of the Linksys WRT54G, GS, or GL series. Only draw back they have had is they like to keep to long of a log of all the connections you have made, and overflows your NAT table (which does sound like the issue u had). Like d/l Bleach and connecting to 1000+ peers always crashed it - until I loaded DD-WRT firmware onto it. It was a breeze to do too.
I have an older WRT54G v3.1, and with DD-WRT it runs like a top.
Just helped my friend get a WRT54GL from Newegg (think they still have them on sale for $50) to replace his POS Netgear (that you had to reset daily) and it took us all of 20min to load DD-WRT onto it. Did that almost a month ago, and he hasn't had any trouble with any of his torrents or any other internet applications, and hasn't had to reset it every day either

. Everything runs great.
Just the other day I flash my parents WRT54G v5 Linksys with DD-WRT because it took forever to load web pages, even though everthing else looked fine (speed, ping, latency). That v5 is a bit more of struggle to flash, took me about an hour to do it. But now it runs nice and smooth.
So even if you don't get a Linksys, I would recommend one you can easily flash with DD-WRT and just scrap the manf. firmware. Look it up on DD-WRT's website and see if you can load DD-WRT on it easily or some are even advertised "DD-WRT compatible".

tomoya-kun · « **Reply #8 on:** March 29, 2011, 02:51:15 AM »

My DGL-4500 runs fine as well for P2P downloads, always hit my max of 2mb/s

sapsa · « **Reply #9 on:** April 04, 2011, 07:29:08 PM »

Mayby little late, but all of my Linksys (not the new one cisco) router was good with P2P. Avoid Netgear (the one i had freezee with p2p)
Not needed linux routers. Why pay more for funtion you wont need?

Natheria · « **Reply #10 on:** April 05, 2011, 03:11:05 AM »

Go hardcore, buy a Cisco 2900.

fohfoh · « **Reply #11 on:** April 05, 2011, 04:18:23 AM »

Quote from: Natheria on April 05, 2011, 03:11:05 AM

Go hardcore, buy a Cisco 2900.

Isn't that more for the wannabe? Don't real men build their own routers?

Natheria · « **Reply #12 on:** April 05, 2011, 01:48:02 PM »

Real men make their own transistors.

Fak3d · « **Reply #13 on:** April 05, 2011, 10:24:28 PM »

I think you mean the Cisco 2600 router as the 2900 is a switch

Anyhow the Cisco 2800 series routers are cool but impractical for home use
and i have in the past used the DGL-4300 but that is old now though so is the 2600.
Depending on your needs and the speed of your inet connection i still think the
gamer lounge routers are good just probably go for the newer DGL-4500.
Also using a pc with a Linux routing distro is a good option if you don't care about power.

halfelite · « **Reply #14 on:** April 05, 2011, 11:38:52 PM »

power? guruplug all the way 20watt max

http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/t-guruplugdetails.aspx make for great routers and small file storage servers.

Natheria · « **Reply #15 on:** April 06, 2011, 01:29:00 AM »

Quote from: Fak3d on April 05, 2011, 10:24:28 PM

I think you mean the Cisco 2600 router as the 2900 is a switch

Anyhow the Cisco 2800 series routers are cool but impractical for home use
and i have in the past used the DGL-4300 but that is old now though so is the 2600.
Depending on your needs and the speed of your inet connection i still think the
gamer lounge routers are good just probably go for the newer DGL-4500.
Also using a pc with a Linux routing distro is a good option if you don't care about power.

You know i was trolling right?

bork · « **Reply #16 on:** April 06, 2011, 01:42:08 AM »

Running a Cisco 2522 myself. Picked it up while doing my CCIE studies. I would recommend on staying away from using a full Cisco router for home use, not user friendly to the untrained. I picked up my routers from Ebay at a decent price. Problems you are going to have once you get one is getting the software updates, they do not come cheap.

toaow · « **Reply #17 on:** April 06, 2011, 03:14:55 PM »

Quote from: halfelite on April 05, 2011, 11:38:52 PM

power? guruplug all the way 20watt max

http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/t-guruplugdetails.aspx make for great routers and small file storage servers.

So you're using your plug as a router + torrent box? DDWRT or a full distro?

I'm using my Dockstar running PlugApps as a torrent box @ 10 watts but I also run a pair of Rosewill RNX-GX4 routers running DDWRT since I need a wireless bridge to the next building for the rest of the home network.

The Rosewill router works well as a router for torrenting purposes, as long as you load DDWRT, adjust the connection timeout, crank the radio power down and/or install a heatsink on the radio chip. Currently $26.99 shipped @ Newegg.

halfelite · « **Reply #18 on:** April 06, 2011, 10:43:15 PM »

Quote from: toaow on April 06, 2011, 03:14:55 PM

Quote from: halfelite on April 05, 2011, 11:38:52 PM
power? guruplug all the way 20watt max

http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/t-guruplugdetails.aspx make for great routers and small file storage servers.
So you're using your plug as a router + torrent box? DDWRT or a full distro?

I'm using my Dockstar running PlugApps as a torrent box @ 10 watts but I also run a pair of Rosewill RNX-GX4 routers running DDWRT since I need a wireless bridge to the next building for the rest of the home network.

The Rosewill router works well as a router for torrenting purposes, as long as you load DDWRT, adjust the connection timeout, crank the radio power down and/or install a heatsink on the radio chip. Currently $26.99 shipped @ Newegg.

Yes im using it as a route right now its more of a test bed im running a full distro on it at the moment. Its not my main router so i change it often. I got about 3 guruplugs running doing different testing to see how well they perform if its something I want to pursue later down the line for more robust work.

A few companies are coming out with ones that have built in zwave/ir/rf modules so you can use it as a base station for HT gear. The router has worked well. My first file server using one had some overheating problems but they have said to have fixed that issue since I bought mine.

tomoya-kun · « **Reply #19 on:** April 07, 2011, 03:29:10 AM »

Quote from: Fak3d on April 05, 2011, 10:24:28 PM

I think you mean the Cisco 2600 router as the 2900 is a switch

Anyhow the Cisco 2800 series routers are cool but impractical for home use
and i have in the past used the DGL-4300 but that is old now though so is the 2600.
Depending on your needs and the speed of your inet connection i still think the
gamer lounge routers are good just probably go for the newer DGL-4500.
Also using a pc with a Linux routing distro is a good option if you don't care about power.

Gamers features are actually useful. The priority for gaming packets is useful; I can run torrents at 1mb/s and still play with 50ms ping.