Router Recommendations, Please?

[tmbrown97]

It's also entirely possible that the router just doesn't have the horsepower to handle that much bandwidth - the process of NATing and securing your network eats up CPU resources on the router - and that's a lot more bandwidth than the typical home would have - requires a router that can keep up.  I did not look up any specs on your particular router - just mentioning an option.
 
EdgeRouter and Mikrotik's are good but with a learning curve... but the flexibility especially on the Mikrotik is unmatched - with every VPN, Custom DHCP, DNS, and just about anything else a techie could ever dream of doing (Custom DHCP is handy for IP phones)... and the price of the RB450G isn't bad - I have one running an apartment complex with 30 units and comparable bandwidth to that mentioned above - and it's been running solid for probably close to 2 years.

 

[pete_c]

Here I have keep most of the ingress of the internet and internal network as a DIY and reasonably priced when I could.
 
1 - Upgraded to a Docsis 3 modem (Gb in and out)
2 - PFSense (free) firewall on a "robust" commercial style mITX board with 1 100Mb and 5 Gb NICs (got granular with external WAN and internal LAN interfaces). 
Monies spent on motherboard, case, memory, NICs (< $200) - Very plug n play interface once you get familiar with it. 
The box was built for load balancing and failover on the WAN side and multiple NICs internally (IE: AP is on one NIC by itself for example). As mentioned about; the work that a firewall is doing these days can exceed its capacity.  Embedded firewall is using a small CPU, little memory and can have some difficulties processing multiple functions.
3 - Ubiquiti Access point - currently one POE Ubiquti mounted above second floor (< $100) you can push the capacity of one wireless AP if you utilize it for streaming HD IP cameras and streaming HD IP wireless media.  You can fix this / better manage the stuff with a managed switch and autonomous for function wireless.  I am though testing 802.11 AC wireless (Asus, Almond + stuff right now); playing with this.
4 - Two newer 24 port manageable Gb switches  (< $400) - still have unmanaged 24 port Gb switches online, managed 24 port POE midstream injector (and some mini poe switches).
5 - Everything is wired and mostly Gb these days.  Most recently installed an LCD TV in the home office and added network Gb network connectivity for XBMC box. (streaming live TV, internet multimedia and internal multimedia, HD OTA plus internal video channels and testing HDMI connectivity). (30 something inch mounted near the ceiling which was an endeavor a bit time consuming).
 
The engineering part of me is always taking things apart to see how they work.  (IE: new BMW was disassembled days after purchase - power window dropped on MBTD with 40K miles on it and noticed it was riveted - flawed design) Very low on WAF sometimes.
 
BTW Happy Birthday to you Madcodger!

 

[Madcodger]

Pete,

I thoroughly enjoy your posts, and learn much. I sometimes don't understand it all, but it gives me something to aspire to, and sharpens my Googling skills to try to keep up.

I laughed like crazy at the BMW comment, and shared it with my wife. She just shook her head. Knowingly, of course, as I share some of those traits.

And thank you for the birthday wishes. A wonderful time with many friends and a wee bit of good bourbon. A near-impossible thing to beat.

Joe