KingLinkTiger

I don't think homegroups are necessary. I have my computers sharing files and I've never configured a homegroup. What I do is make sure all of the computers are in the same domain/workgroup, and that seems to do it for me. How to change Workgroup: Open the start menu Right Click computer Click Properties In the list on the left click "Advanced System Settings" Then click the "Computer Name" tab Click the "Change" button, it is the last button Change the workgroup to whatever you want, I use my last name, but it is up to you. Click OK, and then you will have to restart your computer That is about it for changing the workgroup, but the homegroup might be an easier way to do it.

In the case of the ZyXEL switch there isn't a difference. The ZyXEL switch is just called a media switch because it prioritize your network, as in if you want game consoles to be the fastest you plug them in one port and they will get a higher priority than your computers. What it really would come down to is preference, do you just want a standard 5 port switch, or do you want an 8 port, that has built in QoS (Quality of Service ie Prioritization). Personally, out of only these two, I would go with the D-Link because it does not have the built in QoS. I consider the QoS on the ZyXEL to be a turn off for me because they are hard wired to the different prioritization levels, so say if I wanted to have 3 computers at the highest level, I would need to buy another switch, or I wouldn't be able to do it.

Not much of a problem for all of the 3rd party firmware users, since this seems to only affect the stock firmware users.

I'm not quite sure how they have Fast Ethernet on a device they say can do 200mbit. The name fast ethernet refers to an ethernet standard that can only carry 100mbit/s or the equivalent of 12.5MB/s.

I would suggest Access Points (APs), Repeaters, and Ethernet. Have one or two APs in your building, depending on the size of your building and the number of required repeaters you are going to want these to be fast, as in something like n900. Then you will have repeaters set up to repeat your signal, now be aware that these repeaters will use half the bandwidth to receive information and the other half to send it, so this means that after one repeater your speed will be cut down to 300. If also desired you can use ethernet cords to wire your repeaters to more repeaters or APs further expanding your range. If you want more specifics we will need a price range that you are working with, along with wither or not you are going to need and special items that would not come with consumer grade equipment.

If you have a 100MB internet connection and are getting only around 20MB at your computer there is a serious bottleneck somewhere.

Hi nice to meet you, we probably met before. Anyway, I hate people in general. When I play Gmod it is constant Mic spam and young children, playing games like CoD, BF, etc I try and play tactically with a team but everyone just does their own thing.

There are so many factors that take into account for download/upload speed. While you are correct that limiting the distance of your coax cable is correct, you forgot that (Assuming you live in a house/Apartment) the cable has to come from a pole, or underground, inside your building then to your cable modem. It would be best for you to shorten that coax cable or put an amplifier in near the wall. Another idea is to Get a technician out there, check fittings, check signal strength, check signal to noise, etc. There are countless times that people loose internet/TV/Phone due to the fitting outside their house or the fitting on the pole being corroded. Also, how recently did you get your modem? Comcast should have already given you a DOCIS 3.0 Modem if it is recent (Under 12 months), otherwise they used an old DOCIS 2 one. If so request for the DOCIS 3.0 one. Lastly could you give us more information about your network? Something such as WALL --> Modem --> AirPort --> Switch --> Desktop, and maybe incuding the cable distances would be nice such as. WALL -(100ft)-> Modem -(3ft)->AirPort -(1ft)-> Switch -(10ft)-> Desktop. This will help us troubleshoot your internal network. Lastly, RUN A SPEED TEST, this test is invaluable to us in order to really understand your situation. This also will give us the determination of whether or not it is Comcast who needs to fix things, or it it you. In the OP you said that you do not rank your friends internet by speed tests, then how are you ranking them? Are you downloading files at their house recording the speed, and then going to your house and downloading more files and using that as a comparison? If you are using file downloads as a "real world speed test" make sure you are downloading the SAME file form the SAME server, if not your argument is invalid because you could be getting slow speeds because you are downloading stuff from across the world while your friend is downloading from next door. Also this still would not be a great determining factor because even though you live a couple block over that couple blocks of hundreds of feet of cable DO make a difference. As stated earlier your friends houses might have brand new fittings while yours are corroded.

Please reference http://linustechtips.com/main/forum/computer-hardware/networking/71123-what-makes-a-good-ethernet-cable?p=71145#post71145 , we have gone over the differences of different Ethernet cables.

Could you go into a little more detail than that?

It does not seem that you can transfer files from a mac to a pc via thunderbolt (https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4796), but it looks like it is possible to do mac to mac (https://support.apple.com/kb/PH3838)

rufee, instead of trying pfsense why not use policy routing with your mikrotik. If I was in your position I would set one of my interfaces (eth1) to be one IP and then set another interface (eth2) to be the other IP, and then just branch off of those ports. Look at the first part of this site, I think this is a route you can go (http://home.swkls.org/mikrotik-policy-based-routing/). Or here is something along this line on the mikrotik wiki (http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Testwiki/IP_routing#Policy_routing_implementation_example)

I'm not sure about actual fireworks, but as far as I'm aware the Logitech amp will just re-amp the audio. Now if the Logitech speakers can't support the wattage then yes bad stuff is going to happen. As windspeed36 said the Logitech speakers just want pure signal, as in nothing amped. Go with what Dodge said and use some no amped outputs and you should be fine, otherwise you are going to have to use one or the other, or use them independently.