Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Wireless Router Recommendation

So after some sort of Super Cell blew thru the neighborhood the other day, I (unfortunately) have the opportunity to replace my wireless router not to mention getting the ethernet port on my iMac replaced I have had a Belkin N1 router that performed really well until it's death.

Any suggestions as to a better replacement, or should I stick with what I had?

Comments welcome!

Scott

Belkin does not have the best reputation. I just picked up an Asus based on excellent throughput and reception ratings in an independant test.

I seem to have good luck with Linksys.

I have been having good luck with my Linksys WRT310N

Info in this thread might be helpful.

Cool! Thanks all. So I seem to be finding a lot references for refurb'd Linksys units. Does this mean they're prone to problems if I buy new, or should I get a refurb and hope the bad components have been weeded out? I'm torn between the D-Link and the Linksys...

Scott

Hi fredk,

I have an Asus laptop that I really like. What is the model of the Asus wireless router and where did you find it?

Thanks,
Alan

Refurb's do not necessarily mean they are prone to problems, much like avr's, a refurbed model could be even better than an original purchased item.

I never had any issues with my old WRT 54GL router nor my WRT 300N. The only reason I moved up from my 300N was to get wired gigabit.

D-Link lately. I particularly like their routers over Linksys right now because D-Link have replaceable antennas...

I took off the stock 2dbi antennas and replaced them with 8bdi ones. MUCH better reception in the basement now.

AFAIK Linksys Antennas are all internal right now.

snazzed

You are correct. Linksys has gone to a more WAF friendly approach. I see them in livingrooms and dens all the time now.

I had to do what you did with my old WRT 54 linksys and even then the signal was still poor in a few parts of the house. I even tried it with an upgraded antenna on the PCI card in the PC and it still wasn't that much better. That was what prompted me to get the WRT 300N with it's MIMO technology, it's signal was quite strong everywhere in the house. My 310N has almost as good a signal as the 300, so IMO the internal antennas are equally as good as the boosted signal versions.

This is the one I picked up from Canada Computers. They have locations around Ontario. I see they actually have a location in Barrie.

The reviews I read were on the RT-N15 and 16. I figured the RT-N13 being in the same family, it should give similarly good performance.

This router is not necessarily a recommendation but if you dig a bit deeper in the articles, Maxpc did a review of a few wifi routers very recently including dlink and linksys offerings. It should be in their reviews section in the past month or two (in their online mag archives).

I got Apple's AirPort Express that is doing a great job at my place. I really like the feature called AirTunes and the possibility to share a printer but many router have that feature. The Airport Extreme offer more options like simultaneous dual-band. If you have a Mac the set-up is even easier and it works with both pc and mac

I just smoked my Router, a Linksys WRT160N v2. I tried to update the firmware and for some odd reason the router web page lost connection to the router right in the middle of the update.

I'd like to stick with the Linksys as I had to build a mount for it where my home network patch panel is.

When I was on the phone with Linksys tech support, I was told there is no way to fix it and they recommended an E model router that they just launched.

Does anyone know much about these?

That explains all the sale pricing as of late on their previous models; can't say I have heard anything about them.

Bump.

I am using an old WRT54G (no wireless N, and the model was before you could run DD-WRT on it). It's slow, old, and needs frequent rebooting.

I am considering replacing it.

I'm not sure if I need to run DD-WRT, but I feel like I am missing something. I also might like the idea of attaching some USB storage to it, or maybe a USB printer in the future.

I'm considering Linksys E3000, D-Link DIR-655 and ASUS RT-N16.

I know the D-Link doesn't run DD-WRT. I need good reliability and good wireless coverage.

Do I need that much router? Do you have recommendations? Am I overthinking this?

I bought a Linksys E4200 after _some_ research, but I haven't had a chance to open it yet.

I'm running the DIR-655 with no issues. Wow, I guess it's been almost two years since I got it. Time flies. It's located in the basement, and I've had no trouble with the signal anywhere in the house that I've tried a wireless device. My whole network is D-Link right now except for the cable modem.

I haven't used the USB port for storage or a printer, so I can't comment on that.

Wow, you guys really ARE "power users".

Hey! I have an NAS for storage and I also use that as my print server, so lay off! Of course, there are all of the other features it has that I haven't really looked into, but never mind that.

Wait, I'm not done, yet.

Newegg discounted the Refurb Linksys E3000 to $54 today, so I just went ahead and ordered that.

Couple more questions, please.

1. DirecTV has this new device I'm considering called a Nomad. It sits on your network and allows you to transfer material recorded on your networked HD DVR to other devices (like iPad, laptop, etc.). The instructions specify that it needs to be plugged into your ROUTER. Is there some legitimate networky reason why it should prefer being plugged into a router rather than a switch? My guess is that DTV is just speaking to the lowest common user denominator, but I wanted to check with y'all.

2. I am working on a graphic representation of our home network to better explain this, but... I currently have two switches downstream from the router (one in the living room, and one in the family room). They are the cheapest switches I could buy, and I'm sure they are not "gigabit". Would I benefit from replacing them with better, faster switches?

3. Should I care about DD-WRT or Tomato?

Since I'm NOT a "network guy", I'm really starting to become overwhelmed by the number of networked devices in my home. All this stuff is cool and great, right up until something that you've come to depend on doesn't work.

Thanks, gentlemen.

1. Maybe, and I quote "maybe" they are just trying to avoid the lower bandwidth capabilities of some wireless systems. Uncompressed video is HUGE and even compressed video can stress out some older wireless systems. This would also fit into your "speaking to the lowest common user denominator" theory.

2. While faster is always better, you have to ask yourself, what will you be using that will create such big bandwidth. I routinely run into businesses that run gigabit to all the desktops and would never come close to even 100 Mb/sec. Then, of course, there are those that I have to argue with to convince them to upgrade.

In short, I would grab some freeware for testing bandwidth (sorry, I have our corporate stuff so I'm not familiar with a good freeware one.) do some video streaming, data transfers, etc. and see what you are pushing. If you are pushing 80 Mb/sec or more while stressing things out, then an upgrade might be in order. Assuming whatever you do to stress the network is something that happens often.

or..................
Just go with MORE POWER !!!!!!! It just feels better knowing its there.

#3
I know almost nothing about them but seem to get along fine without them.

Tom I have a Linksys E3000 and it works great for us, it does get darn warm though so I cut a couple of small pieces of 1"x 1" to use as stands so that the router gets air circulation for cooling and I may suggest something similar for you. Reading from a couple of forums the heat issue with the E3000 seems to be quite common.

Excellent. Thanks, Rick and Andy!

The only reason aside from "avoid the wireless" I can think of is that it might be speaking some kind of router-ese that wouldn't be going over the switches. Perhaps UPnP is like that? I don't know, I've never used it. However, I don't think it SHOULD be that--a proper network protocol design shouldn't REQUIRE something to be directly attached to a router, it's simply not feasible in many circumstances.

As far as the GigE goes, if you're doing transfers over Wireless N or to GigE equipped devices of large files, upgrade. If you're just streaming stuff, don't. Remember that the pipe coming into your house is smaller than the pipes IN your house, and if you're only streaming online or playing music, you don't need GigE.

Right on, Ken. Muchas Gracias.

Oh yeah, if you're not a network guy, don't do DD-WRT. World o' pain. I'm still working up the courage to do it to a router that I don't care about. Of course, I don't really want to do heavy lifting computer stuff when I get home any more.

Gigabit switches are so cheap these days. While my main 24-port switch was a couple hundred, if I remember right, the most recent 8-port switches were only $30-something, and the 5-ports were mid-twenties if I remember right. I went with the 8-ports just because. I have Cat6 and gigabit throughout the house. It adds up if you're doing a big home network all at once, but if you're just talking smaller switches, I see no reason to not go gigabit. Of course, I've never budgeted for a family, as you can tell when I talk about my purchases. Ha ha.

the signal coverage of Linksys are a lot weaker compared to my fried D-Link.

Am using the WAG120N (150MB 802.11b/g/n) now, can only get 1 bar in my upstairs bedroom when my old 54M 802.11b/g d-link gives me full bar.

Oh..and the Linksys run darn hot too.