The Main Router Discussion Topic
Non-techies, please bear with me on this. I'm starting a discussion about router technology here which may quickly get hard to follow in places. We have a lot of Techies on these forums, and their kno...
Forum Discussion
Yes, I am, but consider this...
New homes are being built, our nations power grid is slowly being updated to a "Smart Grid" where every home has a smart meter. Many local power companies are giving people network access to these meters. With that, MANY of todays newer electronics from Water Heaters and Thermostats for the HVAC all the way to lighting in a home is networkable. Imagine a home that has the following...
Smart Electrical Meter (One IP)
Smart Fridge (One IP)
Smart Water Heater (One to two IP depending on home size)
Smart HVAC system (One to FIVE IP depending on if you use floor heaters under ceramic tiles)
Smart Lighting System (This is where you could end up with DOZENS of addresses)
Smart Irrigation system (One IP)
Entertainment systems (Overly complicated, can cause network size to explode)
All these devices talk back and forth between one another, deciding whether they should be turned on or off, or the optimal temperture for that current time period. Many new homes are being built around these systems, and many older homes are ever so slowly upgrading to these systems. My home is one such home that is ever so slowly upgrading. In the end this costs a fortune, but is well worth it in the long term. The issue is, when your ISP has control of your router, what's keeping security risks at bay? IPv6 addresses are routable, makes a smart home a VERY easy target for hackers. Even BASIC IP Cameras have shown to be easily hacked. So do I trust my ISP with my router if they can't handle keeping such intruders off the network to begin with? NO. Last thing I want is the kid down the street figuring out how to access my network from the WAN side and turning off my water heater half an hour before I go to shower.
Also, many basic routers can't tolerate more than 10-20 devices at a time, they tend to choke up once all those devices start talking at one time.
New homes are being built, our nations power grid is slowly being updated to a "Smart Grid" where every home has a smart meter. Many local power companies are giving people network access to these meters. With that, MANY of todays newer electronics from Water Heaters and Thermostats for the HVAC all the way to lighting in a home is networkable. Imagine a home that has the following...
Smart Electrical Meter (One IP)
Smart Fridge (One IP)
Smart Water Heater (One to two IP depending on home size)
Smart HVAC system (One to FIVE IP depending on if you use floor heaters under ceramic tiles)
Smart Lighting System (This is where you could end up with DOZENS of addresses)
Smart Irrigation system (One IP)
Entertainment systems (Overly complicated, can cause network size to explode)
All these devices talk back and forth between one another, deciding whether they should be turned on or off, or the optimal temperture for that current time period. Many new homes are being built around these systems, and many older homes are ever so slowly upgrading to these systems. My home is one such home that is ever so slowly upgrading. In the end this costs a fortune, but is well worth it in the long term. The issue is, when your ISP has control of your router, what's keeping security risks at bay? IPv6 addresses are routable, makes a smart home a VERY easy target for hackers. Even BASIC IP Cameras have shown to be easily hacked. So do I trust my ISP with my router if they can't handle keeping such intruders off the network to begin with? NO. Last thing I want is the kid down the street figuring out how to access my network from the WAN side and turning off my water heater half an hour before I go to shower.
Also, many basic routers can't tolerate more than 10-20 devices at a time, they tend to choke up once all those devices start talking at one time.
