Does the router matters for wired connections?

[Josysclei]

First: Where I live the options are limited and expensive in terms of models I can choose

Second: I don't give a crap about wifi

Third: My connection is 100mbps fiber

 

As of now, I use a cheap TPLINK WR841 10/100 router that actually bottleneck my internet speed. Having wired connections in mind and maybe ping as an issue (online gaming), will any Gigabit router perform the same? Is it worth it to buy a more expensive model?

[m0k]

Yeah sometimes cheaper routers cant sustain/handle 100mbps connections

does speedtest show the same speeds that youre paying for?
If youre noticing performance issues you may want to look into options from Asus, Netgear.
since you dont need a highend wireless router you should be able to find some solid products for an affordable price

what country are you in? what currency? and whats your max budget?

[Electronics Wizardy]

If you add a switch it won't matter.

[Josysclei]

11 minutes ago, mok said:

Yeah sometimes cheaper routers cant sustain/handle 100mbps connections

does speedtest show the same speeds that youre paying for?
If youre noticing performance issues you may want to look into options from Asus, Netgear.
since you dont need a highend wireless router you should be able to find some solid products for an affordable price

what country are you in? what currency? and whats your max budget?

Im in Brazil, an Archer C2 is around $70 and a C7 $130. When connected directly to the modem, 100mbps, when on the router, 85mbps. So Gigabit is a must, but will a higher end model improve ping and connection quality in wired connections?

[Josysclei]

13 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

If you add a switch it won't matter.

Why not??

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, Josysclei said:

Why not??

The switch will send the traffic to the other system with out going to the router.

[U.Ho]

5 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

The switch will send the traffic to the other system with out going to the router.

This is untrue.

Edit:

This is not untrue! Sorry!

 

Sloppy reading gets you to type a lot more than you would otherwise have to...

 

SO yes, the router is an issue.

Why do you have a router?

Do you need a router or would a switch be in fact adequate?

 

A "dumb" switch is generally way less expensive than a router of any kind.

 

 

A switch would be helpful if traffic was not going towards internet but another host in the same network.

As we're talking about online gaming, the router does matter and as most routers handle multiple LAN connections, the switch would only hinder the performance in adding a LAN hop. This affects negatively on latency, even though not much.

 

It is important to measure your network performance overall. Make sure it's indeed the router causing a bottleneck before investing a lot of money on it.

 

1. Test your NIC with a file transfer straight to another computer. Does it bottleneck to your HDD speed? Try a RAM drive instead.

2. Test your router by performing the same thing through router but within your home network. This step assumes you have multiple LAN connectors on the router.

 

Questions to ask:

Has it ever worked better? If it has, what changed?

Could it be the cable (which I assume is a bit cheaper than a router)? Do you have cats, dogs or other fauna that like to chew on plastic?

Have you tried another LAN port on the router (assuming there is one)?
How about WAN port (yea there's usually only one as far as I'm familiar with home routers)?

Have you made sure you're getting the bandwidth your ISP sold you? Got to make sure... They can be deceptive at least where I'm from...

Edited July 28, 2016 by U.Ho

[Josysclei]

3 hours ago, U.Ho said:

This is untrue.

Edit:

This is not untrue! Sorry!

 

Sloppy reading gets you to type a lot more than you would otherwise have to...

 

SO yes, the router is an issue.

Why do you have a router?

Do you need a router or would a switch be in fact adequate?

 

A "dumb" switch is generally way less expensive than a router of any kind.

 

 

A switch would be helpful if traffic was not going towards internet but another host in the same network.

As we're talking about online gaming, the router does matter and as most routers handle multiple LAN connections, the switch would only hinder the performance in adding a LAN hop. This affects negatively on latency, even though not much.

 

It is important to measure your network performance overall. Make sure it's indeed the router causing a bottleneck before investing a lot of money on it.

 

1. Test your NIC with a file transfer straight to another computer. Does it bottleneck to your HDD speed? Try a RAM drive instead.

2. Test your router by performing the same thing through router but within your home network. This step assumes you have multiple LAN connectors on the router.

 

Questions to ask:

Has it ever worked better? If it has, what changed?

Could it be the cable (which I assume is a bit cheaper than a router)? Do you have cats, dogs or other fauna that like to chew on plastic?

Have you tried another LAN port on the router (assuming there is one)?
How about WAN port (yea there's usually only one as far as I'm familiar with home routers)?

Have you made sure you're getting the bandwidth your ISP sold you? Got to make sure... They can be deceptive at least where I'm from...

 

I always heard that a switch connect multiple devices within the same network, and a router connects devices with external networks (like the internet). So, since my ONT is not also a router, I will need one to have internet access in all the devices, and only need a switch if I need to connect even more devices to the router. Right?

[Lehti]

More or less, yes. But a (Gigabit) switch is also useful if you have a router with Fast Ethernet ports. Sure, a device connected to the switch that wants to transfer files to another connected directly to the router will max out at 100 Mbps, but all devices connected to the switch will communicate at 1 Gbps.

[ThomasD]

Changing your router will probably not improve your ping to any appreciable degree, only your transfer speed.

[Guest]

22 hours ago, Josysclei said:

First: Where I live the options are limited and expensive in terms of models I can choose

Second: I don't give a crap about wifi

Third: My connection is 100mbps fiber

 

As of now, I use a cheap TPLINK WR841 10/100 router that actually bottleneck my internet speed. Having wired connections in mind and maybe ping as an issue (online gaming), will any Gigabit router perform the same? Is it worth it to buy a more expensive model?

 

21 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

If you add a switch it won't matter.

No - it can

20 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

The switch will send the traffic to the other system with out going to the router.

While that is partly true, it's not entirely accurate. If the other devices you are connecting to are on the same L2 switch then yes, packets destined for those local devices will not pass through the router. If the packers are destined for the WAN or another subnet that is not on the same L2 switch then it will forward them to the router to deal with.

 

Switch performance usually scales well with the port count - more ports, generally it'll have the switching capacity to deal with all of those ports.

 

Routers though don't have this luxury and you can end up being bottle necked by the router trying to process multiple requests of service. If this is caused intentionally, it is known as a DOS attack or denial of service attack.

 

If you  have more questions or what to clarify something, shoot.