Will A cablerouter/switch be better ?????

[Ringer]

I am thinking about buying a cable router for my home network. The question is..will i benifit more using a cable router then Microsoft ICS? I have 2 comps networked and sharing my cable modem using the standard crossover cable method. I game online and wife uses it online as well. Will the router/switch be a better option?

 

[Shadow07]

You will benifit by getting a broadband router. ICS is not only hard to setup, but you also have to worry about leaving that computer online so your other one will be able to access the Internet.

You would be better off just getting a broadband router to network your computers together. I would look at the Linksys or Netgear versions. They seem to be the best out there.

 

[Ringer]

additional question. Will the throughput be any better when both comps are online. example: Im in a multiplayer online game and wife is online as well..will i see an improvement with the router/switch controlling the traffic as opposed to Microsoft ICS handling the traffic???

 

[Shadow07]

Well, you would see the improvement on your computer when you are playing a game online. All traffic would be going through the broadband router, instead of your computer. If you computer is handling the traffic your wife is making (ie browsing the Internet), you computer would spend time forarding her traffic. You could setup ICS on her computer, but I would not recommend that. From a power consumption point, I would buy the broadband router.

 

[Wik]

I have run ICS, a Netgear router, and now a Freesco router. If you play online games, depending on which ones you play, you might find it easier to stay with ICS. That way you will have the outside IP going to your machine and will not have to forward any ports, that is if the games you play require it. If it is better performance in internet traffic, you will not see any improvement. I used to use a 200mhz P1 and it did ICS as well as my 800. No difference there. I actually found that ICS and my P3 800 would handle high bandwith better then the Netgear router. Gamespy for example, would update Half-Life servers in half the time.

"ICS is not only hard to setup"

This I do not understand as is as simple as adding the router in the network, besides that he already has ICS running.

If better performance is the only reason you want to change then I would not even bother. If you want better security and lots of features skip the Gateway/router and build a Freesco box. If I did not have my Freesco box I would just use ICS as it works better then my Netgear router.

 

[Ringer]

Thanks for the info.......