Audi0eye Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 Hey, I just bought a Motorola MG7540 and I don't think it's compatible to run Second Life. I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions of a modem/router combo that works well for Second Life right out of the box? I was considering Netgear N300. But ratings look a little poor on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lillith Hapmouche Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 I've got no clue about routers in general, but the Motorola seems to be for a cable connection and the Netgear for DSL. Or not? And isn't the Netgear one more or less ancient, released in 2008? So most of all, the router should match your connection and not just a single application. For example, what does your provider recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parhelion Palou Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 (edited) The MG7540 is a combination cable modem/router -- it can handle over 600 Mbps rates from the ISP and does gigabit ethernet on the inside. The WiFi is fast too. I see no reason why it wouldn't be compatible with SL. For that matter, any modem and router combination that isn't glitchy should work fine with SL. Just make sure you get equipment that's fast enough to handle the speed you're paying the ISP for. The Netgear N300 is definitely older. It would be a poor substitute for the modem/router you just bought. ETA: Why don't you think the MG7540 is compatible with SL? Edited October 18, 2017 by Parhelion Palou had another thought (it happens sometimes) 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharie Criss Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 I realize this is a bit old thread and it's probably moot now, but maybe it will help someone else..... From working with so many soho / consumer routers over the years, the conclusion is that most of them are just total junk. Yes, they can speedtest out high, when they aren't busy freezing and crashing, but simple throughput is a garbage number when dealing with gaming (like Second Life.) the difference between web browsing and SL is that SL is continuously creating and destroying THOUSANDS of connections at a high rate. Most consumer routers basically barf on this, being designed for basic web browsing usage. If you are going the consumer route, look for routers that are DESIGNED for gaming. Personally, I'm very fond of the business line from UBNT, like the Edgerouter Lite which is inexpensive and handles SL brilliantly without breaking a sweat. It's Linux based and VERY flexible for people that enjoy getting into the nitty gritty. It does not do wireless. It's JUST a router. For wireless, I add UBNT's Unifi access points which ALSO are business grade, handling a lot of connections unlike most consumer crap. Being separate means a DEDICATED processor just to handle wireless that does not slow down your internet. Integrated cablemodem / routers / wireless is just asking for trouble. Junk. Being business products, they are a bit more oriented towards the IT professional. UBNT has a consumer model which is also good called AmpliFi, that includes optional mesh wireless extenders if needed, and it handles SL nicely too. I know it kinda sounds like an Ad, but UBNT is a NETWORKING company - that's what they do. And they do it well. They don't make mice, keyboards, USB cables, etc. They focus on networking and specialize in carrier grade wireless technology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cykarushb Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Protip: build your own router Ours is running ubuntu server and pfsense, its just a Sempron 2650 on an ECS Kam1-l board with 2gb of ram and a dual gigabit ethernet card from rosewill, spare 30gb HDD i had lying around for storage Total cost was like under 100$ for new parts and it outperforms the box comcast gave to us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharie Criss Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 16 hours ago, cykarushb said: Protip: build your own router Ours is running ubuntu server and pfsense, its just a Sempron 2650 on an ECS Kam1-l board with 2gb of ram and a dual gigabit ethernet card from rosewill, spare 30gb HDD i had lying around for storage Total cost was like under 100$ for new parts and it outperforms the box comcast gave to us. ProTip #2: Ummmmmm For the same money and a LOT less work, the ER-Lite I mentioned also uses about 1/50th of the power and is capable of routing at full gigabit wire speed. I would never use an old PC for this kind of thing anymore - power isn't cheap. A quality router appliance uses a network processor that is DESIGNED to do network routing. Even if your computer is FREE it's costing you more in power to run it as a router in a year than these little boxes cost PLUS their power usage. Again, it's a linux appliance, you get root access, you can hack on it, install (small) apps, etc. I actually swapped out the 2G USB flash drive inside mine with a good quality 32G so I can do more with it If you enjoy tinkering, I can see the desire to DIY, but as a networking professional that does this for a living, I have better things to do with my time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cykarushb Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 (edited) 3 hours ago, Sharie Criss said: ProTip #2: Ummmmmm For the same money and a LOT less work, the ER-Lite I mentioned also uses about 1/50th of the power and is capable of routing at full gigabit wire speed. I would never use an old PC for this kind of thing anymore - power isn't cheap. A quality router appliance uses a network processor that is DESIGNED to do network routing. Even if your computer is FREE it's costing you more in power to run it as a router in a year than these little boxes cost PLUS their power usage. Again, it's a linux appliance, you get root access, you can hack on it, install (small) apps, etc. I actually swapped out the 2G USB flash drive inside mine with a good quality 32G so I can do more with it If you enjoy tinkering, I can see the desire to DIY, but as a networking professional that does this for a living, I have better things to do with my time Its very easy to do, you can also just buy a prebuilt AM1 system from someone and load up pfsense on it, drop in a network card. The sempron 2650 uses roughly 7w of power on under 25% load, up to 19w on its max with a 25w tdp. Including the motherboard, HDD and other components in the system the thing draws like 25w from the wall under its usual load and maxes at maybe 40w. Which out here anyway, means it costs a grand total of 26$ a year to run. Which is not a lot of money. Its not an old PC, its not powerful hardware, but im not running my network on a 140W Pentium D or anything. "Designed to do network routing", let me tell you about processors, theyre all based off the same thing, they all do the same thing, theyre all just transistors interpreting math. Embedded systems, similar to routers, are just very weak computers designed for basic tasks, like ATM machines or car wash terminals or home routers. They are not specifically designed from silicon to run networking applications any better. More powerful hardware runs it better. Even something like a Celeron J1800 integrated board with its max tdp of 10w will outperform the edgerouters entire lineup. They are 500mhz Dual Core MIPS architecture processors, they run very niche software but its not anything special. Id also like to note that even the Lite is a 7w unit at its base, and the larger units draw up to 60w. These are very weak little machines, they are not meant for a lot. They are cheap and effective and thats what matters. But bulding your own router off of an integrated SOC platform like AM1 or Celeron J's is a way better option if you want decent performance. The slightly higher cost of power running these incredibly low wattage systems is negligible when its a difference of maybe 5-10$ a year running on its average load. Its not a matter of DIY, its a matter of getting better network performance, control and depending on what you go with, a future upgrade path. While AM1 only has 4 pcie lanes, if you have one of the microATX boards with 3/4 pcie slots, you could pack all 3 or 4 with dual/quad gigabit cards to expand as you need, upgrade from the 2650 to an athlon 5350, increase the storage to as far as two sata headers will take you If you really wanted you could turn the thing into both a router and a home server. For anyone who knows how to work with PC's, doing something like this with a spare bit of cash is always a good idea. Edited November 15, 2017 by cykarushb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharie Criss Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Seriously, that's absolutely silly. The OP asked for a home router, not for a super router to run a large enterprise (where I would use enterprise equipment not some cheapo homebrew box.) You are talking about replacing a sub $100 device that is capable of full wire speed NAT and configured by running a web-based wizard in a matter of minutes with something you have to build for MUCH more cost from bits and parts and mess around with just to get it to work! And no, it's not going to run rings around The ERL that has hardware offloading. A professional would NEVER do this! It's a great hobbyist tip for someone that loves to tinker. I loved to tinker with this kind of thing when I was younger and bored, but now I just want something to just work that is reliable, is commercially supported (security fixes FAST and regular,) has a great community behind it, and doesn't break the bank - and I've got much better things to do with all that time I've saved not constantly messing with my home-brew firewall! This is why a dedicated device built for networking is better than a general purpose CPU / PC (since you seem a little confused): https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/115006567467-EdgeRouter-Hardware-Offloading-Explained As for future upgrade path, um you DO realize that this is a sub $100 device, right? In a few years IF I can get faster than 1G Internet connection at my home I'll just upgrade. I don't think I'll be getting faster than 1G Internet at home though in the next 10 years when most of the world is still stuck on pathetic DSL and Cable services. As for building a box yourself being "always a good idea" I guess we just have to agree to disagree. As a final note, you may want to look at VyOS, it VASTLY outperforms pfsense on the same hardware - like by a factor of 4. Better get tinkering! Maybe in a few weeks you will have it up and running after you've learned how to work with it. Or just buy an ErLite and be running in 20 minutes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cykarushb Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 On 11/15/2017 at 2:43 PM, Sharie Criss said: The OP asked for a home router, not for a super router to run a large enterprise (where I would use enterprise equipment not some cheapo homebrew box.) Its not a super router, these kind of projects are home routers and they do a good job at that. And enterprise equipment is just consumer pats in a fancy case. Once you get out of ultra small proprietary devices, rackmounts and lager desktop/"closetboxes" are just standard PC components inside. Quote You are talking about replacing a sub $100 device that is capable of full wire speed NAT and configured by running a web-based wizard in a matter of minutes with something you have to build for MUCH more cost from bits and parts and mess around with just to get it to work! Costs me less than 100$ total, though granted many people may not have a spare HDD lying around or anything like that. But the most expensive component is finding a mini itx case you like, mines in a Cooler master Elite 110, which is 30 bucks. A combo of an ECS Kami-l and the sempron 2650 was around 40$, 2gb stick of ddr3 i got off craigslis for 5 bucks and the PSU was a similar story. Network card was found on newegg for 10$ with a coupon during a sale, normally only 35$ though so not bad, and the HDD as i said i had lying around. Ubuntu server is free. It also doesnt take much messing around at all. Since it such a simple build its very easy to get up and running, ubuntu server is very easy to install, as is pfsense. Quote And no, it's not going to run rings around The ERL that has hardware offloading It holds a decent 1200-1300mbps down and 900-1100 up for sabrinas PC, though she has a dedicated network card and im using integrated where i hold ~700/450 It performs vastly better than our comcast router did, and our previous hodgepode of random network equipment on a decent netgear c3700. Quote A professional would NEVER do this! I never said i was a professional. Quote This is why a dedicated device built for networking is better than a general purpose CPU / PC (since you seem a little confused) i know what hardware offloading is, and its not complicated, this is why you use SOC platforms like AM1 for these kinds of things, as everything is integrated in hardware onboard the processor, its not emulating the network i/o, it has its own separate network chipset. This is also a moot point when you take into account a dedicated network card, which is itself "hardware offloading". Quote As for future upgrade path, um you DO realize that this is a sub $100 device, right? Why replace the whole thing when you can change from a 1gbps network card to a 10gbps one for cheaper Quote As a final note, you may want to look at VyOS Ive messed around with it, its not particularly stable, i used pfsense specifically because of its large community backing and good stability Quote Or just buy an ErLite and be running in 20 minutes. You keep pushing this thing and linked me off to the edgerouter site for their explanation of hardware offloading, you sound like youre shilling for ubnt. Like, very poorly advertising almost. For a home router option, if your current router isnt enough, which for 99 percent of people whatever your ISP gives you is fine, then you need to move to one of two things: 1) Very high end routers like a whole household google network system, a netgear nighthawk of some sort or one of those ASUS ROG "gaming routers", which despite being a networking meme, do perform very well 2) A home built network box, theyre very effective at their job and can cost a decent bit less then high end network solutions. If you need more than that you need something beyond just a home router anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindens Monty Linden Posted November 17, 2017 Lindens Share Posted November 17, 2017 Not an official Linden recommendation but I've used this site as a reference based on their correct assessment of the classic WRT54G: WRT54G is a lousy router. If anyone is still using routers like that or early Belkin, etc., please, please consider an upgrade. Their charts (Router Charts) list some potentially interesting tests like Max Simultaneous Connections but they're not collecting data on them. Still, some other tests where data is available are relevant. And if anyone has links to better evaluation sites, please pass along the links. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexaFinch Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 My router is dying so I'm looking to replace with something better for SL on a budget. I've read through this. I'm not a pro. I'm just a geeky person who knows a bit about tech stuff. First of to cykarushb, I'm not ready to begin attempting to build a router. And I'm fairly tech savy. I'm currently building a home server. Also I don't want to devote the room for a PC case to replace my router which is the size of a book. @ Sharie Criss, You do sound a bit like an ad.......but I suspect this is simply what you are using and you like it. I've made similar posts in the past about things I really like that may have sounded like an ad. Now onward. I'm having issues in SL with textures not staying aligned on my build. I filed a ticket with LL. They determined that it's most likely my router causing the issues and suggested further testing. But, of late I regularly lose signal to my Roku so I believe the router is dying. The router is 3&1/2 years old. The roku is 2. So I'm voting on the router dying rather than the Roku. Also I've to date never had a Roku die. The NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming 6-Stream WiFi 6 Router is $318 on Amazon. That's really out of my budget right now. Also we need to consider that online gaming is different from SL. A huge part of the graphics for online gaming is provided by the game media you purchase. SL is 100% downloaded so is even more intensive at times than online gaming. Now, the UBNT that Sharie suggests is a bit more expensive now that when she posted. I am researching commercial grade equipment as it's designed to provide high levels of data transfer. Pros will use such equipment in game and movie production where large files are transferred and accessed regularly. Exactly what I will choose I don't know yet. It does seem I can go with commercial grade equipment at a bit of savings over the Nighthawk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmoe Whitfield Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 4 hours ago, AlexaFinch said: My router is dying so I'm looking to replace with something better for SL on a budget. I've read through this. I'm not a pro. I'm just a geeky person who knows a bit about tech stuff. First of to cykarushb, I'm not ready to begi n attempting to build a router. And I'm fairly tech savy. I'm currently building a home server. Also I don't want to devote the room for a PC case to replace my router which is the size of a book. @ Sharie Criss , You do sound a bit like an ad.......but I suspect this is simply what you are using and you like it. I've made similar posts in the past about things I really like that may have sounded like an ad. Now onward. I'm having issues in SL with textures not staying aligned on my build. I filed a ticket with LL. They determined that it's most likely my router causing the issues and suggested further testing. But, of late I regularly lose signal to my Roku so I believe the router is dying. The router is 3&1/2 years old. The roku is 2. So I'm voting on the router dying rather than the Roku. Also I've to date never had a Roku die. The NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming 6-Stream WiFi 6 Router is $318 on Amazon. That's really out of my budget right now. Also we need to consider that online gaming is different from SL. A huge part of the graphics for online gaming is provided by the game media you purchase. SL is 100% downloaded so is even more intensive at times than online gaming. Now, the UBNT that Sharie suggests is a bit more expensive now that when she posted. I am researching commercial grade equipment as it's designed to provide high levels of data transfer. Pros will use such equipment in game and movie production where large files are transferred and accessed regularly. Exactly what I will choose I don't know yet. It does seem I can go with commercial grade equipment at a bit of savings over the Nighthawk. 2017, is the last post on this, did you even check to make sure those people you pinged even use SL anymore? maybe a little forsight instead of bumping a thread to call people an ad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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