Ask Slashdot: Enterprise Level Network Devices For Home Use?

First time accepted submitter osho741 writes "I was wondering if anyone has enterprise level networking devices set up at home? I seem to go through at least 1 wireless consumer grade router a year or so. I can never seem to find one that last very long under just normal use. I thought maybe I would have better luck throwing together a network using used enterprise equipment. Has anyone done this? What would you recommend for a network that maxes out at 30mbps downstream from the ISP and an internal network that should be able to stream 1080p movies to 3 or 4 devices from a media server? Any thoughts and or suggestions are welcome."

Is this a serious question?

[Anonymous Coward]

What has become of Slashdot? The horror.....

WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

What do you consider "normal use"? Nailing them to a wall? Using them to shore up a levee?

Anyway, if your electronics are failing that fast and you aren't abusing them somehow, then they should be replaced under warranty.

UPS

[eric31415927]

Buy a consumer-grade router, but use a UPS to ensure it receives clean power. Dirty power kills these things.

I find that hard to beleive.

[Anonymous Coward]

I seem to go through at least 1 wireless consumer grade router a year or so.

I've had this LinkSys WRT54G for a few years now and it's perfectly fine.

What is going on that you're going through so many routers?

What brands are you using?

It could be something else other than the equipment - like environment. Got a cat pissing on it? What?

Apple Airport

[uglyduckling]

This may not be a popular opinion, but I'm a big fan of Apple Airport gear. They generally support the latest/fastest standards quite quickly, are easy to configure, have built-in PSUs rather than wall warts, and I've generally found their range to be better than average for consumer WiFi kit. Other than that latest models (which look ridiculous) they're generally neat and look OK in the living room. I've had one Airport Express die on me after 2 years of use, and that was already second hand when I bought it and spent its life behind a pile of hot hifi gear as an Airtunes sink.

Re:Huh?

[Christian Smith]

Cheap home routers tend to have crappy power supplies and inadequate cooling.

I've an old Asus EEE PC 701, augmented with a USB upstream ethernet, that does perfect service as a router with OpenWRT. Built in UPS (which I presume also conditions the power for the mainboard).

Uptime: 612d 3h 48m 4s, though I'll power it down soon to swap the RAM with a machine more deserving of the 2GB installed in there currently.

In summary, get a cheap old laptop/netbook, and configure it accordingly. A laptop with a broken screen can be had cheap as chips.

Re:DD-WRT

[Skapare]

I have had several failures of Linksys routers in the RF hardware to the point they need to be right next to each other to communicate. The problem was not diagnosed any further since replacing them was less time and money. I got 2-3 years out of them, though, so maybe it's not that bad for $50 each. If I went with a $500 enterprise device, would I get 20-30 yours? Would I even want to (in 10 years it might be obsolete just because new stuff with new features I really want is available). I'm using Buffalo routers with factory defaced DD-WRT now, I might try to load a newer DD-WRT on one or more eventually,

Why would I need to spend so much on enterprise CIsco equipment? I just buy spares now. I have 5 of those Buffalo routers with 2 in use. If hardware dies or the cable gets hit by lightning and the surge gets past the grounding and surge clamp, I just swap out, trash the dead one, and eventually order another spare.

If things changed and I needed the features of enterprise devices at home, I'd get them (and I'd know what I needed when that happens). Until then, cheapness and spares win out.

Re:Is this a serious question?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this a serious comment? The horror....

Seriously, contribute or get the hell out.

Re:UPS

[swalve]

Exactly. The only enterprise grade device someone really needs in their house is a UPS. The rest can be whatever is good enough.

Re:Huh?

[jtownatpunk.net]

No kidding. I've never had a router die, wireless or not. Ever. In over a decade of 24/7 use. Not one. Zero. I'm currently connected thru a WRT54GL that's been running in my late grandpa's garage since 2005. No climate control of any kind. Same with the old Motorola cablemodem it's connected to. Bought the modem for $10 at a thrift shop and it's still going strong. I've got an older WRT54GS that's only been shelved because the GL was already set up and running when I got the house.

Maybe they make crappy routers these days and we old farts are unaware because we're still running our ancient Linksys gear from an earlier age.