Switch/Router

[kb2010]

ok i have heard some good things about Linksys BEFSR41

but i have a dynamic ip, and also i am using a sygate firewall and i like the control eg opening specific ports and closing spcific ports (which i belive you cant do in it).

which would be a good switch/firewall that provides really good security. and supports dynamic ip's.

i have a windowsxp, and will have 4 pc's and maybe get one more pc mid year.

also i want to share my printer.

forgot to add and am on optusnet cable in Australia and have a cornerstone cm200 cable modem

(my other option was to get a cheap switch, and set up one of my old p166's as a router/firewall using ipcop or clarkconnect, or smoothwall)

[JackMDS]

May be this can Help.

Link to: Basic Options for Internet Connection Sharing.

Link to: Hubs, routers, switches, DSL, LANs, WANs...?

[kb2010]

thaks for the link.

i was also wondering what is a good product. that has a fairly customisable browser and supports dynamic ip.

[JackMDS]

All the current Entry Level Routers support dynamic ip, and have Web based system menu.

I personally would wait for the Sunday morning sales and by that cheapest that I can Get.

Security is base in all of them on NAT-Firewall, so from a protection point of view there is no difference.

I would suggest that you should read the content of the following links.

Link to: Basic Protection for Broadband Internet Installation.

Link to: Cable/DSL Routers - NAT & Ports.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Originally posted by kb2010
ok i have heard some good things about Linksys BEFSR41

The BEFSX41 is a bit better, a newer model.

All home broadband routers protect your entire lan using NAT...network address translation. It's basically a dumb hardware firewall, that by default blocks all incoming traffic. You can through it's web admin utility open/forward specific ports, like if you wish to run a game server, etc. So like Jack mentioned ....they all do this, and support dymanic IPs, static IPs, PPPoE, etc.

[flyerI]

I have used several, Linksys, D-Link, and Netgear. All work well but I generally like the admin pages on the Linksys best. Consider the Linksys wireless G router if you think there is any possibility you will use a wireless laptop in the future.