Old router slowing down internet?

[techwannabe]

The setup here is roadrunner cable running into a 5 year old linksys befsr41v2 router then to 4 computers. I did speed tests before and got 2mbps max which i thought seemed slow for how much cable costs.

So recently the router crapped out and i connected straight from the modem for a while untill i got the router back up, while i was connected directly to the modem i was getting over 4mbps connection speeds. After getting back on the router its back in the 1.5 to 2mbps range.

The question is, since this is a rather old router is it like a bottleneck? Can it not handle the full speed or something? I've upgraded to the latest firmware for this model, but that is still 2 years old. So do i just need to get a new router or what?

 

[Law]

It is a bottleneck, with any router really. But it should not slow you down that bad, seems like you are getting 2Mbps less than you would if connected to the modem. You can buy a new router if you want, just to see maybe this one is ready for retirement.

I use a computer for a router, 700Mhz CPU, 512mb of RAM, has more processing power and memory. Don't have any problem compare to conventional home router. If you have a spare computer lying around you can turn it into a much more powerful router.

 

[techwannabe]

Hey thanks for the reply.. Just recently it was decided that since my mom is getting a laptop in the near future anyway, that we'd get a wireless router to replace the old one. Hopefully that will fix the problems that this one is causing.

Something else odd that it is doing is blocking a website for some reason. My girlfriend's website is hosted on just-look.net and for some reason nothing on that server can be accessed from my house. It just times out, even when i ping the site from the cmd prompt. If i connect without the router there is no problem. I've reset the default settings and upgraded firmware and all that.. this thing is on my nerves lately, i'm rather anxious to replace it. ...since i'm rather new to this... I'm curious to all things technical.. what is needed to use a computer as a router like you said?

 

[Law]

I've taken a look at that model, and I can't find any indication of any firewall like (SPI) on there that would block the site. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stateful_firewall

Maybe it's just the firmware's fault or the router is close to retirement, really.

Technically a router is just like any computer, it has a CPU and RAM, board to house all the devices, etc, but all of it's component are low end, meaning it's not as powerful as a conventional computer. That's why it's only $50

You can take a spare computer, assuming it still works, has the necessary component (CPU, RAM, video card, CD drive, hard drive, 2 network card) and a software component to start the installation. Example:

SmoothWall http://www.smoothwall.org/about/screenshots/
M0n0Wall http://m0n0.ch/wall/screenshots.php
Linux and IPtable

There are other software you can use but I don't recommend them, like:

Windows ICS
Windows Server using RRAS

Basically you just install one of the software component on the computer and set it up accordingly to the software, connect 1 network card to the modem, and connect the 2nd network card to a switch and share the Internet with as many computer as you want.

I use SmoothWall, and I've configured it as a router/firewall. All I really have to do was give it about 4gig of hard drive space, it doesn't require a monitor or keyboard or mouse, every configuration can be access remotely in your LAN through a website just like the same thing you do with your Linksys router. So it's really just sitting there like a tower, connected to my cable modem, then the other NIC is connected to a 3com 12 port switch. 6 computers are connected to this switch. The computer handles the traffic really well for 6 computers, I believe it can handle even more but my Internet speed is only 4Mbps from COX. :beard:

 

[techwannabe]

Thanks a lot for the help and info and such.