Feedback for purposed set-up [ASUS RT-N66U and Zyxel P870H]

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Feedback for purposed set-up [ASUS RT-N66U and Zyxel P870H]

samsam

167 posts

Master Geek

# 101163 25-Apr-2012 15:19

I just wanted to get some ideas on my set-up

Was looking to get a ASUS RT-N66U to act as my router, take care of DHCP and all that stuff, would also leave the wireless enabled. Then have the Zyxel P870H for ADSL and possible upgrade to VDSL, using it in bridged mode. The rest of the network would include a gigabit switch, Belkin Play Max (AP), Belkin N+ (AP). these are needed to connect all the wired devices and provide extended (back-up) wireless signal.

Devices
Windows 7 PC x5-9
Mac PC             x1-2
Smartphones    x4-7
Xbox 360          x3

If i was to change to telstra clear, i would just replace the Zyxel and change the ASUS settings?

To minimize downtime for the network devices if i connected the ASUS RT-N66U to a switch first i would be able to restart the router without losing connection between device on network? same with the Zyxel modem?

The set-up would be able to handle a number (2-6) HD streams from the local network?

Both the 2.4Ghz and 5GHz wireless networks would still function if one device was reset?

any suggestion would be helpful, basically trying to put together a robust network as my current set-up needs rebooting every few days, and any changes stop streaming media as the media pc is connected to the router. Only things i would be buying would be the ASUS and Zyxel product

Thanks for any help

(PS any suggestion of where to buy equipment from would be good)

Ragnor

8035 posts

Uber Geek

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# 614985 25-Apr-2012 16:12

Yes if you had a standalone network switch LAN to LAN transfer via switch would not be affected by restarting the modem or router before/in front of the switch.

Yes once you have the ASUS RT-N66U if you wanted to change from DSL to cable you'd just changing the basic modem that's in front of the ASUS RT-N66U and maybe the wan settings in the ASUS RT-N66U.

The ASUS RT-N66U is a pretty good choice, if the Asus firmware turns out to have some issues there is third party open source firmware for the device being actively developed eg: Tomato USB and DD-WRT which are constantly being improved and enhanced.

I doubt you will need so many extra wifi AP's nor a standalone switch once you have the Asus RT-N66U, it should rarely need restarting.

For example: I have an older setup with a Linksys WRT54GL running TomatoUSB behind a basic DSL modem, it's been up for over 250 days. Only reason it's not longer than that is I updated the firmware to a newer version awhile back.

samsam

167 posts

Master Geek

# 614987 25-Apr-2012 16:17

thanks for the feedback. I need at least one AP to get good coverage, have an older house and for some reason wireless coverage is bad. I might just use the Belkin N+ as a switch then.

How many device do you have running on your network? I found that the more i added the more often it needed a restart.

Ragnor

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# 614991 25-Apr-2012 16:24

Not as much as you, at the moment we have:

3x PC's
3x smart phones
1x PS3
1x WDTV Live

Ability to use open source firmware that's regularly being improved will likely be the biggest benefit to you imo. Companies like Netgear, Belkin, Asus work on product cycles they only update firmware for a short while after the product is released maybe a year at most, some bugs never get fixed as the dev team is off working on the next product.

The open source community have a much higher interest in working on firmware for a device for longer, the amount of people contributing to TomatoUSB, DD-WRT and OpenWRT (Gargoyle Router) and the quality of their work is amazing.

The WRT54GL here is pretty old now, the stock Linksys firmware was really crappy/buggy. Yet this device is still supported by TomatoUSB, DD-WRT and OpenWRT releases which have fixed pretty much all the bugs and added lots of useful features eg: vpn, qos etc.

Cheap all in one is good for basic home usage but when you have geeks, gamers and lots of devices they just don't hack it.

I have put together a few different separate modem > router configs for friends and family now and highly recommend it, here is what was used in some of them:

Linksys AM300 half bridge (PPPoA) to Linksys WRT54GL (TomatoUSB)
TP Link TD-8840 half bridge (PPPoA) to TP Link TL-WR1043ND (Gargoyle Router/OpenWRT)
Draytek Vigor 120 bridge (PPPoA to PPPoE) to pfsense running on mini itx PC + gigabit network switch

samsam

167 posts

Master Geek

# 615005 25-Apr-2012 16:46

I can defiantly understand why a modem -> router setup is better for high usage scenarios. I choose the RT-N66U as there was the possibility to go to open source firmware, was considering the RT-N56U but that isn't supported by third party firmware. Im hoping this setup will be stable and not need to be changed for a long time

watchthisspace

26 posts

Geek

# 616372 28-Apr-2012 00:13

Does anyone know when the Asus router will be released?

Ragnor

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# 617062 29-Apr-2012 19:28

watchthisspace: Does anyone know when the Asus router will be released?

If Asus RT-N66U isn't available you can always go for Asus RT-N16 for TomatoUSB or TP Link TL-WR1043ND for Gargoyle Router/OpenWRT.

sbiddle

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Biddle Corp

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# 617074 29-Apr-2012 20:07

IMHO your best option is to look for an ISP that will give you a PPPoE ADSL2+ connection over EUBA. You can then set VLAN10 on the WAN port of the Zyxel and have native PPPoE support rather than going PPPoA -> PPPoE conversion.

samsam

167 posts

Master Geek

# 617644 30-Apr-2012 20:59

sbiddle: IMHO your best option is to look for an ISP that will give you a PPPoE ADSL2+ connection over EUBA. You can then set VLAN10 on the WAN port of the Zyxel and have native PPPoE support rather than going PPPoA -> PPPoE conversion.

what benefits does this have?

Ragnor

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# 617734 30-Apr-2012 23:20

Two routers = double NAT unless you bridge them, typically being behind double NAT is fine for general web and email but a pain for gaming, p2p etc.

PPPoE can be bridged easily.

PPPoA requires workarounds like half bridge (Dynalink RTA1320, TP Link TD 8840, Linksys AM300) or PPPoA to PPPoE relay/bridge (eg: Draytek Vigor 120)

Typically ADSL in NZ uses PPPoA (except some LLU gear/ISP's or in the newer EUBA case biddle mentions).

Chorus WVS (Wholesale VDSL Service) use PPPoE

sbiddle

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# 617776 1-May-2012 08:27

If you are on a EUBA plan you can use PPPoE but depending on your ISP they potentially don't have your CVID loaded correctly (PPPoA uses a 1600 offset) so it probably won't work automatically.

I'd automatically opt for EUBA using one of these modems since it supports VLAN's on the WAN interface, whether your ISP will let you do that is a question for them.