Network gurus...I'm stuck on this one!

[frazzled]

So, we finally got broadband (cable modem via optimum online) this past weekend....after years of *sharing* 56K dialup. Talk about night and day!

In any case, our current setup is with the SMC 7004WBR (gateway/router/Wireless AP). We have 3 wired PCs (1 Win2K, 1 WinXP and 1 Win98) plus 2 wireless laptops. All works fine except that the SMC has a known bottleneck so we're not getting optimal throughput.

I have a Linksys Befsr41 router/switch sitting here and I'll be setting it up tonight to replace the SMC. I would like to avoid having to by a separate wireless AP if possible and was wondering whether anyone knows whether I could hook the old SMC up to the linksys and use it as a straight wireless AP alone? I will let the Linksys handle the wired clients via DHCP. Tech support at SMC seemed unsure, they felt that you couldn't hook one router to another, but this doesn't sound right to me.

What do you guys think? Any and all advice, suggestion, etc., would be appreciated!

Thanks!

fraz

 

[Louie1961a]

I think it will work fine if you turn off NAT and firewalling on the SMC. I run an SMC and love it. What is the known bottle neck you are referring to and is this something you read somewhere, or are you noticing a problem with the performance of the unit?

 

[cchan]

<< I think it will work fine if you turn off NAT and firewalling on the SMC. >>



And plug the SMC into the Linksys using the LAN (not the WAN) ports.

 

[dbwillis]

Frazzled--
that Optimum online is very fast, isnt it!
I set that up for my parents and its much faster (Id say 3x, maybe 4x) than @Home or my Adelphia cable.

 

[JackMDS]

Try the Linksys on its own before you do any big changes. I will be surprise if you will gain any thing (truth and Internet stories are not synonyms).

You can not turn off the Firewall or the NAT.
However, as cchan said you are going to use the SMC as an A/P don?t plug any thing to the SMC WAN.

 

[frazzled]

When we originally plugged in the cable modem we went directly into the ethernet port on one of our machines to check
it out (plus I didn't want to screw up my network right off the bat). The speeds were in the 8000/900 range (kind of mind blowing).

So then we plugged it into the router....only to have the speed drop down into the 4200 range. Very odd, we fiddled for a few
hours (figured it was normal variation) and then finally checked dslreports and practically networked where we
discovered that this is a known issue. It used to be a problem with the Linksys as well, but it was fixed with a recent firmware
upgrade. SMC told us that they were not planning on addressing it.

My husband is pretty set on wringing everything he can from the setup. I am *very* fond of the SMC....the wireless range is
excellent (at this moment I'm typing this from my wireless laptop on the ground floor of an old house, plaster walls and
all....getting 5 bars). As a matter of fact, if I have to buy a new AP I plan to buy the SMC 2655.

The speed of this connection is really amazing.

Ah, so by going into one of the LAN ports it just becomes another client? Interesting.

I agree with you about Internet "wisdom" JackMDS....but I'm an experimentalist "by trade".....that weird initial observation is
what spurred a long evening of tweaking and fiddling....

fraz

 

[JackMDS]

Sometimes it is not good to be lucky (LOL); since I never saw a speed of 8000 in my life (I guess in NYC only Taxis are too fast), I did not experience the Bottleneck mentioned above.

I have few Entry Level Routers regular and wireless (SMC, Netgear, and Speed Stream). I have both Cable, and DSL. Respectively (Cable is of course faster then DSL), I get almost the same result regardless of what I use.

 

[frazzled]

<< Sometimes it is not good to be lucky (LOL) >>



Hah! That's exactlywhat my husband said! Funny coincidence.

In any case I just confirmed it, when I switched the SMC with the Linksys my numbers went from 3999/945 (SMC) to 8294/946 ....and the difference is actually noticible. As I understand it, it's a combination of the cable modem (in this case a Toshiba) and our node. Folks who went with the standard Optimum Online Modem (a Motorola Surfboard) top out around 4400.

As you can imagine, after all of these years of sharing a 56K dialup this is a revelation.

Meanwhile, the 7004WBR does not seem to want to cooperate as a bridge. Can't blame it given that I have replaced it so callously. It's hooked to the Linksys via a standard LAN port, and I can get the laptop utility to give me a signal strength reading, but no surfing. Gotta chew on this some more.

I actually thought about going with a Netgear (I've always liked their NICs)...but while I'm reasonably technically adept, the more complex interface made me wimp out with the Linksys. If I have to buy a new AP I will definitely pick up the SMC 2655W, though.

fraz

 

[DaveK]

Make sure you are using a crossover cable between the SMC and the Linksys. I am currently doing the same thing, and have no issues.

DaveK

 

[frazzled]

Hi DaveK,

I finally got it working last night.....but I'm pretty sure (working from memory) that the configuration that *finally* worked was a straight Cat5 from the WAN port of the SMC to one of the LAN ports on the Linksys.

Kind of odd. Which ports did you hook up using the crossover (as I reach under my desk to grab one to take home tonight.....

fraz