Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

It's some time since the current article which lists a compliation of recommendations on routers has been updated. It's time we rectified this, particularly since that article makes no reference to the current generations of "n" speed wireless, mimo and other new ideas.

We can spend some time trawling the forum for the recent views on router, or we could just ask you for your thoughts. I'm choosing the easy option.

If you have a router, for cable or ADSL. You find it reliable, easy to set up or whatever, please give us your recommendations. Equally if you haven't got on with something, let us know. The positive and the negative are equally important.

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

The Netgear WGR614 - I know it is already listed, but I want to make sure you don't take it off. It is rock solid and you can now get it for about £25 if you know where to look

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

Linksys WAG200G, got mine for £40 off of Play.com, fantastic router.

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

I'm not expecting to take any routers off the list, unless they are no longer available, or there is information that they have become unreliable, perhaps a newer version might have broken something.

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

please see my thread I recommended the Dlink DIR-655

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

Going to buy one tomorrow from PC World. Ideally about £30, max £50.
Have a PC with XP, a laptop with Vista and a work laptop with XP.
What should I go for?

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

Got my Netgear WGT624v4 off ebay for £21.99 delivered, can't rate it high enough, nice solid wifi connection 54Mhz all the time... Though I must get a G+ dongle so I can have the 108Mhz connection :)

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

Or.. y'know Mbps ;)

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

What about Wireless-N home routers ?

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

Sorry had just finished an email about frequency for a APRS system so still had Mhz on the brain

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

Happens to me all the time.... oops:

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

A mention for the Belkin G+ MIMO F5D9230-4 wireless cable router. (PC World: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/869557, I didn't buy it, previous tenants did and have left it here for us). Only needs resetting along with the modem at random intervals (and never while I'm connected for some reason), but works fine with Virgin modems. :)

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

I was looking for a router which would be powerful and future proof. After much investigation, I decided on the D-Link Xtreme N(tm) Gigabit Router (DIR-655), which has both WAN and LAN gigabit ports. The only obvious drawback is that although the router has a USB port, it is near useless as you cannot connect a printer or hard drive to it. The router was bought from amazon.co.uk and supplied by Pixmania for £74.35 including postage and packing.

Incidentally, for top performance, it's best to have PCs with gigabit ethernet (1000Base-T) adapter cards, because if you were to move files between the PCs then you should see an improvement compared with PC fitted with 100Base-T cards. Your PC should also have either a PCIe (PCI Express) X1 slot or an onboard NIC that connects via PCIe to the CPU.

I took delivery recently. A little disconcertingly the language on the packaging is in French and the two-pin European power cord required a three-pin UK adapter (supplied). I got it working without a problem. Here's what did.

I switched off the PC and powered off the SB5100 SURFboard cable modem by removing the power cable. I waited several minutes to allow the modem to release the MAC address of the PC's Ethernet adapter, then connected the router to the modem and PC by the WAN and LAN ports respectively and, ignoring the set up disk, booted up the modem, router and PC (in that order). You need to wait for the modem's four green lights to come on before booting up the router.

I got internet access first time. I then brought up the router's web page using http://192.168.0.1/ and did some more configuration:

1. Disabled the wireless network (as I'm not using it)
2. On the firewall: I enabled anti-spoof checking and set UDP Endpoint Filtering to Port and Address Restricted (to give a bit more protection than the default Address Restricted). Stateful packet inspection (SPI) was enabled by default
3. Set the clock to the correct time.
4. Flashed the firmware from 1.11EU to the current 1.20EU.
5. Enabled email notification to inform me whenever the log is full or there is a newer firmware version

Initially I didn't clone the MAC address of my PC's Ethernet Controller into the in the WAN port, but still got internet access. However, I've subsequently done this.

It's early days, but I have to say that it's looking good so far. Indeed, judging from the number of TCP connections blocked by the firewall, I'm well pleased to have this first line of defence.

Just to note something: if the router is switched off, then the router's time must be reset if you want accurate log times, otherwise the time will start from when the router was turned off. Oh, and a niggle: the router's blue lights are very bright, so I've turned it slightly sideways and away from my line of sight.

Incidentally, here are some wireless routers which I dismissed.

SMC SMCWGBR14-N Barricade N ProMax Draft 11n
Lacks heatsinks on either the Ubicom processor or Realtek switch or even a thermal pad

Linksys WRT350N wireless router with Storage Link
Poor reported performance of the USB port for connecting storage devices

Apple AirPort Extreme
No firewall

Netgear WNR854T RangeMax Next Wireless-N Router Gigabit Edition
Awful user reviews

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

I bought the same D-Link DIR-655 and it's working great. I get a good strong wireless signal all over my house and we've got it connected to 1 laptop, 1 netbook 1 mini mac, 1 macbook and a Nintendo Wii. I bought it because it's got very good reviews all over the internet.

Re: Updating our Router Recommendations Article
 

Looking to replace an old WRT54GS. Still looking for Linksys, but something just for a cheeky upgrade. I dont need N support. Just wondering if I could get some model number recomendations.