Re: Looking for Tech Info on (wireless) Routers

["Martin Rowe" <dbg400.net@xxxxxxxxx>]

2008/10/2 Jon Paris <Jon.Paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> I seem to recall being told a while back that most of the commercial
> (i.e. D-Link, LinkSys, etc.) routers have limits on the number of
> active connections they can support  at any one time.  I have
> experienced problems with LinkSys in the past that suggested that a
> number as low as 16 might be the number for that piece of hardware.
>
> Does anyone know if this is true and if so, can you point me to
> documents that will help me decide which one I need to meet my
> requirements.

Hi Jon

I've read the same somewhere (though can't find it now), and it did
have an impact if I was using BitTorrent software at the same time as
my son was online gaming. I have a LinkSys WRT54GL (that's the Linux
version - $53 at Amazon currently) and it has both a low number of
connections (though I think the number is quite a bit higher than 16)
and has a very long timeout on them (days) which means they get used
up unless you keep rebooting the router. I flashed the router with an
alternative firmware - Tomato at http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato -
which has far better capabilities than the original firmware. It gives
you full control over the number of active connections & the various
timeouts, letting you know how many are active at any one time. Couple
that with very fine grained QoS settings and my son doesn't complain
that I'm slowing down his games ;) Feel free to email me if you have
more questions on Tomato.

Regards, Martin