Gaming with the Linksys....pls share yer experiences!

[XT]

OK Linksys Cable/DSL Router owners...give it up for us!

I've been reading here, timhiggins.com, etc. and get a lot of mixed signals on this router and its capabilities.

I'm getting ready to order something this weekend after 3 weeks of researching and would like any info you can share.

I'm primarily concerned with games and communication apps, since simply 'browsing' using a NAT router seems to be pretty simple and work very well.

If you have a sec, please reply to any of the following that you may have tried...thanx!

1.) Does it work at the advertised speed, or are there some probs?

2.) How does it do with JOINING internet games with its 'application sensing' abilities? Or, have you found that you need to usually put your one puter in the DMZ? Or, have you had to set up port forwarding?

3.) Same as #2, but with HOSTING internet games?

4.) If you use port forwarding to get a given game or app to work, can only one puter on the lan play/use that app at a time?

5.) Can more than one user on your lan join the same game at the same server? Which games seem to work, or which seem to not work?

6.) Have you run into game servers that won't let you join from more than one puter on yer lan at a time? Which ones?

7.) How about Roger Wilco, Dialpad, Netmeeting, ICQ? I've heard 'works' and 'doesn't work'. Which seem to work and do you need to use DMZ or port forwarding...or does it work fine with its 'application sensing' feature?

8.) With ICQ, can multiple users both be 'online' and receive a file transfer? If so, any special setup?

Please share your experiences. I know that there are many variables and limitations depending on the game, app, or server.

Obviously, the 'perfect' sharing solution would not limit any computer on the lan from doing anything it could do with a direct connection at all times--even if other puters on the lan were doing the exact same thing.

How close is the Linksys to meeting this goal?

Thanx in advance.

[freakyboy]

hi xt,

thus far i have tried two routers, the hawking and the linksys. i couldn't get either to work adequately hosting a game server. however, i've heard other people having success. since you are looking for individual experiences, i will give you mine regarding the linksys with respect to your questions.

1.) never measured but saw no extra lag when playing unreal tournament or when surfing.
2.) joining games worked excellent. never had to place it outside the firewall. only tried unreal tournament.
3.) this is where i had problems. i could host a game and people could join from the internet but after about 5 minutes they would lose connection. without the router it worked fine.
4.) port forwarding worked. for ut (unreal tournament) i forwarded 7777,7778,7779,7780,7781 and 27900. the hosted game was visible but ran into the same problem stated above.
5.) yes for ut and tribes.
6.) only tried tribes and ut. had no trouble.
7.) only tried icq. worked with no advanced settings.
8.) never tried multiple users with icq.

to conclude, i liked the linksys except for the issue stated above. set up was simple. however, one of the reasons i want a router is to run dedicated game servers. in turn, i have no choice but to return the linksys and try another brand, i guess.

i also tried a hawking router with no luck regarding running a dedicated game server. the server wasn't even visible on the master server. another return.....

i will either try a umax ugate3000 or wait to see if the linksys gets better through firmware updates. if all you want to do is connect multiple computers to surf, it's the ticket.

one more note - don't count on customer service from linksys or hawking. linksys puts you on hold for 15 minutes only to speak with an operator who then says he will have a tech call you. twice i called and twice i never heard back. on the other hand i couldn't even find a 1-800 number for hawking. and, i have had no luck in the past with any kind of email help. i actually emailed linksys with no response. but what do you expect for routers under $200, i guess.

btw, i am connected through time warner cable.

goodluck,
freakyboy


[This message has been edited by freakyboy (edited 03-27-2000).]

[XT]

Thanx for taking the time to share yer experinces.....I appreciate it a lot! http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/smile.gif

[Richard]

Great Info.. i'm looking into buying this router linksys. this helped alot.

[Chippy00]

I have a Linksys BEFSR41 Etherfast Cable/DSL router, and here's my problem:

I have 3 pc's hooked-up to the router. 1 is a Quake3 Arena server, and the other 2 are for surfing/playing games (both on the net and on pc #1 via the LAN). Problem is, when I try to connect to the same game server on the net with both pc's, the second pc won't connect! The first pc (already connected) sees the message: "Unwanted challenge response received. Ignored."

Has anyone gotten this type of setup to work??? Linksys says it's the cable modem (RoadRunner provided Toshiba PCX1000), and RoadRunner blames the Linksys router.... http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/frown.gif

Has anyone managed to get a similiar setup to function correctly???? Linksys says they do it with their machines (connect 2 or more pc's to a Quake3 server through the BEFSR41), as long as the router has the newest firmware, ver 1.22 (which I have).

Can anyone help?????

------------------
"It's not that I'm afraid of dying.. I just don't want to be there when it happens..." :)

[freakyboy]

i only have two pc's connected to my lan and have only tried it with unreal tournament. sorry i can't help you but i do have a question. is linksys claiming that fimrware 1.22 is more stable regarding running game servers? i returned mine so i can't test it.

if linksys is claiming a fix for running game servers, has anybody (previously having trouble) tested it to work?

[Surfn_Safari]

Linksys is full of it blaming the cable modem/router. Worked just fine for multiple players with webramp, will not with linksys. I had a webramp 700, switch to linksys per it was a 100mb switch instead of 10mb hub setup and had 253 clients instead of just 5. In order to run Q3A server with webramp, you have to know all the ports the server uses in order to setup filters in the thing, linksys does it better with the DMZ host. Simply put your Q3A server on your network, into the switch/router with a set IP address, NOT DHCP. Then in the advanced settings, put the IP address of this server machine. should be 192.168.1.xxx. Once this is done, your server will be available to the internet, provided your cable operator allows you to host a game on port 27960. Most do. It also can host a webpage if your cable operator will setup your cable modem with static IP address. (requires no DHCP ip setup from cable operator)

As for the second PC, this has to be a problem with the way Linksys handles the NAT(Network Address Translation). Since linksys is trying to talk to the same box, it needs to send the first request for the game to the IP address and port 27960 by default, it should then respond back to the port on the linksys that sent the request. For some reason, linksys has seemed to made a mistake in programming the linksys's Nat per when a second machine goes to the same IP address and same port, it uses the same port number out to chat with, confusing both machine and linksys. Linksys could see this if they would put a sniffer between the router and the cable modem and watch the request go to the server and back. Looks like they solved a simular problem with 1.22 code on half-life. Hope they can figure this one out by 1.23 of the code.

Surfn Safari
AKA Q3A junkie & Network Tech

[Outlaw]

Hey folks....
I've had the same problem with my Linksys. My plan is to bug the **** out of Linksys about this one. I think that if we all complain about it enough, they will make this fix a priority. Until then, we'll have to do without. I just don't know how much of this I can take.

Outlaw

[monty]

See my post here (http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/Forum2/HTML/003632.html).