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We use a Linksys 5-port router at a smal organization with about 20 employees. We recently acquired a 1.5 mbps fibre link, but sometimes the link goes down and speeds are still low. On enquirey from the ISP, this was part of the response,

However there maybe throttling due to the router in place. A Linksys is a low end router and may be unable to carried traffic of up to 1536Kbps. We are in a position to deploy a Cisco 871 router on test for 2 wks to eliminate that possibility. Also kindly advise the destination of the ping results they look to high.

How true is that about the router throttling the network and need for a bigger one.

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  • This question is more appropriate for superuser.
    – rebus
    May 10, 2010 at 14:24
  • I am confused. This sounds like you were delivered a DS1 (T1) line. If so then does your router support DS1 directly? It is always helpful to post as much known information as possible, like router model. I disagree with rebus.
    – dbasnett
    May 10, 2010 at 14:40
  • 2
    how could this possibly be a superuser question? May 10, 2010 at 16:26

7 Answers 7

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Honestly I am not sure enough about the low end Linksys models to know if the the router can be saturated on the WAN because of LAN traffic (ie, hardware they are on the same bus or something like that). If this is the case, even though the WAN probably is more capable than that, LAN could be overloading the CPU or fabric of the device itself.

I would take them up on the offer to try out the Cisco though just make them happy and eliminate any configuration issues as well.

As a side note I have WRT54GL in my house that handles my 20mbit internet connection fine (I have never tested copying a file within my LAN while saturating that WAN) , but as work I use higher end Cisco routers. I think a lower end Cisco router (Actual Cisco, IOS, not linksys) is a worthwhile investment, even if it is used.

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The fiber link terminates on a switch which is then linked to the said router. The router acts as a wireless router and is linked to two other switches where all the computers in the organization are linked to. (Sorry I cant edit the question since it was trasnferred from stack overflow)

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  • Go to your user info pane and link the accounts. May 10, 2010 at 15:16
  • how do I link them? May 10, 2010 at 15:22
  • How much clearer could I have been? What exact router are you using?
    – dbasnett
    May 10, 2010 at 23:09
  • If you have the same OpenID details on both sides, there will be a "I am also X on this other trilogy site" on the [Accounts] tab. where you can link them up.
    – Vatine
    May 14, 2010 at 11:57
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It really depends on what specific router model you have, but I have used quite a few Linksys consumer routers (WRT54G, WRT54GL) and they can handle at least ~4Mbps bidirectional under heavy load.

However, considering your ISP is offering to let you test a router for a couple of weeks, you have nothing to lose. Let them test their router and then you'll be able to compare.

If their router doesn't solve the problem, you'll be able to move on and troubleshoot other pieces.

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1.5 Mbps is nothing for any reasonably modern SOHO gateway box. Most such boxes are designed to cope with 24 Mbps ADSL 2+ lines.

If your network performance is that low, chances are some unknown traffic is saturating the link itself.

FWIW, I used to run Network Operations at a UK ISP. Whenever a customer reported this sort of problem, it was almost always unwanted traffic that was the root cause.

A saturated link will also cause high ping times - by all means also post those ping results here too.

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  • Agreeing with SOHO capabilities. It could be any number of things.
    – dbasnett
    May 10, 2010 at 23:10
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My Linksys router (WRT54GS, admittedly not the cheapest model) is more than capable of handling 10Mbps down and 1Mbps up. There may be issues specifically with your router (and not necessarily the model), and replacing it temporarily will allow you to test that. But don't let them pressure you into buying it.

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I agree with DBASNETT's comment. How is it you're terminating a DS1 circuit (assuming that is what you have) with a Linksys router? What model router is it?

DS1/T1s are not same as Ethernet. They are serial connections.

You also say it's a 5 port switch/router but you have about 20 employees connected? How do 20 people connect to a 5 port switch?

What does the rest of your network look like.

T1 is very slow. And it only takes one torrent or someone listening to a radio station or some network audio/video stream to quickly consume all the BW on a T1.

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  • In this day 1.5Mbps isn't that fast. The OP said that the circuit terminated on a switch with fiberoptic. By definition it isn't DS1 / T1 because those are metallic designators.
    – dbasnett
    May 10, 2010 at 23:12
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Yes. A low end router would likely cause a problem. They're simply not designed to take heavy usage – and that means a lot of bandwidth. You're spending money on a serious internet connection, you should invest money in the hardware at your end of the line.

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