1812 bandwidth specs

[brent00011111]

I will first apologize for my ignorance ahead of time and thank anyone out there who can help me.  We have a 1812 router that we have leased from a company that I can't trust at all.  They are stating that the router, that we leased from them 5 years ago, is a 15 year old design and really was meant for only a T1 connection.  It supposedly can't handle the bandwidth that our "massive" DSL connection is putting out at 15Mbps.  I'm told the processor is maxing out making their software response slow and causing multiple errors.  I will be the first to admit we have a lot of traffic going through the router, our management software is run on an offsite server, and much of our other tools are internet based, frankly I am surprised that we are able to do as much as we can on this connection.  Here is where the problem comes.  They are saying that their software's slow response is caused by the amount of traffic the router is processing, yet we have very little issue with our other web based applications, we can stream video and audio, everything else works as you would expect (95% plus trouble free).  So I need the help of someone much more knowledgeable than me.  Am I right in assuming what I am being told is mostly B.S., as is every answer we seem to get from them, or are they correct?  We will be finally switching providers in October so there will be an upgrade then, but if there is a problem that they should be fixing, not related to the router, I would like to be able to make them fix it... just because, thanks.

[Leo Laohoo]

Read the document attached.

[brent00011111]

So if I am reading the specs correctly, and again I have no learnining on networking so please excuse my stupidity, the router is theoretically capable of over twice the bandwidth we can pull in and send out (actually 3 times if you use our actual download and upload speed)?

[Leo Laohoo]

The router is quoted to have a speed of "35.84" Mbps.  This value is the TOTAL speed of upload & download.  If you are pushing and downloading traffic then this router will do about 18 Mbps.  The value of "35.84" is also without any encryption. 

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Disclaimer

The Author of this posting offers the information contained within this posting without consideration and with the reader's understanding that there's no implied or expressed suitability or fitness for any purpose. Information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as rendering professional advice of any kind. Usage of this posting's information is solely at reader's own risk.

Liability Disclaimer

In no event shall Author be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of use, data or profit) arising out of the use or inability to use the posting's information even if Author has been advised of the possibility of such damage.

Posting

Also, the Mbps rating is based on the criteria noted at the top of the document, and as also noted there, its also based on just packet forwarding.  Real world configs tend to use more CPU per packet.

Also take a look at the impact of process switching.  Even a few can slow your rate.  I.e. real world throughput can be even slower.

Also, you don't want to run a router at 100%, you want some cushion.  Normally you try to stay under about 75%.

What you really want to see is the CPU history for that router.

[brent00011111]

I don't have access to the history as CDK manages the router, but they told me they were seeing some peaks, which I would expect, but it wouldn't explain why their program is slow consistently and regular internet traffic is slower only most likely at those peaks.  Thanks for the information, and help.  It gives me some insight into what questions to be asking them when/if they call back when they said they would.

[brent00011111]

Right, theoretical versus actual depending upon what and how the data is going through. Thank you for your help and clarification.