illdeviant

regarding routers and whatnot. they spec from like 54mbps - 108mbps data rates. But I lookat my provider and they offer something along the rates of 7-12mbps downstream. I would think the large numbers on the routers are for cross network transfers between computers on the network?
I only plan to use it primarily for gaming or dowloading online.. the 54 would be more than adequate, right?
Thanks

imouseone

You have to also take into consideration the 54mbps that you speak of is shared also. So if you are not the only one using the connection you won't see 54mbps, especially if you forget to lock down your router and your neighbor is stealing bandwidth from you . It also depends on how strong your signal is to the router. But ideally speaking, yes, it will be adequate.

Plaid13

if your isp is giving you 12mbps then yeah any router will do even if the neighbor is stealing your bandwidth the bottleneck will always be the isp not the router.

illdeviant

gotcha.

right , so assuming that you're the only one using it and that wireless is ideal, the 108mbps routers are more for the T1 lines in offices/schools or for very intense cross network sharing or something? cause initially , given the hugenormous discrepancies w/the numbers i figured maybe that the router and provider speeds were specced differently or something. shrug. i got it now. thanks.

Dilbert1234567

actually T1 is 1.544 Mb/s.

anyways, the 54Mb/s is the total bandwidth of the wireless segment, where as a 100Mb switch or router is 100Mb per interface. each port on a switch is capable of 100mb/s but the entire wireless segment of your network is capped at 54Mb/s (actually less because this 54 Mb/s includes all the overhead too.)+

one more thing, 54Mb/s is the top, this is under perfect circumstances, the farther away you are and the more obstructions in the way will decrease your speeds as well.

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Pragma

illdeviant: the reason that home network equipment tends to have such "large" numbers is because it's very easy to manufacture highspeed equipment and you can easily take advantage of those speeds at home (I've got five computers here on a 100Mbit switch, makes file copying very rapid).

In a workplace environment, it's also easy to take advantage of those numbers - we have three DS-3 lines coming into my place of work (one DS-3 = 44.736 Mbit) as well as sitting on a OC-48 SONET ring (2.3Gbit or so). Everyone has 100Mbit to the desk, some people have 1Gbit to the desk.

All depends on where you work that you can take advantage of them. I definitely agree that the telcos are holding back on the users in terms of speed, most countries (at least the ones that are better developed than us in terms of broadband saturation) push 10Mbit or more to the homes, sometimes 100Mbit.

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illdeviant

Ok so given the provider and application, not to mention that people will be sharing the connection with me.. granted only for simple browsing.. 54mbps router will be more than sufficient. thx for the help. i'm kinda big on internet, but i can't freakin seem to find where all the ethernet ports built into their walls converge so i may be stuck with wireless =/ ... does that convergence of ethernet cables usually end up in a typical room? i'm basically looking for a panel with lets say 5 ethernet ports sticking out.. (assuming there are 5 rooms with 1 port in each or something)... can't seem to find it. i'm sure it varies with home. pain in the butt. i guess worse case scenario i can convince the owners to let me have the modem in my room and plug straight into the wireless router. ideaS? thx

Anexkahn

The stuff i've seen advertised as 108mb wireless is mostly based on an "improved" compression scheme that claims to boost overall throughput, however, real-world tests indicated way less than what they claim on the box for improvement in speed -- not to mention you have to have the same brand of equipment at both ends to take advantage of this.

As for your question on ethernet in the home... if the house is wired with cat5 drops and an ethernet jack in every room, then yes, those all should converge at a centralized place. It is possible there is a "structured media" cabinet in one of the closets where all of these ports connect to a small switch/router and has a telco or catv drop and power so that it can supply internet to all of the jacks without having the equipment out in the open anywhere. Leviton makes some pretty nice panels for doing this and they're not noticable if you bury them away in a closet or some out of the way place during construction. It is also possible that equipment was installed in an attic or crawlspace and those ethernet drops do not converge anywhere in the occupied space of the house. You might also check at the telephone demarc, sometimes they are pulled to there -- especially in a multi-tenant dwelling where the telco demarc is inside of a wiring closet or other interior room.

Also, on another note, it sounds like you are in a multi tenant building and looking to share your internets with the other occupants. You may want to check your Terms of Service with whatever ISP you are using and make sure that it allows for connection sharing, if this is indeed what you are doing. Sometimes you need to upgrade to the "business" class of service to have this be allowed. There is really no technical way for the ISP to find out if you are sharing your bandwidth when you're behind a nat firewall, but it is worth looking into because if for some reason they are an ISP who doesn't like this sort of thing, it sucks to get shutoff -- and some providers will refuse to sell you service again for upwards of 12 months after a disconnect like this which is a huge problem if you are in an area where your options of ISP are limited.

Deltona Couple

As an aside to this, sharing a network with other people can be personally dangerous. If YOU are the one paying for the service, then YOU are the one responsable for following the ISP's Terms of Service. So if your neighbor is illegally downloading movies and music, and the ISP finds out, guess who gets arrested?...the person who is the OWNER of the account, because the I.P. address of the violation stops at YOUR router.....so ALWAYS be careful when you are sharing an internet service.

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