Members Recomendations For Routers

[Stuartbe]

Hi Guys and Girls...

The all powerfull mod/admin blokes have given me a chalenge :D

They want a stick thread / guide for routers.

Can you all please post your recomendations for both ADSL and cable routers. I will then put up a vote and we can have two " recomended models " on the thread.

The remaning units will be listed to. If you can post a link to the specs for the router you are recomending that would be great...

Many Ta's

[bdav]

Netgear WGR614 (v4) - 4 port Lan, Wireless G, 1 port WAN router. Between £50-100

Setup - Might as well be plug and play. Plug PC in, go to router.config (something like that in IE), click auto setup, and its done.

Wireless Setup - Easy, if you use a HEX key as opposed to passphrase. Range about 50m indoors. Wireless users can be admitted automaticly, or only if their MAC address appears in your "green" list.

Performance - No qualms at all.

[Raistlin]

Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router

[Bifta]

Belkin F5D7632uk4 54Mbps ADSL Wireless Router

Setup - very easy, web based admin tool.
Wireless setup - again, very easy
Performance - below par, only 20 foot away from my machines yet loses connection constantly, loses ADSL connection (has done on every ISP I've used) at least 3-4 times a week.
__________________

DSL-W 906E Single-Port ADSL Router (not wireless)

Setup - easy if you're using the windows tool, fantastic if you use the console, you can configure just about everything from the command line.
Performance - Very reliable, suffered being dropped down 2 flights of stairs, still worked with the guts hanging out, never dropped the ADSL connection once in the year or so I used one, should have kept it instead of going with the Belkin above :(

[SMHarman]

Linksys WRT54G Wireless RouterMost definately
http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=33&scid=35&prid=601

Product Specs ftp://ftp.linksys.com/datasheet/wrt54gv2_ds.pdf

[punky]

Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router

Seems to perform pretty well, although sometimes the signal seems to be a bit inconsistant (could just be interference local to me). Quite a nice bit of kit though. Full functioned, although the control panel isn't as powerful as I would like. The MAC address filter is a bit primative. The encryption choices aren't too bad though. Overall, i'd give it an 8/10.

[nffc]

Belkin F5D7632uk4 54Mbps ADSL Wireless Router

Setup - very easy, web based admin tool.
Wireless setup - again, very easy
Performance - below par, only 20 foot away from my machines yet loses connection constantly, loses ADSL connection (has done on every ISP I've used) at least 3-4 times a week.

Yet I've rarely had to reset the cable version- only when I've been faffing around or I've periodically just wanted to reset the IPs and blah.

As for the losing connection... it really depends on where your PCs are in relation to walls, metal objects etc etc, you probably know that too. I found the signal was better if I got an antenna on a cable for my PC and moved it away from all the "spaghetti" at the back.

Agree with the setup stuff though, there's a very good easy install thing which picks up the settings from your PC and copies them over to the router, it's good as an initial setup but as with all models the security isn't by default turned on. That's easy to set up too though.

[zoombini]

Linksys BSFR42 wired 4 port router for Cable.

Why not reccomend a wired version & a wireless one too.
That way you cover both sides of the fence.

[Ramrod]

Netgear WGR614 (v4) - 4 port Lan, Wireless G, 1 port WAN router. Between £50-100

Setup - Might as well be plug and play. Plug PC in, go to router.config (something like that in IE), click auto setup, and its done.

Wireless Setup - Easy, if you use a HEX key as opposed to passphrase. Range about 50m indoors. Wireless users can be admitted automaticly, or only if their MAC address appears in your "green" list.

Performance - No qualms at all.I'll second that! :tu: :)

[Bifta]

Yet I've rarely had to reset the cable version- only when I've been faffing around or I've periodically just wanted to reset the IPs and blah.

As for the losing connection... it really depends on where your PCs are in relation to walls, metal objects etc etc, you probably know that too. I found the signal was better if I got an antenna on a cable for my PC and moved it away from all the "spaghetti" at the back.

Agree with the setup stuff though, there's a very good easy install thing which picks up the settings from your PC and copies them over to the router, it's good as an initial setup but as with all models the security isn't by default turned on. That's easy to set up too though.

I have an external Belkin Antenna (on a cable), it sits at the top of the stairs, the router sits at the bottom, no walls in the way. I might try the new Pre-n router, see if that's any better

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2005/06/33.gif

[TheBlueRaja]

Linksys WAG54G Wireless Router

I have that router and its poor - really poor. You have to muck around for ages to find a firmware version that works and disable a lot of features or it gets too hot and stroppy dropping you out. (uPnP for example)

Single or Multiple Port Forwarding is screwed on most F/W versions, the wireless keeps dropping out, it reboots the ADSL connection or the box upon changing settings and the distance you can move around it poor (i cant even goto my front room without signal issues and i live in a 1 bed flat.)

NOT recommended.

I *believe* the V2 boxes are a bit better - but - i wouldnt recommend it after the issues i have had with my v1.2.

Goto www.linksysinfo.com for more information on the WAG54G.

[zovat]

as per punky (and others)

Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router

I have one, it's plug and play - works great with both a centrino laptop and netgear/belkin pcmcia cards..

other than that Belkin are pretty reliable these days.

[nffc]

Yet I've rarely had to reset the cable version- only when I've been faffing around or I've periodically just wanted to reset the IPs and blah.

As for the losing connection... it really depends on where your PCs are in relation to walls, metal objects etc etc, you probably know that too. I found the signal was better if I got an antenna on a cable for my PC and moved it away from all the "spaghetti" at the back.

Agree with the setup stuff though, there's a very good easy install thing which picks up the settings from your PC and copies them over to the router, it's good as an initial setup but as with all models the security isn't by default turned on. That's easy to set up too though.

I have an external Belkin Antenna (on a cable), it sits at the top of the stairs, the router sits at the bottom, no walls in the way. I might try the new Pre-n router, see if that's any better

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2005/06/33.gif
Bizarre. Try siting the router as high as you can, does that help?

[Bifta]

Bizarre. Try siting the router as high as you can, does that help?

It's as high as it'll go without me nailing it to the wall, which would defeat the object of having a wireless router as you'd see the power and phone cables. My laptop does the same in the living room (drops connections) and that's at the same level.

[Aragorn]

If you're on a budget (£38 on Novatech) and don't need 54G wireless, I use the BEFW11S4 (http://www.linksys.com/international/product.asp?coid=6&ipid=480)

Plug and play, like the rest, does everything I need and hasn't let me down in 18 months.

[Stuart]

I just got a Linksys WRT54G router the other day. It's replacing the D-Link DI-624+ I had. It seems a much better router.

Note: I realise the Linksys isn't that much of an upgrade (although the D-link didn't appear to support limiting access by MAC, and the security on the Linksys is more configurable. The reason I replaced the d-link, however, is that the wireless connection was becoming increasingly unstable (not helped by the fact that one of my neighbours has an unsecured Netgear wireless network that always seemed to be operating on the same channel - whatever I set the d-link to), and the router itself started rebooting fairly frequently, and I lost the settings a few times.

Also, I have now had two d-link pcmcia network cards just die on me, and am currently on my third.

In short, I am not too impressed with d-link anymore..

[Raistlin]

Stuart,

Neil's still begging. ;)

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=30461

Did you get anywhere with this?

I've sent him a PM to let him know about this thread. :)

Raist.

[Chris W]

I've picked this up and the article is in progress...

should be finished by tonight :)

[Raistlin]

So Stuart's not doing it now then?

[Chris W]

So Stuart's not doing it now then?

:shrug:

Neil bumped the thread earlier and I PM'd him with an offer which he is accepted.... so i presume not...

[Raistlin]

Cool. Looks like we've got two people doing work on the same thing then.

[MovedGoalPosts]

Wired routers: D-Link's DI604 (I think discontinued now) had some incompatibilyt issues with some ntl Pace STBs. I had the DI804V for 2 years and it seemed fine, except occasionally threw a fit when doing a bit of P2P, albeit that might too have been the Pace STB combination as things got a lot more reliable with a replacement Samsung.

I've upgraded to wireless: Linksys WRT54GS. That has been rock solid for the last 3 months with connections wired to a desktop, as well as wireless to a lappy via WPC54GS PCMIA card, and wireless to a WET11 bridge upstairs.
__________________

Ultimately the recommendation for wireless routers speed must depend on the users network configuration. Since wireless is faster even at it's low 11mbps maximum speed than the current maximum ADSL, let alone cable, the cheaper 801.11b standard wireless is adequate, unless there is likely to be bit of file sharing or other internal data traffic on the network when the 11g standard of up to 54mbps may be better. However am I also correct in thinking the 11g standard has a better range, so might be more suitable where there are reception issues?

[bayonet]

Unlike scastle above I've got the same router (D-Link DI-624+) and it seems ok so far (crosses fingers behind back) had the same issue with a neighbour's actiontec but now seems ok. Using inexq usb dongle and using the inexq driver always had issues with it dropping out, since using the windows setup seems ok and running ok at 54g

[SMHarman]

Wired Linksys BEFSR81

Built-in switch connects eight local PCs directly, and daisy-chain out to more hubs and switches as your network grows
Supports QOS, DHCP, Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP), and includes a user-friendly Setup Wizard for easy configuration

Used with BEFCMU10
Fantastic.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Another vote for the Linksys WRT54G