Re: [SLUG] Re: Good price on Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router - WRT54G

From: Jeff (jdavis70@tampabay.rr.com)
Date: Wed Nov 03 2004 - 09:36:28 EST


On Wednesday 03 November 2004 06:51 pm, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-11-03 at 10:39, Donald E Haselwood wrote:
> > Including taxes and shipping, Amazon.com has the best deal that I have
> > found. BTW, the rebates are only good for two units.
>
> WARNING: OT/Flammable Response (probably not warranted)
>
> Why do I cringe everytime someone calls these SOHO 1-to-many NAT devices
> "routers"?
>
> I just ran into a major issue with this at a new client a few weeks
> ago. Trying to describe to them what a _real_ "router" is took me a
> long time. I couldn't get through to them.
>
> At lunch, I finally just put my Linux notebook in place of 2 NAT devices
> (using 2 CardBus 10/100 adapters plus my on-board 10/100) and took
> over. They were pissed I did this but in a matter of 15 minutes I had
> their 2 remote locations talking.
>
> Then I went and showed them the routing tables on all their NT boxen.
> Lo' and behold, every workstation could now see their _whole_ network!
> Better yet, their network performance issues ended because they weren't
> sending around bad and unnecessary ARP packets.
>
> And lastly, there are NAT devices that are also _real_ "routers" for
> under $200 at CompUSA. It's not fair to call cheaper, 1-to-many NAT
> device "routers" when they lack so much "router" capability.
>
> Just my $0.02. I guess I'm starting to get on a "pet peeve" with this
> on several lists. But I keep running into people using multiple
> 1-to-many NAT devices between offices and wondering why they have
> issues. So I feel the need to be "anal" and start a campaign to further
> understanding.
>
> But this isn't some "hacker" v. "developer" terminology analness. A
> SOHO 1-to-many NAT device is not a router. It doesn't even begin to
> fulfill the role, and there are many issues with them doing more than
> what they were designed for.
>
> -- Bryan
>
> P.S. Now if you load a new Linux firmware in the WRT54G and give it
> router capabilities, then that's different, I agree.

Is this the part where everyone else jumps in with the " and NAT isn't a
firewall either" bit now? ;)

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