QoS Router?

[funke_munke]

Hello there! I've just moved house and we are splitting a 30meg connection between three of us from VM - the issue being that we all like to game and stream a fair bit, aswell as Steam usage etc. I've read that I could possibly limit the bandwidth for certain tasks or individual computers using QoS (correct me if I'm wrong here) - this sounds like something we need to do. Haven't been able to play a decent game of Tribes in ages, and I bought the physical copy of ME3 just because the Origin download would have made me incredibly unpopular!

So; basically can anyone advise me as to whether this is my best option? And can replacing the 'superhub' be done for say... £70 or under with the options I need?

Thanks in advance guys

[shaithis]

I've set up QoS on a number of routers.....it's a pain but can be worth it.

many routers have QoS built in, plus DD-WRT has support for it, so anything that can run that will do it.

It's fiddly and time-consuming...plus any new game/program you install will potentially be using a new port that you haven't defined yet and will probably by-pass the QoS features.....

I haven't seen any that provide QoS based on IP address (rather then port)....but then I haven't been looking for any either.

[funke_munke]

Choosing ports and keeping them that way should not be a problem - there are only a few games we play heavily really - I generally play the broadest spectrum and obviously can change settings on the fly. It's mainly to bring my housemates Old Republic addiction under control! Thanks for the advice - anyone else care to chip in?

[abaxas]

Cisco will provide everything you ever need with the price to match. Ebay will provide it much cheaper but without support.

The question should be, not if you should buy but if you can configure it.

[funke_munke]

How difficult will this be? Will I need some kind of specialist networking knowledge or could I pick it all up with a few days reading about it online? Any examples of Cisco routers I should look at?

[abaxas]

877 for adsl or 871 for cable is all you really need.

However your mind will explode if you have never come across cisco kit before.

[Dareos]

Just a note, you dont replace the superhub, you put it in modem mode, not sure if you realised that bud. If theres a fair bit of streaming going on, make sure you check out VM's traffic management page http://help.virginmedia.com/system/s...RTICLE_ID=2781
which has been updated a fair bit lately.

This policy will change soon after all the upgrades to double speed has happened btw, not sure what is happening on that front yet but have been assured that it wont be a BT style thing, happily.

Just a note on the download you mentioned, Mass Effect 3 is only DVD sized, shoulda had it within an houri i your connection is up to scratch, (and downloading offpeak, outside managed hours ie : after 9pm) If the other people in your place would complain about this level of usage, might want to actually record who is using what and set some ground rules.

I think torrenting (not streaming) is going to affect your connection badly regardless of Router, Funkstar explained it far more eloquently than I could in an earlier post, pretty sure the new SW game uses p2p stuff for updates, but not sure about actual gaming, it puts a real strain on modems and networks and is pretty much the cause of at least half of VM's utilisation problems.

Other than that, I currently know nothing about WRT router setups, something I am looking in to learning about soon, cause I want one

[shaithis]

Yup, the GUI on the Cisco 800 series (and probably all Cisco kit) is pretty useless. It's all about understanding and writing your own configuration script.

DD-WRT is substantially cheaper and easier......if slightly less powerful.