If it does not solve it, I will have to actually buy something. The question is what I will buy at that time though. But I'll figure it out based off of advice I got here and weighing my options.

I had a problem with a link. Appearently that device won't work, because it doesn't support a new enough version. I think I may have bricked it, but fixing it is another problem. I was able to get another router that did work, because it's the same model as mainrouter. I was able to use it to set up, and because it was newer firmware, I only had problems with the iPad. I was able to make a special wireless network for iPads, and it worked okay. I think my design is good for now.

P.S. - Thanks for all the help!

Actually, no: that device doesn't support static routes! Your garden-variety Linksys or what-have-you router will do just fine. Just set it up yourself, and don't spend too much money on it.

Wired router ports (and, LAN ports) are exposed to electrical vagrancies and therefore can fail, even when the little lights continue to blink. The first thing to try is to switch the cable from one (non-WAN) port to another. Or, maybe it's just time to go down to the office-supply store.

Apple devices behave identically to everyone else's, and there's nothing special about Apple-brand routing equipment.

I did use a "garden variety" of router. I used a Linksys E2500 model router. With the new version of the firmware I installed and the mega version, it worked okay. Possibly I could have just reflashed with newer firmware and it would have worked okay, but this turns out, because of the problems I've had, to be a better design. For the number of IP addresses I need, there is no reason to have more than one router. But because of the other factors, it looks like having 3 routers is the way to go, all things considered, for the current design of the network.

The current state of things is now this:

I have mainrouter, clientrouter, and guestrouter. mainrouter and clientrouter are the same model and running dd-wrt. guestrouter is not the same model and is not running dd-wrt. mainrouter and clientrouter are N routers. guestrouter is a G router.

The next step for routers would to leave it as is, except:

* Get the same model router for guestrouter

* Flash it with dd-wrt

* Make sure they are all running the same version of the mega software

* Possibly make sure they are all running the latest possible version of the firmware


For now though, it's okay to leave as is and take a risk that something better will occur before I implement that plan. Possibly more costly too, as long as I can still afford that cost.

My priority now, is the servers. I need to get them up and running, so that things will start to become possible that are not now. I need one more piece of equipment, and then I'll have everything to just configure stuff for now.

The priority is those servers now.