UQ: Can someone recommend a small 1000base-T hub/switch/ADSL gateway?

I ordered a Netgear DGND3700 from BT a couple of days ago - if it lives up to it's hype it should be an excellent router -  a dual core processor no less and a DLNA media server! 

Apple Airport Extreme.  Good wireless, plus 4 x 1Gb ports.  Rock solid.

Just hook this up to your broadband ADSL router instead of replacing it.

That way, the router can focus on its only important job and your switch-based LAN traffic needn't touch the router unless accessing the Internet.

Strangely enough I returned an Airport Extreme three days ago .. coverage not as good as a BT HomeHub 2.0.

Newest version of Apple Time Capsule features 750 Mbps wireless bandwidth on each 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz band–I cannot recall if they also recently updated the AirPort Extreme as well....

Agreed on the above after adding a latest gen Airport Extreme to my HomeHub 2 to take over wireless and switch duties...

BUT the Apple AE is far more stable in so far that the connection to the NDX is quicker to establish(ethernet) and that N Steam is less liable to have IP address issues.  I always had to manually type in the IP address on N stream in the setup menu when connected to the HH2, whereas it will automatically configure now every time.

Bought my AE 1/2 price for a nearly-new used one off ebay.

Frank

As stated there are many to chose from. Some advice however:

a) ensure you have a switch and not a hub. Hubs cause collision by design on your LAN  and could affect throughput. Switches are far more effective (and are more prevalent now)

b) On the wireless router / access point - do ensure it supports muticast on the wireless. Many do - but devices such as some Cisco edgerouters like 870s struggle. Muticast is used for uPNP and streamer/control points. Bad implementation of muticast will cause instability in the control points, NDX and uPNP server losing connections, album art etc

I use Netgear and Cisco switches and an Apple Airport Express WAP specifically for my uPNP wireless network (best keep it seperate).

Simon

Am having a good experience (after the usual hair-pulling) with the Netgear - a possible advantage it has over the AE is that it has an integral modem so it's a bit easier to get ethernet and wireless on the same network. Not an expert though (and don't want to be!) Hopefully it handles networked USB drives better than AE too - will try tomorrow. And it has UPnP !! hehe! Crazy computing power.

Thanks for all the recommendations.

About the £100 mark is about as much as I can stretch to just now, which would include the Asus Rtn56u And Netgear 3700 if I plump for an all-in-one GbE ADSL2+ wireless..

In my experience Draytek is rock solid and a stepup from the likes of Netgear, Belkin etc.  The DrayTek Vigor 2110n busts your budget by a little (£114) but the extra imho is worth it. It's not gigabit though.

I use a 2820n and it has never let me down.

Richard

On a recent project I had to use routers from Draytek, Netgear and ZyXEL as well as the more usual culprits from Cisco and Juniper - they all worked pretty much faultlessly. If you buy a Broadband Router from one of these 5 companies then I think you will not have much of problem. I have also used the Apple Airport Extreme (old version) in my own home network and it is quite superb. It is very easy to make a router so it is no surprise these companies turn out solid products. If cost is not an issue and you want an integrated router/switch then I'd go with Juniper - otherwise any of the others should be fine. 

Recently changed from Netgear DGN to Draytek Vigor 2820n as the Netgear began to exhibit instability problems.ADSL line speed increased from 12mb to 15mb and the system is much faster with much better control and facilities. The wireless coverage and response is much better on the Draytek too.

ilikemusic, please, post something about the upnp server....does it run well with naim streamer ?

i'm afraid i haven't got round to trying the upnp server - it just amused me that everytime i've bought something recently - a plasma tv, a cheap blu-ray, this netgear, a phone - they have had upnp servers or renderers on them. But I will try it out. Alas I haven't got a Naim streamer - I'm holding onto my money till they make one that doesn't need a Naim server full of Naim ripped WAVs to get the best result.

A vote from me for Draytek's too ... they might not have all the fancy frills of some other routers but in my experience they tend to be stable and reliable. (They also tend to get used by many of the custom installers that I know who need bits of kit that they can just fit and forget...)

Phil

Thanks everyone again, and sorry for all the questions.

Sorry for the delay in reply, I spilled coffee on my keyboard when I stretched over my desk trying to hook up my old gas-guzzler Cisco router. It was old anyway (drinks get nowhere near the hi-fi equipment).

I got a small Xyxel 5 port 10/100 base T ethernet switch for the timebeing. Of the 5 ports two support QoS which is enough for my desptop PC and  

It worked straight form the box, uses only a few watts and I can always use it for something else when I get to the stage of getting a NAS an either slate, i-Pad or laptop.

Setting up the network on the 'Qute was a snip and it was equally simple setting up Windows Media player to uPnP stream to ethernet. From getting home to streaming music took all of ten minutes.

10/100Mbps ethernet in my two days experience is quite sufficient for upnp streaming Pc to 'Qute and I have an old PC (Socket 478 Northwood 2.8GHz with a blown pin, 2GB 3200RAM). Playing the HD tracks from naim label's website on repeat I set upon downloading as much as I could  from the Internet to try and impact the latency while streaming catch up televion from the Internet. Not the slightest bit of difference to the buffer bar or sound quality. 

I unplugged the PC, peripherals from the filtered sockets and plugged them into a cheap 4 gang supermarket PDU in an attempt to induce an RF load on the CAT 5e but my unscientific tests would suggest the data stream is EMI robust too. I sat my ethenet switch on top of a faulty switched mode power supply (leakage current > 30mA and it induces noise in my mobile telephone at 2m) with the lid off and wrapped the ethernet cable round the SMPS chassis. No difference to sound quality. 

My Unitiqute is playing awesomely.

Furthermore, on a practical level I have reclaimed about 120 litres of space in my compact and bijou  very cramped place so far by transferring various media to hard disk. I still have many audio cassettes, open reel tapes, VHS tapes and floppy disks to migrate.