Buying a new router, any suggestions?

[Libara]

So time to buy a new router as mine sux, price isnt too important.
Would appreciate any help ty.

 

[Thelona]

never gone wrong with a linksys

Don't get a netgear, I've had bad experiences with a couple of them. tho, that was a few years ago.

 

[Libara]

Il look into linksys ty, ive also head d-link are quite good to.

 

[Tok]

what kind of setup are you running? how many computers? how many would you be running at a time? gaming?

this shit matters, cause if you have a cheap clunker router it might not support all the shit you wanna do with it

i've had good luck with linksys routers until just recently, i had a wireless g router WRT54G2 which crapped out on me, for some reason; would get major packet loss from the router when i pinged it from any IP, wireless worked but when i tried to play XBox i wasn't able to get anywhere with it, i had an old WRT54GL that i hooked up, it works fine but sometimes i get high pings and am unable to run my multiple devices at the same time

I just recently bought a d-link DIR-615 RTL which i'm going to try out, waiting for it to come in the mail

 

[ds083roadkill]

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=643

game.set.match.

 

[Tristam Green]

lol, the question you pose is going to vary largely based on who you talk to.

I have had nothing but woe with Linksys product, and zero issue with D-Link or Netgear. Truthfully, they all use the same tech, with marginally different components. It's the protocols you're going to worry about.

Just make sure you can get MAC filtering and WPA2 encryption on the device, and you can largely be brand-agnostic.

Good luck

 

[Princemercury]

lol, the question you pose is going to vary largely based on who you talk to.

I have had nothing but woe with Linksys product, and zero issue with D-Link or Netgear. Truthfully, they all use the same tech, with marginally different components. It's the protocols you're going to worry about.

Just make sure you can get MAC filtering and WPA2 encryption on the device, and you can largely be brand-agnostic.

Good luck

Perfect response.

Some older stuff don't support WPA tho.

 

[Tomasello]

I was just about to create a router thread.

I don't know what the deal is but literally every 4-6 months my router dies and I have to get a new one. I have no fucking idea why and I'm starting to think wireless networking technology is just horribly broken.

I went through 3 D-Links (both G and N) that crapped out on me and now a Belkin N+. It's always the same thing, one day out of the blue they just decide to stop connecting to the internet. I still have the connection to the router but it says, "no internet access".

I only have a desktop, laptop and VOIP I use it for. Wired routers seem fine I'm just cursed with wireless ones I think.

Anyone have a clue why this keeps happening? Is this normal for a wireless router to just stop functioning properly by itself for no apparent reason every 4-6 months?

 

[Tribalinius]

Perfect response.

Some older stuff don't support WPA tho.

Worst of the worst, you can still setup it up on WEP even though I wouldn't recommend it anymore.

I'd certainly go with a .n router since price has dropped largely lately and a lot of devices start to come with .n now but it really depends of your need. If you think a .g router is gonna make the cut, go for it, they're cheap nowadays. I got 2 laptops, wii/360/ps3, ds/psp connected on that thing and it's still kicking ass. Granted I wouldn't do data transfer between my laptops and updates on my consoles at the same time but it's still largely acceptable since you won't have that many devices connected to it 24/7 anyway.

I tried linksys, d-link and netgear in the past. I got issues with some series from both d-link and netgear so I sticked with linksys.

I don't know how good/bad they're doing in the .n sector though, I mainly bought good old WRT54G's for my customers because I knew the shit wouldn't crap (most of the time, got 2 DoA in the past 3 years) on me lol.

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=30389&vpn=WRT54G2-CA&manufacture=Linksys&promoid=1065 (WRT54G2)

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=31885&vpn=WRT160N-CA&manufacture=Linksys&promoid=1065 (WRT160N, seems to be about the equivalent of a WRT54G)

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=35668&vpn=WRT610N-CA&manufacture=Linksys (WRT610N, clearly for the epeen and the missiles hidden in the antennas)

 

[Princemercury]

Average home internet speeds are about 13 mbps and that's considering high end about $60+/month. G gateway with 2-3 walls in between will still run at 54mbps.

Only advantage on N for the typical user? A little more range compared to a MIMO G... and in most users home the router is 3-4 rooms away which isn't too far at all.

If you're transferring files all the time, sure the extra throughput is worth it but might as well plug it in temporarily and get it done at 100mb/1gbps/5 times quicker.

Tom: if you hit the reset wipe button with a pin, does it still happen?

 

[Reeve]

G spec routers seem to be more stable and less prone to issues. I like the linksys routers that support tomato and other firmware myself. You can even buy a router preflashed directly from the tomato firmware site.

N spec is what I'd like to upgrade to but I've read way to many horror stories and at best its hit or miss right.

 

[Tomasello]

Average home internet speeds are about 13 mbps and that's considering high end about $60+/month. G gateway with 2-3 walls in between will still run at 54mbps.

Only advantage on N for the typical user? A little more range compared to a MIMO G... and in most users home the router is 3-4 rooms away which isn't too far at all.

If you're transferring files all the time, sure the extra throughput is worth it but might as well plug it in temporarily and get it done at 100mb/1gbps/5 times quicker.

When I used to use my G in the room I like to play ffxi in I would get about 80% strenght then I switched to N+ and now I'm at 99%. When your in Dynamis or Einherjar you can definitely see the difference in lag from that 20% boost but yeah it wasn't really any faster mbps just a stronger signal.

Tom: if you hit the reset wipe button with a pin, does it still happen?

Yeah, I reset every broken router to factory default and it made no difference. Sometimes before crapping out completely they would go through a, "frequently unplug and replug in phase" that would temporary fix the problem but in the end that band aid fix would eventually stop working.

Why it randomly stops connecting to the internet? I have no clue but this is router number 4 in less than 2 years and I've just excepted the fact that the shell life of the average wireless router is about 4-6 months. ><

 

[Princemercury]

Yeah, I reset every broken router to factory default and it made no difference. Sometimes before crapping out completely they would go through a, "frequently unplug and replug in phase" that would temporary fix the problem but in the end that band aid fix would eventually stop working.

Why it randomly stops connecting to the internet? I have no clue but this is router number 4 in less than 2 years and I've just excepted the fact that the shell life of the average wireless router is about 4-6 months. ><

Yeah... that is weird. All I would do is take advantage of the 3yr manf warranty...

Eg. Linksys will just send you a new one while you return the old one, simple~

 

[Ravic]

I've had a Linksys WRT54g for going on 2 years and its served me well. Never had a problem with getting a signal, but then I don't have a very big apartment.

The only issue I have with it is that on occasion, when I turn on my PS3, it sends a hiccup through the network and I'd lose connection to the internet. Though nothing unplugging/plugging in the router doesn't fix. I remember reading on the playstation forums that it's some slight incompatibility between PS3's and Linksys routers, but again, it's no big deal.

 

[Tristam Green]

I understand many person's reservations about WEP, but for a residential connection, it's really still fairly acceptable (dependent on where you live). I wouldn't do it, say, in a college town, or in a tech-center metroplex, but in a rural area, it's perfectly fine.

As a matter of fact, I have WEP enabled at my house because my DS's don't support WPA. I have MAC filtering enabled and I have DHCP reservations enabled. I turned off SSID broadcast, and set the SSID to something that doesn't necessarily tie the connection to my house - for shits and giggles, name your wireless connection something like "blasterworm central" as a kind of prevention against prying eyes - it's like sticking a sign up at your house that says "quarantine: syphilis".

edit: There is actually an SSID near my house called "Cock and Pussy". I shit you not.