Wireless Router Recommendations

[64BonnieLass]

Hi guys,

Is there a brand of wireless router that is better then others? Or are they all pretty much the same.

My router is being goofy - it's old, so may as well pick up a good one. But I don't know if there is one better then another at the end of the day.

Gratzi

[puckstr]

for Home use I just go with the one reccomended by my ISP.
The ones for Qwest are available at Best Buy

[Zach929rr]

Dlink is shit.

Netgear hasn't treated me wrong since I switched.

[UglyDogRacing]

When my old Linksys router crapped out earlier this year I picked up one of these at Best Buy and its worked great - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/NETGEAR+-+RangeMax+Wireless-N+Router+with+4-Port+Ethernet+Switch/9826302.p;jsessionid=35F2BDEF10DD02C6F6E06B14E4DAC A37.bbolsp-app04-57?id=1218179420063&skuId=9826302

[pannetron]

Netgear is good and available at local box stores. Buffalo Tech is also good but usually available only from Internet stores. You can't go wrong with the Netgear units.

[FZ1Guy]

I like the Linksys ones... Have had the best luck in overall usage.

[Keyser Soze]

I like the Linksys ones... Have had the best luck in overall usage.


Same. I've never had any issues with Linksys

[jbnwc]

I had all kinds of problems with my Netgear. I replaced it with a Zyxel 2 yrs ago and haven't had a glitch since.

[fook]

how is your current router acting goofy? could be someone else stepping on your channel etc... sometimes if you just load up a tool like net stumbler, you can quickly see that you're sharing a channel with 3-4 other AP's nearby and moving off to an empty one fixes a lot of dropped wifi.

as for new, zyxel's the only brand i've never had a prob with.

linksys, dlink.. netgear.. i've had various issues with all at one time or another.. something always ends up hosing them up and support is useless. my last one was an issue with the linksys firmware and downloading torrents... required a reset weekly because of buffering problems.

at anyrate, the direction i've ended up taking is using dd-wrt (http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index) on my and my relatives home routers.. it's an alternate firmware install for various supported brands and models that not only gives you a lot better stability(my opinion) but also a LOT more features and functionality that the vendors hold back on or charge more for... usage tracking, better security options.. filtering, bridging etc etc. i've loaded it onto routers that people said had been acting up with great success.

instructions for installing dd-wrt are more or less straightforward, its just important that you follow them to the letter(or don't do it at all if you're not sure) or you could end up wrecking the device.. when i first started playing with it i went and bought a couple of cheap linksys n routers off ebay to play with.

at anyrate, if you or someone close to you is geek inclined and you're interested in getting away from the crap firmware linksys and some of the other vendors put out there then i'd check into it..

[asp_125]

My current one from Comcast is Netgear, other than a setup glitch in the first week or so where I had to reboot it, it's been flawless so far.

[Nick_Ninja]

Linksys = Cisco FTMFW!!

[Tylar]

I'm pretty happy with Linksys, pretty straight forward....however I've recently seen the difference in models.

Our house is completely wireless, except for the MicroCell. 10 devices in total, some are portable and go on/off the network regularly. We found that the lower N model wireless routers seem to have issues once you hit 8 devices. Not sure if it matter wired or wireless, but most of ours were wireless. Basically the router would stop forwarding traffic and while it was nearly impossible to find out why, it acted like it had memory/table issues with the continues disappearance/reappearance of MACs. Reload resolved the issue.

We went to the WRT400N and problem solved, it handled all the devices reliably and was noticeably faster. Since then, we're on an e3000 due to the Comcast IPv6 trial we're on. From an IPv4 standpoint, it's wickedly fast and resilient. And just so it's known, it's running modified firmware, so I cant speak for what's out of the box....but I don't think there's much difference aside from IPv6 pertinent configuration.

Good luck!

[Mista Black]

+1 for Netgear. I use their business stuff for my home network. Solid, never breaks. I've screwed the stuff up with a firmwear update and they still swapped it out for free.

Personally, though, I prefer a good wired router and a separate good access point for the wireless. Probably not as necessary anymore, but my dad ingrained into me the idea that the more complex something is, the more there is to break. Old habits die hard... So I keep em separate.

[TurboGizzmo]

Linksys with DD-WRT running for years at my house running at least 15 to 20 nodes with no issues.

[DeeStylez]

Netgear,
I have had this router almost 5 months now, came with my Comcast package and it works great.

[JonnyD]

how is your current router acting goofy? could be someone else stepping on your channel etc... sometimes if you just load up a tool like net stumbler, you can quickly see that you're sharing a channel with 3-4 other AP's nearby and moving off to an empty one fixes a lot of dropped wifi.

as for new, zyxel's the only brand i've never had a prob with.

linksys, dlink.. netgear.. i've had various issues with all at one time or another.. something always ends up hosing them up and support is useless. my last one was an issue with the linksys firmware and downloading torrents... required a reset weekly because of buffering problems.

at anyrate, the direction i've ended up taking is using dd-wrt (http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index) on my and my relatives home routers.. it's an alternate firmware install for various supported brands and models that not only gives you a lot better stability(my opinion) but also a LOT more features and functionality that the vendors hold back on or charge more for... usage tracking, better security options.. filtering, bridging etc etc. i've loaded it onto routers that people said had been acting up with great success.

instructions for installing dd-wrt are more or less straightforward, its just important that you follow them to the letter(or don't do it at all if you're not sure) or you could end up wrecking the device.. when i first started playing with it i went and bought a couple of cheap linksys n routers off ebay to play with.

at anyrate, if you or someone close to you is geek inclined and you're interested in getting away from the crap firmware linksys and some of the other vendors put out there then i'd check into it..

+1 to this, I have dd-wrt running on mine and tons of family member's wireless routers. I have a WRT54GL. I think the most important thing this firmware does is allow a scheduled reboot of your router. I'd be willing to help you get this on your router if you want.

Although, in a pinch... I've used a lamp timer for others' routers. Strangely, makes seemingly "weird" routers start working okay. Just set it to "reboot" at 4am each day. But that's if you wanna ghetto-fy it :)