Last active thread was from 2010... so what do the 
s recommend in the crop of current wireless routers?
s recommend in the crop of current wireless routers?Wireless router recommendations?
- Thread starter SkaredShtles
- Start date
I like my Buffalo.
Any one that transmits a wireless signal.
Ironically I dusted off my wireless router last night which was in the closet for well over a year and set it back up. My brother got me a Roku for x-mas and needed a wifi network to use it. I have a linksys WRT120N if that matters at all to you.....and I'm sure if doesn't. It was cheap as hell and works so why the hell not?
Ironically I dusted off my wireless router last night which was in the closet for well over a year and set it back up. My brother got me a Roku for x-mas and needed a wifi network to use it. I have a linksys WRT120N if that matters at all to you.....and I'm sure if doesn't.
It was cheap as hell and works so why the hell not?
Linksys E4200 is pretty nice, about $150:
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/31399-cisco-linksys-e4200-maximum-performance-wireless-n-router-reviewed
Lots of new routers coming out Q1 so routers like this will be on sale.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/31399-cisco-linksys-e4200-maximum-performance-wireless-n-router-reviewed
Lots of new routers coming out Q1 so routers like this will be on sale.
Know I know this is gonna sound fanboy-ish but the apple wireless router has been hand down the best router I've ever owned. For whatever reason for me all the linksys, net-gear and d-link i've ever owned have stopped working for started becoming problematic after about a year. Without fail, they would all start becoming less and less useful and eventually require me to re-authinticate constantly. I've owned this apple router for almost 3.5 years now and it's not given me a single issue.
Makes sense, simple closed firmware will be more stable but will lack flexibility or open source support.
agreed. airport extreme that is 3+ years old and a couple of airport expresses over here (both 1+ yrs) and all have worked flawlessly from day one without a single hiccup.
Not particularly unique, I have a D-link DIR-655 (V1 hardware). Its been in use for 5 years now, about 2 years home use and over 3 years in small office (3 computers, 2 network printers, one 8 channel security camera system, and one CC terminal). I've never reset or moved the router in the office setting since reconfiguring it for that network - its on the bottom shelf in the back office. It also filters the web for the two front desk computers so they can only access a handful of work sites and MS/AV update servers. We bought a second one this year once we switched from business DSL to business FIOS for a separate guest/customer wireless network router.
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out of curiosity.... what would be a "unique" lifespan of a router? i may just have bad luck, but the linksys d-link and cisco something or other i had before the apple one both $hit bricks at about the 1 yr mark. i would expect these things to last at least as long as the current wireless standard... (n has been out for what... 6 years now?)
I'm dead serious when i said all have **** the bed at about the 1 year mark.
There can be great variation, depends on hardware revision (sometimes 3-4 revisions in consumer models - revisions are usually made due to cost and/or design flaws) and router placement. If you don't put it in a well ventilated or air conditioned area or its not oriented as recommended its life can be shortened. It also matters the quality of power you have in your area/how many power failures/storms you've weathered, whether you use surge protectors, etc. Some generations of electronic components are occasionally defective (various motherboards across many brands a few years ago all had bad capacitors which would quickly fail, it was not the brand's doing).
Outsourcing doesn't always go smoothly for anyone (Apple has had numerous quality control and flaws just like everyone else, sometime worse - how many macbooks did BurlyShirley go through until he got a good one - 4? and Toshi went through numerous iPods due a defect he mentioned on the form years ago).
Consumer routers have tremendous variation but poor firmware is the norm. Luckily many models gain open source support which must more robust but not quite as user friendly. The DIR655 is a particular good consumer router.
I've primarily dealt with enterprise networking equipment which tends to last so long its replaced with a new standard when the budget finally allows rather than facing equipment failure which is far more likely with servers or workstations.
It's been my experience they either blow up quickly (6 months or so) or last forever. I've still got people using old original Linksys WRT54g routers that just won't die. If I remember right though, the first version of that was much better than the followups.
Probably just crappy luck, I've probably put in about 40 routers over the last 10 years, and had 3-4 of them go bad. You might just be getting the bad 10% over and over.
I have a 54g sitting around I loan to people who have dead routers, it still kicks ass, it's just really slow. My Airport extreme N hasn't had a single issue, but my airport express N is a dud. Has to be reset once a week otherwise the local network gets mega slow, internet works fine though. Odd. Streaming video from my laptop or NAS to my apple tv is a gong show if it hasn't been reset in a week or so. Simple reset and it's off to the races.
The only network stuff I have had that has truly been painless and faultless has been enterprise grade equipment.
I have a 54g sitting around I loan to people who have dead routers, it still kicks ass, it's just really slow (for lan stuff, I have a fairly complex network here).
My Airport extreme N hasn't had a single issue, but my airport express N is a dud. Has to be reset once a week otherwise the local network gets mega slow, internet works fine though. Odd. Streaming video from my laptop or NAS to my apple tv is a gong show if it hasn't been reset in a week or so. Simple reset and it's off to the races.
The only network stuff I have had that has truly been painless and faultless has been enterprise grade equipment.
I had a netgear for about 5 years and it never gave me any problems. About 4 years ago I got FiOS and it came with a router. It too works really well. I've had two laptops and 4 smartphones all cranking away on the wifi with no discernable loss of speed or stability. The wired connections consist of two desktops, a laptop and a Vonage cordless phone. The range is pretty good and my smartphone remains connected till about 180' down the road.
Picked up a refurb Cisco/Linksys 3000 dual-band for $50. Plugged it in and it just worked. A number of niggling wireless issues in the house just disappeared. Now if it continues to work I will give it thumbs-up.
I'm still an airport extreme or time capsule guy.
Just out of curiosity - what makes it "better" with dd-wrt?
There are more options and sometimes is more stable but its not as user friendly and sometimes not all of your router's features are supported. Quality varies a lot, it really depends on how well your router is supported. Its kinda of like playing with linux on your computer - better option for more mature hardware.
As syadasti said above, dd-wrt will give you options/features you usually only find on more expensive routers. Basically routers these days have around the same capability hardware-wise (usb ports, printer hookup, etc withstanding), the manufacturers limit the features at the software level to have different price points to sell to us. Also, depending on the brand, the user interface may be an upgrade. Linksys has always had a decent web interface, but buffalo and some other units I have setup for friends had some pretty basic looking interfaces.
Like I said I would look at the forums and find the popular options and pick from that lot. I have used it for 4+ years on a linksys wrt54g(s?) and a buffalo without any problems. It is for the more advanced user though, mainly due to the flashing of the software to the router. It isn't hard, but it has the chance to brick your router. The setup of the router isn't hard. Basic router functions (security, name, ports, etc) are easy to setup. The more advanced setup options are not much harder, there is a good amount of hints/comments in the interface to help and tons of documentation online.
Like I said I would look at the forums and find the popular options and pick from that lot. I have used it for 4+ years on a linksys wrt54g(s?) and a buffalo without any problems. It is for the more advanced user though, mainly due to the flashing of the software to the router. It isn't hard, but it has the chance to brick your router. The setup of the router isn't hard. Basic router functions (security, name, ports, etc) are easy to setup. The more advanced setup options are not much harder, there is a good amount of hints/comments in the interface to help and tons of documentation online.
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yep....
So, having said that, I had some money at Amazon burning a hole in my pocket and my wife was complaining that the wireless seemed slow.
I sat down and figured out that when I had gotten the last router, we had 3 or 4 wireless clients, now we have 10 or so.
Picked up an ASUS RT-56, and I have to say, the dual band feature is quite nice. Two routers running in one box, basically. No DD-WRT, but my Buffalo had that, and once I set things up, I tend to not touch them again, so it's not a huge concern for me. You definitely lose some tweakability without it though...
I sat down and figured out that when I had gotten the last router, we had 3 or 4 wireless clients, now we have 10 or so.
Picked up an ASUS RT-56, and I have to say, the dual band feature is quite nice. Two routers running in one box, basically. No DD-WRT, but my Buffalo had that, and once I set things up, I tend to not touch them again, so it's not a huge concern for me. You definitely lose some tweakability without it though...
Since we're sharing wireless router stories I've got to get this off my chest. Back in 2009 when we got the optical fibre hooked up I thought it was time to get a new n-standard router as well. Moar speed. Nothing was wrong with the old g-standard one we had but I wanted "the best". So we saw one on special from a Taiwanese company I'd never heard of, Planex (www.planex.com), that had all the bells and whistles, apparently.
Well I got this bastard home and do you think I get the prick to work. Not a f*cken chance. Ringing their Japanese support line was a non-starter as either the phone was not manned or every bastard there was dead. Probably dead. So I packed this useless hunk of meat and stored it away in the bowels of the castle.
So the mocking piece of white plastic bastardry sat there mocking my consumer whore instincts until last year when the g-standard router was giving signs it was about to sh*t the bed. So I get the "new" one and give it a go. Tally ho chums. Of course the mongrel bastard worked straight away. Hooray f*ck! Ha false dawn you clueless bastard VB. Scunted! The wireless signal started dropping all the time and in attempting to fix it I reamed everything so hard that we had no internet, wired or wireless, whatsoever. Further calls to Planex support confirmed my earlier suspicions, they were all dead. Just as I was about to sling the rope over the rafter the trouble and strife said "just call NTT, you knobless wanker" so I did and the bloke was there that afternoon to fix what I had arseholed into oblivion.
Now this obviously wasn't this blokes first trip to the "octagon-of-morons-f*cking-their-sh*t-up" and I could see him eyeing the router that was just loitering in the background, flicking butts at me, calling me a gaylord.
"Want me too hook that up for you, you round eyed bag of vomit". Sure I says. 10,000 yen ($80) he says, tell him he's dreamin' I says. OK 2 legged dog who talks, 5000 yen. Go on then I say, enjoy your carton of Super Dry's. So I finally had lovely fast as you like wireless internet.
But it wasn't all tentacle porn and illegal HD downloads. There was still a small little quibble, an annoyance really, like someone not putting the remote control back on the coffee table. I couldn't connect the kids' PSPs to the internet. Always got the same error message, could hook them up on other people's wireless networks but on my mine they were locked up tighter than a frother's arsehole. But, like a glacier melting I finally ground my way down to the problem. The PSP uses 802.11b and my router only broadcast on 802.11n. A quick trip to the chamber of horrors known as the Planex router configuration page and I had my router routing in B,G and N. Take that Sony, you luddite cunts, take that Planex, you zombie ball garglers, f*ck you all goodmnight.
Well I got this bastard home and do you think I get the prick to work. Not a f*cken chance. Ringing their Japanese support line was a non-starter as either the phone was not manned or every bastard there was dead. Probably dead. So I packed this useless hunk of meat and stored it away in the bowels of the castle.
So the mocking piece of white plastic bastardry sat there mocking my consumer whore instincts until last year when the g-standard router was giving signs it was about to sh*t the bed. So I get the "new" one and give it a go. Tally ho chums. Of course the mongrel bastard worked straight away. Hooray f*ck! Ha false dawn you clueless bastard VB. Scunted! The wireless signal started dropping all the time and in attempting to fix it I reamed everything so hard that we had no internet, wired or wireless, whatsoever. Further calls to Planex support confirmed my earlier suspicions, they were all dead. Just as I was about to sling the rope over the rafter the trouble and strife said "just call NTT, you knobless wanker" so I did and the bloke was there that afternoon to fix what I had arseholed into oblivion.
Now this obviously wasn't this blokes first trip to the "octagon-of-morons-f*cking-their-sh*t-up" and I could see him eyeing the router that was just loitering in the background, flicking butts at me, calling me a gaylord.
"Want me too hook that up for you, you round eyed bag of vomit". Sure I says. 10,000 yen ($80) he says, tell him he's dreamin' I says. OK 2 legged dog who talks, 5000 yen. Go on then I say, enjoy your carton of Super Dry's. So I finally had lovely fast as you like wireless internet.
But it wasn't all tentacle porn and illegal HD downloads. There was still a small little quibble, an annoyance really, like someone not putting the remote control back on the coffee table. I couldn't connect the kids' PSPs to the internet. Always got the same error message, could hook them up on other people's wireless networks but on my mine they were locked up tighter than a frother's arsehole. But, like a glacier melting I finally ground my way down to the problem. The PSP uses 802.11b and my router only broadcast on 802.11n. A quick trip to the chamber of horrors known as the Planex router configuration page and I had my router routing in B,G and N. Take that Sony, you luddite cunts, take that Planex, you zombie ball garglers, f*ck you all goodmnight.
This thread needs to be moved to the Lounge just so this post gets the viewing it deserves!
Holy crap, that has to go down as one of the best Ridemonkey posts ever.
I could only make it 1/2 way through.
Liquor + wireless routers = great post VB.
I just ordered a Linksys e4200 I found for $99. This is my first wireless router ever, so I would like to prepare Ridemonkey for a very similar post to VB's in the near future.
In other news, my knuckle dragging ass just got my first laptop this week. I went ahead and got a high powered one as I am planning on processing and editing HD video on it so I needed a good router as well.
I don't know how in the hell I have lived without a laptop for this long. It replaced my ancient assed desktop at home that we got when windows XP first came out. That turd could not process an Atari 2600 game.
I just ordered a Linksys e4200 I found for $99. This is my first wireless router ever, so I would like to prepare Ridemonkey for a very similar post to VB's in the near future.
In other news, my knuckle dragging ass just got my first laptop this week. I went ahead and got a high powered one as I am planning on processing and editing HD video on it so I needed a good router as well.
I don't know how in the hell I have lived without a laptop for this long. It replaced my ancient assed desktop at home that we got when windows XP first came out. That turd could not process an Atari 2600 game.
I concur.
This thread needs to be moved to the Lounge just so this post gets the viewing it deserves!