Gearing up for Fibre.

[danielk]

Greetings,

Not sure where to post this, so apologise if its in the wrong section!

So a few weeks ago i got the message i've been waiting for since 1994; A fibre based ISP is expanding and will shortly be offering (synchronized 1:1 up/downstream) 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, and even 500 Mbit/s connections where i live, via my existing RJ45 plug in the wall.

A revamp of my current home network is therefor in order! And i need some advice from seasoned veterans on this board.

My appartment is small and 50 ish square feet, not a lot of walls etc. I currently have a Dir655 wired to 3x stationary computers, 1x PS3 via Wireless(will change to wired) and an iphone+w8 tablet on the wifi.

I mainly use the net for (in order of importance); trading, games, streaming (netflix etc) and occasionally some torrent activities.

The two first mentions benefit extremely from stability and low latency - which are my main priorities in a new setup.

So after some researching, i'm considering;

1. Ditching the onboard broadcom NIC(on an "Asrock OC formula" motherboard) in my main computer (where critical trading/gaming occurs) for an Intel based dedicated Gbit NIC.

- Suggestions for ideal Gbit NIC's, if any, would be appreciated.


2. Switching to quality Cat cabling, mostly 5-10 meter cables. I dont think there is a lot of electrical noise in my appartment. My cables DO however run right next to 2 computers, and a Pioneer LX85 AVR receiver + 1 "Definitive Tech Mythos ST" speaker. Plus whatever is behind the outlet in my wall (electricity, coax and an RJ45 plug)

- Im thinking of going with UTP cat6e cables, just to be on the safe side (since im probably not getting more that 3x5 meters worth of cabling). Is this totally overkill? What would be wise? and why?

3. And of course the most important part, the router. Wireless performance is not a factor for me. My biggest consideration is the stability and compute power on the wired part of the router. I need it to chew away 100-250mbit connection and supply the lowest possible latency for both trading and gaming (WoW, actually..). And not having to reboot it after a torrent download.

In this regard, i've been looking at Asus N66U "dark knight" and the new AC66 or AC68 routers from Asus. The wireless performance is mostly insignificant to me, but the stronger HW in the AC68 (dual core) suggests to me better performance on the wired WAN to LAN ports as well, resulting in more stability and less latency(given FW/SW is stable)? Would this assumption be correct?

Are there other routers i should be looking into? I've had some bad experience with Netgear, keeping me reserved on the R7000 which on Tim's review had more horsepower.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Fraoch]

So a few weeks ago i got the message i've been waiting for since 1994; A fibre based ISP is expanding and will shortly be offering (synchronized 1:1 up/downstream) 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, and even 500 Mbit/s connections where i live, via my existing RJ45 plug in the wall.

Lucky!!!!

1. Ditching the onboard broadcom NIC(on an "Asrock OC formula" motherboard) in my main computer (where critical trading/gaming occurs) for an Intel based dedicated Gbit NIC.

- Suggestions for ideal Gbit NIC's, if any, would be appreciated.

Yes that's a cost-effective idea that can improve stability and lower latency. The Intel PRO/1000 CT/GT cards should run you only about $30.

Intel PRO/1000 CT (PCIe x1 version)

Intel PRO/1000 GT (PCI version)

2. Switching to quality Cat cabling, mostly 5-10 meter cables. I dont think there is a lot of electrical noise in my appartment. My cables DO however run right next to 2 computers, and a Pioneer LX85 AVR receiver + 1 "Definitive Tech Mythos ST" speaker. Plus whatever is behind the outlet in my wall (electricity, coax and an RJ45 plug)

- Im thinking of going with UTP cat6e cables, just to be on the safe side (since im probably not getting more that 3x5 meters worth of cabling). Is this totally overkill? What would be wise? and why?

You won't get faster speeds by using more expensive cables. Just make sure they're all Cat 5e or better and make sure they connect at gigabit speeds. There are lots of indicators to tell you whether they're connecting at gigabit or at 100 M speeds. Replace the ones that don't get gigabit speeds, but no need to go crazy. If they connect at gigabit speeds, you won't notice any difference between Cat 5e and Cat 6 or Cat 6a cables. Note that Cat 6e is not officially recognized and doesn't correspond to any standards - it's a marketing term and won't give you higher performance provided you connect at gigabit speeds anyway.

3. And of course the most important part, the router. Wireless performance is not a factor for me. My biggest consideration is the stability and compute power on the wired part of the router. I need it to chew away 100-250mbit connection and supply the lowest possible latency for both trading and gaming (WoW, actually..). And not having to reboot it after a torrent download.

In this regard, i've been looking at Asus N66U "dark knight" and the new AC66 or AC68 routers from Asus. The wireless performance is mostly insignificant to me, but the stronger HW in the AC68 (dual core) suggests to me better performance on the wired WAN to LAN ports as well, resulting in more stability and less latency(given FW/SW is stable)? Would this assumption be correct?

Yes that assumption is correct - the router has more resources to be able to do its job properly under load. You may want to compare routers using only WAN - LAN/LAN - WAN performance if wireless is of secondary importance to you:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/74-wan-to-lan

You might even want to keep your current router as a wireless AP and add a powerful router, using it as a wired router only. That spreads the computing load over two devices, wireless functions on one and routing functions (only!) on another:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-basics/32065-how-to-improve-network-performance-part-2

You already have a router which you can use as an AP and you indicate that wireless performance isn't paramount anyway - a router with good routing performance used just as a router may increase stability and lower latency even further.

 

[stig]

Some of our (Ubiquiti) customers are reporting very good throughput numbers with their FTTH connections using our EdgeRouter Lite - https://community.ubnt.com/t5/EdgeM...th-Dual-Stack-IPv4-amp-IPv6/m-p/532268#M12895

Note: I'm just an engineer on this product and not trying to be a sales weenie.

 

[Fraoch]

Some of our (Ubiquiti) customers are reporting very good throughput numbers with their FTTH connections using our EdgeRouter Lite - https://community.ubnt.com/t5/EdgeM...th-Dual-Stack-IPv4-amp-IPv6/m-p/532268#M12895

Note: I'm just an engineer on this product and not trying to be a sales weenie.

I was thinking that but didn't want to plug it in every thread (as you see in my sig above I'm using one) but yes, the ERL would be perfect for this application.

It's wired only so you're not wasting money on wireless - you're spending it on performance instead.

Some may be intimidated by the initial configuration and I'm not sure if the OP is a tinkerer and willing to do this, but once configured, it's extremely stable. I haven't had to reboot mine, ever:

Fraoch@EdgeRouter-Lite:~$ uptime
 16:37:28 up 71 days,  7:10,  1 user,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

...it's been much longer (I've had it 6 months) but I repainted the office and needed to unplug it.

 

[stig]

Some may be intimidated by the initial configuration and I'm not sure if the OP is a tinkerer and willing to do this, but once configured, it's extremely stable. I haven't had to reboot mine, ever:

Glad to hear that Fraoch.

BTW, regarding intimidating initial configuration, just this week we released v1.3.0 software that now includes a basic setup wizzard. For more info see - https://community.ubnt.com/t5/EdgeMAX-Updates-Blog/EdgeMax-software-release-v1-3-0/ba-p/591711

 

[Fraoch]

BTW, regarding intimidating initial configuration, just this week we released v1.3.0 software that now includes a basic setup wizzard. For more info see - https://community.ubnt.com/t5/EdgeMAX-Updates-Blog/EdgeMax-software-release-v1-3-0/ba-p/591711

Well that's awesome...now there's no reason at all not to recommend it for everybody.

 

[danielk]

Thanks to both of you for the input! It's very much appreciated

I've been researching further into the topic, and as far as NIC's and Cabling go - thats decided! I'll go with the Intel Pro1000 CT as suggested, reading nothing but excellent stuff about it. Cables, i'll most likely go for Cat6 FTP as the premium is insignificant. Not in hopes of any speed gains mind you, but simply because shielding should be slightly better.

Now then, the biggest question still remains unanswered. Did some research on the ERL and it sure looks like a great, quality "No nonsense" product(loved the Cysco clip as well to boot!). To my fit i'd probably hold on for the PoE, just for the extra ports. However, im afraid it is a little too advanced for me, as im not much of a tinkerer. Even with the latest FW-wizards, i'd be slightly uncomfortable thinking there are settings in there that i "should" tweak but have left untouched. If it would sport some sort of wifi, i might take a leap of faith(in my ability to better grasp routers, that is), however at this moment i'd really like to pass my DIR-655 along to my dad.

So anyhoot, i'm currently leaning slightly towards the AC68U, purely due to the 800mhz dual core which hopefully will perform even better with future FW updates (will no doubt try Merlin and even Padavans if he ever does one for the AC68u). I know there are others with the same and even higher speeds (like the 1Ghz R7000) but again my faith in Netgear is low and Asus seem to put out regular updates, while having in general more backing from the likes of Merlin and Padavan.

No triggers have been pulled yet tho, and im bound to spend more hours researching stuff. What surprised me however was the LAN to WAN, WAN to LAN, and Simultaneous Connections benchmarks where the AC68U gets beaten by way "older" hardware. I'm guessing for now that this has a strong link to FW optimalization which should improve(more so on the AC68U) over time. Or, perhaps the extra compute power might just go to waste purely on pushing the wireless performance which for me would be a waste?

Anyway, ramblings apart, thanks to both of you for reading my long-winded thread! And for the great advice Keep them coming should you have more ideas or comments!