Non of the switches mentioned on this thread come close to being a great router. It used to be that the fastest routers were linux computers running open source router software. With the introduction of this router, there is no need to go anywhere else: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5857/ Cost, approx $2500. nitro
These probably wouldn't benefit a daytrader operation any more than some of the others listed here, who most likely have a few computers on a lan and an internet connection. Would it be more stable? No, because anyone other than an experienced network admin wouldn't know how to use it and configure it properly. Would it be faster? Not necessarily, since this is built for efficient concurrent connectivity/capacity as well as data security (encryption/antivirus etc.). While if a trader has one, there may be no reason to go elsewhere, if you don't have one there's probably no reason to go here either. (and for that matter, it doesn't even have wifi. )
The only justification I can see for the Cisco router, vs the product i proposed earlier in the thread, is when the routing environment is dynamic across multiple routers. The OP hasn't made his requirements clear but Id expect that Security (highly performant) and availability are key; dynamic routing will not be needed. The ALU product kills the Cisco on that front. However, it gets slaughtered from a value-added functionality perspective (multi-protocol and topological support amngst others). Since that functionality is needed primarily in the corporate environment I don't see the Cisco as being "best" in this case. As the OP does't seem to have clarified any of the issues in this thread I suggest that it's probably best for it now to be allowed to rest in peace...
I am still going to stick to my PepLink routers, who provide the best of both worlds in my opinion, ie, as easy to configure as a common mainstream brand, and definitely more usuable than a pro cisco one, and still has more power than the ones that are targeted at home users.
I've been using a Linksys RV082 for some time now with Verizon DSL on one WAN and RoadRunner cable (RR) on the other. Until recently this worked great with Interactive Brokers (IB) Traders Work Station (TWS). About a month ago, however, TWS began to freeze immediately when using RR through the router and after about 15 minutes when using DSL through the router. I then tested both connections through a Linksys WRT54G and they performed similarly, the only difference being that TWS stayed up a little longer when connected to DSL through the WRT54G. Interestingly, TWS ran fine when RR was connected directly to the machine on which I run it, but failed immediately when I enabled Windows firewall (I'm running XP Pro SP2); connected directly, of course, I've got no protection whatsoever, so this is not a solution. Many long discussions with Linksys high-level tech support have led them to conclude that packet-shaping instituted by RR may be the problem with them, but they have no explanation for why the DSL won't work, because Verizon apparently isn't using packet-shaping. In any event Linksys sent me a new RV082 just to be sure my original router hadn't failed. The problems on the new router were the same as on the old. To their credit, they've offered to give me a full refund on the original RV082, which I had for roughly 3 years, because they can't come up with a solution here. Meanwhile, IB tech support has been virtually useless except to assure me that they've changed nothing in their data delivery to TWS since the time things were running smoothly via the 082. I'm hoping to get some further confirmation from them on this soon and to get them to tell me of router manufacturers that they know TWS works with. With all this said, I'm wondering whether anyone in this group, which seems to include some real IT professionals, has any thoughts as to what the best solution to my problems here is. From what I've read, it seems like upgrading to another consumer-class router (I was thinking of getting Netgear's load-balancing model) may not solve the problems I'm having with this at all. Then again, I can't help but wonder whether a commercial-class router, which I won't have a clue how to set up, is going to be any better. Naturally, I'd greatly appreciate any thinking on how to get this best resolved from anyone with experience in this area. Many thanks in advance for any help that anyone can offer here...