Max connections on cable/dsl router

[Patchmaster]

I have a Linksys cable/dsl router that interfaces to my cable modem and provides a firewall. I've had it for several years and it works fine. Recently I discovered what appears to be a limit in the number of simultaneous connections I can have to the internet. The documentation for my router says only that there's a limit of 253 "users". In searching around on the internet I found one reference on a non-Linksys site mentioning this as a limit of 253 "connections". My recent experience leads me to believe the "connections" description is the more accurate.

All the SOHO class routers of this type that I've looked at seem to have the same limit of 253 users. Can anyone confirm this is really a limitation in the number of connections rather than specifically in the number of users? (I only have three computers on the network so it seems reasonable that I can only have three "users" at any given time. These three users, however, can theoretically have many thousands of connections.) And if this is the case, can anyone recommend a reasonably priced alternative that will provide a firewall and a gateway to my cable modem, and give more like 1000 connections? For this exercise, let's define reasonably priced as $250 or less.

 

[Snuffaluffaguss]

the 253 connections has to do with the range of IP address the router can hand out at one time. Network gurus can further explain this, I can't, but why would you want more than 253 computers on a single cable or dsl line? With that many people its going to be super, super slow. If you really need to support over 253 computers, you will need a fatter pipe than cable or dsl and higher end networking equipment.

 

[Fuzznuts]

you will not reach the limit the 253 users is becasue your router can only handle 1 (internal) subnet.

Now the connections will be made via ports usually tcp/udp prots over 1024 as below that are generally registered to be used for different types of server now there are 65,535 ports avaliable to your router. and as certain traffic will all go over specific ports ie web browsing 80 all 253 user would use this 1 port the connection at there pc would be a random udp port and would be irrelevant to your router.

I know thats not very clear but basically your 3 pcs dont have a hope in hell of maxing out your dsl router so dont worry. even if you had 253 users connected to it you wouldnt max it out. you may slow down becasue the NAT/PAT table by that stage would be huge but this would be a restrictonn of any cheap SOHO router.

So dont worry you dont need another one

 

[Patchmaster]

I guess I wasn't clear enough. The problem is that the limit seems to be on the number of connections, not specifically on the number of users. If one user opens 100 connections (forget about the 'why', just assume he does), there are 153 connections available to the other users on the network. Or, more to the point, one user appears to be limited to 253 simultaneous connections.

Just for example (and please don't tell me how unreasonable this is, it's just an example), imagine I wanted to run a chat server and allow 1000 or more of my closest friends to connect. With my current router, I'm limited to 253 simultaneous chatters. How can I allow 1000 or more chatters without breaking the bank?

 

[JackMDS]

The Max. WAN "Speed" of the Entry Level Router is 10Mb/sec. The common consumer bandwidth is 1-3Mb/sec.

Once you put more then 20 computers surfing gets "Slow".

The 253 is very nice number to put in the spec. sheet. Similar to the 180MPH Speedometer scale in a small regular sedan.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: Patchmaster
I guess I wasn't clear enough. The problem is that the limit seems to be on the number of connections, not specifically on the number of users. If one user opens 100 connections (forget about the 'why', just assume he does), there are 153 connections available to the other users on the network. Or, more to the point, one user appears to be limited to 253 simultaneous connections.

Just for example (and please don't tell me how unreasonable this is, it's just an example), imagine I wanted to run a chat server and allow 1000 or more of my closest friends to connect. With my current router, I'm limited to 253 simultaneous chatters. How can I allow 1000 or more chatters without breaking the bank?

LOL, that's not the kind of connection the manufacturers talking about, you are limited to 253 users(ip addresses using the router as a gateway to the internet) on your side of the WAN, the number of simultanious connections to the outside is basically the WAN port or the port that connects to your cable modem. What you are asking is how many people at one time can send packets of data into your Lan through the router right? As many as your bandwidth is capable of supporting, but your limitations by your ISP to your data transfer speed will limit peoples patience as more and more users pass through your WAN connection into your LAN through the appropriate ports. Chat servers take very little bandwidth since it's pretty much all text and you would be able to have a lot of people running remotely at one time, but if you used your link to host a game server you would be limited to like 8-32 remote connections at most.

Clear as mud yet?