Router question

[jronald]

I have a pretty extensive wired/wireless network on the 1.25 acres I own. Primarily I use the Lynksys WRT54G (6 or so total).
Cable Modem in @ 8mb max (normal is 5mb)
Cable modem to the first Lynksys WRT.
WRT wireless out and to a switch with 4 desktops hanging off of it. Its maxed.
Switch has 8 ports, 6 of those ports are used for other computers, and the rest of the WRT's
Basically the first WRT does 99.9% of the work with the wired and DHCP services. It runs very hot. It also drops the wireless signal semi regularly, and i have notice recently that when it drops the wireless, the wired network also crashes for a few seconds to 2 minutes. The rest of the WRTs run cool to just warm, never as hot as the primary.

Would I be better off running a wired router after the cable modem and before the wireless WRT, that would allow me to offload the DHCP and a portion of the wired network, which should allow the existing WRT to run cooler/work less.

Your thoughts please.
Ron

[evasive]

Start with replacing the power supply unit, they sometimes start failing and running lower voltage. You are running dd-wrt on that?

[Mr T]

It looks to me that you need a pro setup... To run so many WRT's is asking for issues.. I have yet to see a large area using wifi unless it has been professionally installed (not cheap- speaking to a British Telecom guy who is setting up the wifi system in London for the Olympics).. A failure on one part, can take out the whole lot and lead to time finding what has failed. The offices I have worked at, easily cover a similar area and ALL are wired - apart from the security benefits of wired, it is far easier to fault find on...

[evasive]

Somehow I think this is his home setup but just got out of hand a bit
Given the fact he's been selling a lot of 10mbit hubs before he migrated from wired to wireless...

[Hardware Junkie]

Routers in general don't last very long. I've replaced a few dozen over the years and they typically have a lifespan of 1-3 years and then they just start acting up.
If you have the money, invest in some Cisco Wireless devices. They'll outlast anything else you have.

[jronald]

I have a router installed after the cable modem, but before the WRT's now. It is running cooler, but I cant get the darned thing reconfigured to work correctly wireless. However the "other" WRTs are running in WAP mode fine. So Im down one of 6 right now.

You are correct, it kind of grew exponentially. I got tired of dead spots. It has really run flawless for 2 years, so Im not complaining much.

Ron

[evasive]

The power bricks of these sometimes die due to bad capacitors, expect strange behaviour from the router like spotty wireless connection, connection drops (with full signal showing) config errors... sound familiar?