Which Router?

[The_Gunslinger]

ok, i'm not exactly daft when it comes to this stuff, and can usually find the answers to things i dont know, which supplies me with enough information to make a choice for what would be best for my needs... but this time i'm stumped !

I'm on the 50meg connection, and just sorting out a pc rebuild and rearange of my whole install and setup.

When the 50meg was installed *cough* (still dont know why that visit was insisted on, and neither did the guys who came! although they enjoyed the easy job and free coffee!!) I did NOT go ahead and install the D-Link 615 that was supplied (infact it's still in the box it came in and not opened) as i had a fully working setup with a Linksys WRT54GST with high gain antennas and a range expander with a single wireless adapter for the PC at the other end of the house, plus i've never been a fan of bottom of the range "included" things!

Plugged into the router i also have a colour laser printer and an HP officejet AIO. and use the spare socket for connecting laptops when working on them as it's easier than messing with the wireless

Now the range and stability of the wireless G network from the linksys has always been a bit of a concern, so while i have everything else out i'm looking at my options. (mainly because i've been using it a lot on the spare pc while mine is off, and it's driving me up the wall with the number of drop outs)


I'd rather not use the 615 as i see various reports of poor signal strength, and i know the construction of the house is a major factor in why the current wireless router gives poor range (solid brick walls, upstairs room insulation with foil backing.... router is upstairs!) so can't see the 615 being any better, also it's a 2.4ghz model only, and i see no point in "upgrading" and not getting something that uses the 5.0ghz frequency range.

So, i'm looking at 5.0ghz models, or more specifically dual band 2.4 / 5.0 ...

Then we come to the wired connections, PC has Gigabit ethernet, Laser printer has Gigabit ethernet card, and the Officejet AIO has a couple of options, 10/100 Ethernet or wireless 802.11g/b

So, if i'm "upgrading" then i'm thinking might as well buy a router with gigabit LAN capabilities.


The signal strength and stability issues i am not 100% convinced will improve with a switch to Draft N and 5.0ghz, so i am considering a homeplug option, so need to be sure this is viable in terms of connections (obviously i could drop the HP AIO off the wired and add it wirlessly if needed.

So i'm looking at needing a gigabit capable router (4 LAN sockets seems common), with draft N 5.0ghz and backwards compatibility... which means 2.4ghz capable as well, which somewhat narrows down the field.

After wandering around looking at options, reviews etc etc, I came out with about 3 that faired well in reviews from reputable makers, a Netgear WNR3300, Netgear WNR3700 and a D-Link 855 (i'd rather not have another Linksys, the one i have was nothing but trouble until i flashed it with DD-WRT firmware !)

of those 3, the Netgear units appear to not support any form of port forwarding/port translation which seems a bit of an ommission ! but apparently, as confirmed on their forums, they dont enable that feature on their "home" based units, only the "business" targetted ones.

The use of Dual band at the moment seems mainly targetted at streaming stuff, and keeping it seperate from day to day internet use, well i dont stream stuff, so just want the best connection stability while maintaining a good throughput for file transfers etc

So that leaves me with the D-Link DIR-855 ..... of which i find ALL reviews fall into 2 distinct categories...... Excellent, or Total crap !! most review sites love it, while many real world user reports love it or hate it

Looking over the 2 companies forums, i see the same complaints time and time again regarding poor customer service, dodgy "tech" support that has no idea what it's donig blah blah blah.... which is not exactly encouraging !
Now i know that looking through forums will only really produce negative results, because happy customers tend not to go looking/posting in the support sections.


so guys, what do you use, is there any you think you'd recommend ?... or not as the case may be !

@moldova, if your reading this i'd be interested in your input, you always seem to give a balanced considered reply to many things

TIA


EDIT:
forgot to say, if i go for a homeplug solution, it is likely to be a couple of these... NETGEAR XAV101-100UKS POWERLINE ETHERNET ADAPTER

[Sephiroth]

Moldova won't be wanting your babies! How can he slag off the VM provided products?

Anyway, there's BUFFALO to look at - http://www.buffalotech.com/products/...wli-tx4-ag300n. When I upgrade my LAN shortly, that's what I'll be going for. Currently I use a Draytek 2910 but Draytek don't appear to offer dual band "n".

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Moldova won't be wanting your babies! How can he slag off the VM provided products?

.

I actually use an Edimax BR650N for my network.

I am not really into Networking so I would go with the Heavy Hitters for recommendations and possibly put a thread purely about what router to buy in the Networking section as people will know that you mean business.

[III]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=NW-112-LS

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by III

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=NW-112-LS

That's this one isn't it?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Links...ardband-Router

[III]

Indeed sir!
But the one you found is cheaper, which would make your find better

[The_Gunslinger]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

How can he slag off the VM provided products?

hehehe, free provided products can't really be slagged off, however, there are many reasons within a corporate decision in which to supply, cost of course factors heavily, but simplicity of use and reliability has got to be high on the list as well, get something the not so technically minded can use or something unstable, and you pay for it in increased support requests... so in the end it's a compromise, for many it is ok, for others that look closer there are better options.
(i'd have loved to be a fly on the wall for the meetings regarding switching from Netgear to D-Link)

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Anyway, there's BUFFALO to look at..

hmmmmm, seems i overlooked them somehow, i will take a look thank you.

Originally Posted by moldova

Draytek don't appear to offer dual band "n".

ok, glad i wasn't going blind there, i did look at their products, but didnt see anything

I would go with the Heavy Hitters for recommendations and possibly put a thread purely about what router to buy in the Networking section as people will know that you mean business.

Dam, i posted in the wrong section, sorry (maybe someone would be kind enough to move this for me if i ask nicely )


@ III and pip08456.... the WRT160NL-UK is not 5.0ghz compatible (802.11a i believe) and does not have Gigabit LAN ports.


.

Moved to 'Networking'

[The_Gunslinger]

Thank You Chris

[The_Gunslinger]

hmmm, the more i read, the more i am drifting back to the Netgear WNDR3700, seems a solid router even if it might be missing a couple of features in the firmware, and also some interesting deployment of QoS..... although that said there is the possibility of DD-WRT firmware for it in the future, which would be interesting, and might open up the missing options

If i was to go with this one, which USB adapter would you guys recommend (or have tried) it seems a few people are not so happy with the Netgear WNDA3100, or is that just a v1 issue ?

[MovedGoalPosts]

I can only offer reasons not to buy rather than recommendations to buy.

I have a version 1 Linksys WRT610N. It doesn't seem that stable and periodically has to be rebooted as the ethernet connection between computer and router dies. I've tried various versions of the linksys firmware and DD-WRT. Definitely the router that needs the reboot as rebooting the computer or modem has no effect. Having said that it's handled a wired network of some 12 gaming computers, plus wireless users, browsing, downloading, streaming, file sharing (who knows how many gigs of data were shifted), without problems over a recent weekend.

I'm also wary of Netgear. I have yet to succesfully get a VPN connection to work to my office whenever Netgear routers have been used, whether over ADSL or Cable. Even when the routers say VPN compatible, and everything appears enabled som part of the authentication process fails.

[The_Gunslinger]

I have pretty much discounted the Linksys unit based on my own (biased) past experience with the unit i currently have, which i'm not overly happy with even with the Hi-gain Antennas and Range expander... and with DD-WRT firmware installed (which made it a lot better)... but your comments are appreciated.

Netgear and VPN related stuff i have seen some mention of in the numerous posts i have been wading through on the netgear forums, and it appears that there are some "issues" regarding netgears compatibility, however, i dont think i saw a complete answer to the issue, and certainly no reply from the company or representatives regarding it... the only thing i seem to remember was the issue might have only been related to their "home" range rather than their "pro business" range (i forget now the exact names of each range)