Please help me choose (Home network overhaul by a newbie)

[kinmin]

Hello pros,

Great forum you guys have here.

I'm planning a complete home (it's a office too) network overhaul by this Christmas and I would really appreciate recommendations in regards to what to choose for the 2 routers.

The wireless range should be sufficient for a 60 sq.m area with a couple of medium walls.

Dual networks are required, a main one and a secondary one that is always connected to a VPN (So vpn client must be a built-in feature in the router, dd-wrt maybe?).

The main router will be the one connected to the internet (30dl/3ul), and will provide the internet to the VPN router.

Below are the equipment that will be connected to the network (Sorry tried to draw a diagram but the software kept crashing)

DELL Studio XPS 9000 (Wireless N)
MacBook Pro 1 (Wireless G)
MacBook Pro 2 (Wireless G)
PC Laptop (Wireless G)
NetBook (Wireless G)
PS3 (Wireless G)
Wii (Wireless G)
PSP (Wireless B)
DS (Wireless B)
Blackberry 1 (Wireless G)
Blackberry 2 (Wireless G)

Internet --ETHERNET--> Main Router
VPN Router --ETHERNET--> Main Router
6 Port Switch --ETHERNET--> Main Router
DELL Studio XPS 9000 --WIRELESS--> Main Router
DELL Studio XPS 9000 --WIRELESS--> VPN Router
MacBook Pro 1 --WIRELESS--> Main Router
MacBook Pro 1 --WIRELESS--> VPN Router
MacBook Pro 2 --WIRELESS--> Main Router
MacBook Pro 2 --WIRELESS--> VPN Router
PC Laptop --WIRELESS--> Main Router
PC Laptop --WIRELESS--> VPN Router
NetBook --WIRELESS--> Main Router
NetBook --WIRELESS--> VPN Router
Blackberry 1 --WIRELESS--> Main Router
Blackberry 2 --WIRELESS--> Main Router
PS3 --ETHERNET--> Main Router
PS3 --WIRELESS--> VPN Router
Wii --ETHERNET--> Main Router
Wii --WIRELESS--> VPN Router
PSP --WIRELESS--> Main Router
PSP --WIRELESS--> PS3
ASUS Skype Videophone --ETHERNET--> 6 Port Switch
PopBox Media Player --ETHERNET--> 6 Port Switch
DreamBox --ETHERNET--> 6 Port Switch
D-Link NAS --ETHERNET--> Main Router

1. Gaming is done on the consoles only
2. The NAS will handle a couple of computer backups
3. The NAS will also be responsible for the torrent downloads
4. All media, music, and videos will be stored on the NAS only

My main concern is reliability, I've gone through a bunch of cheap routers and half-baked setups to know that you get what you pay for. The other thing is that both routers will be placed close to each other, what can I do to minimize wireless interference.

There isn't a specific budget in mind, but would like to not exceed $600 for both routers, unless spending a bit more will yield drastic improvement in reliability.

Sorry if i missed any vital information, please ask me and I will try my best to answer. My network noob brain is doing 360 spins on me.

Thanks

 

[thiggins]

I'd use a single router, with VPN endpoint and multiple subnet support, like the Cisco RV042. You're not going to be connecting clients to both "Main" and "VPN" networks simultaneously or you'll be defeating the purpose of separate LANs.

Use a separate AP or router converted to AP that has multiple SSID support. The EnGenius ESR9850 is an example.

 

[kinmin]

Thanks thiggins, I will look into your solution and review the mentioned equipment.

Cheers