NICO Geek Squad, I need helping choosing a wireless router.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

As the title implies, I'm in the market to replace my old Microsoft Wireless Router, it still works, but it's outdated and a PITA to use it's WEP keys instead of a simple password to connect other devices in the house to the networked. I've been looking at the Cisco Linksys WRT610N but it to is starting to get outdated and it's a bit pricey. Here is basically what I need:

WiFi support - I have 2 3g phones, 2 Ipod touches, my laptop, and a wii in the house that need to be able to connect wirelessly and use WiFi.

Ease of use- I'm not a network guru, while I can work my way around most pc's and networks, I have no idea how to set up a router to use it effectively and securely.

Security- I have some ghetto neighbors who like to link on to my network and suck up my bandwidth, WEP is effective, but it's outdated and a PITA to use, so I need something that has the most up to date network security and firewall standards that is easy to use, allow me to enter a simple password onto my devices instead of a 24 character key.

I need N+ technology because of all the devices i have connected wirelessly on top of I play a lot of games online and download and stream a lot of stuff, plus i have Netflix, and want to view my Netflix in HD.

I do have a budget, but as long as it's not over $150 I guess I can live with that, though < $100 would be nice.

I've been looking around, and it seems that everything on the market has mixed reviews, so what should I go for.

[AppleBonker]

Do any of your devices have wireless N cards? I know the iphones and itouches do not, and neither does the wii (pretty sure on that). If your laptop doesn't have N capability, you wont see any benefit from it (aside from a bit of future-proofing). You'll want to make sure the router is WPA2 capable as WEP is not effective and can be fairly easily cracked. I wouldn't recommend using it.

Also, If you do in fact need wireless N, I believe most routers are not simultaneous dual-band, so you cannot use both N and G at the same time (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). If you do need all of the above, I would highly recommend the Netgear WNDR3700. It appears to be on sale from newegg for just under that $150 mark with free shipping. I currently run this and it performs flawlessly. It features gigabit wired connections, and simultaneous use of G and N bands. Additionally, it allows you to setup guest networks. This helps if you have friends over who want internet access, but you don't want to give them access to any file/printer shares on your network. I currently have 4 networks in my house (two each for N and G bands). They all have different passwords. But now, when guest jump on my network I don't have to worry about them browsing my shares, nor do I have to change my password after when I want to open the wireless network back up to my network shares. I think it was pretty easy to setup, but I've been tinkering with router setup for about the last 10 years.

No matter what you go with, I'm sure we can help you configure it if you run into trouble.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Thanks, me and the gf both have android phones, and I don't know what the wii has in it, but I have a fairly new laptop with built in wifi and bluetooth capabilities. The main reason i want an N+ router is for the HD streaming video capability and for lag free gaming on the 360. I would also like dual band gigabit technology because I live in a NE Philly rowhome and to be honest wireless frequencies have a difficult time penetrating the walls of these houses, so signal is super weak outside of the room that the router is in. I like the WRT610N because it supposedly uses radio frequencies to amplify the signal so that no matter where in the house you are you will have a lag free network connection. Also the 360 is the only device that is physically wired into my router, everything else runs off of a wireless signal.

[AppleBonker]

Wireless has no effect on wired connections. So your gaming on the 360 which is wired wont be affected by wireless N. Also, I'm not sure how necessary N is for streaming video from Netflix. That may be more of a marketing gimmick. Gigabit is also referring to wired connections. The 360 does not have a gigabit ethernet port (again, not entirely sure on this), so gigabit isn't going to benefit you at all, with the exception of maybe future-proofing. My parents have the WRT610N and I think my netgear has better range. Both are simple enough to configure. But after using my parents for a while, I went with the netgear because it's simply a better unit.

[szh]

I use a D-Link DIR-655 and am very satisfied with it.

This is an older (but not too old) model, does not do simultaneous 2.4/5.0GHz bands, but works very well for most home uses. Can be found on sale for around $100 - sometimes a bit higher, sometimes a bit lower. Their newer model DIR-685 does both bands simultaneously, I believe, but I have no experience with it.

I have used this router with a PC, two Dell laptops, a Lenovo laptop, an HP laptop, two Mac's, iPod Touch, iPhone, and an iPad ... pretty much without any difficulty. I don't broadcast the network, so always enter the Ethernet MAC ID into the router manually.

It also has software for adding a disk drive to the USB port on it for use as a wireless disk server. The PC's all found it (after I installed drivers on them), but, for some reason, the Mac's did not (although I installed the latest drivers on them too). No idea why yet on that ... have not bothered to follow up basically.

Finally, on my son's desktop PC, which is not near an Ethernet jack in my house, I installed a D-Link PCI wireless card (a DIR-662 as I recall) and it uses a proprietary protocol to communicate with the DIR-565 wireless router at 300Mbits/sec (about 40 feet away). Cool!

Z

[RCA]

In terms of features, many routers have the same standard stuff.

Just look for N draft wireless speeds, gigabit ethernet and range. From there, just go out and read as many reviews as possible. A good user interface makes the WORLD of a difference so make sure it is user friendly (reviews). I have a powerful router (hardware) with a lot of features, but the UI is absolutely horrendous. Make sure it is user friendly and make sure the company has made updates.

Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH

[PoorManQ45]

Pretty much anything from Linksys is something I'd recommend.

Get the cheapest one available as you won't need advanced features.

Netgear seems alright too.

The more expensive D-Link equipment can be awesome too, but have alot of features you won't ever use.

[EvillE423]

Check this one out, D-Link DIR-655:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=2668

I was going to buy it a while back, but didn't want to wait on it to get here, so I went to Wal-Mart and bought a Linksys. It looks to have everything you asked for, including: 64 & 128-bit WEP, WPA, &WPA2 security, dual active firewalls, gigabit if you have gigabit devices, & backwards compatible with G&B devices. Transfer rates up to 300 Mbps too. The Linksys I bought you can get up to 300 Mbps and it's like night and day downloading movies and online gaming. It has really good reviews too 4/5 across the board.

[AppleBonker]

Transfer rates up to 300 Mbps too. The Linksys I bought you can get up to 300 Mbps and it's like night and day downloading movies and online gaming

Compared to what? Even the 802.11g standard should be able to keep up with your internet connection, assuming that is your result from speedtest.net in your sig. In fact, there aren't too many ISPs that can actually saturate the 802.11g spec pipeline anyway. The main benefit to N is in file transfers from computer to computer. Like I said before, N is a marketing gimmick which people are clearly lapping up.

[flohtingPoint]

I'd hate to say "Pick any current one, it doesn't matter," but pick any current one, it doesn't matter. These days, they're pretty much all the same.

[PoorManQ45]

^^^ Exactly!

Unless you want to throw Linux on this thing it doesn't matter too much.

I recommend Linksys simply because they have the best Linux support...

[audtatious]

Dunno about that. My Linksys G craps out when running torrent downloads....granted, it works fine for the PC doing the download but others connected via wireless or directly stop functioning (even ones only using 20% bandwidth) until I close the program.

[flohtingPoint]

Dunno about that. My Linksys G craps out when running torrent downloads....granted, it works fine for the PC doing the download but others connected via wireless or directly stop functioning (even ones only using 20% bandwidth) until I close the program.

"Any current one" doesn't include that. A G router is relatively archaic.

[raremotive]

Go Belkin. They offer lifetime warranty. I had mine replaced with near models as they replaced mine twice in the past 6 years. I am now operating on N now where as I started on g.

[EvillE423]

Transfer rates up to 300 Mbps too. The Linksys I bought you can get up to 300 Mbps and it's like night and day downloading movies and online gaming

Compared to what? Even the 802.11g standard should be able to keep up with your internet connection, assuming that is your result from speedtest.net in your sig. In fact, there aren't too many ISPs that can actually saturate the 802.11g spec pipeline anyway. The main benefit to N is in file transfers from computer to computer. Like I said before, N is a marketing gimmick which people are clearly lapping up.

Compared to my old Netgear G. That is the result from my home test, it's not great, but it's a HUGE step up from what I used to get. I just have a basic 1 Mbps cable connection. You can upgrade it to 8, 16, or 25 Mbps, but never have. COD online was laggy and choppy as hell, torrent downloads took hours and days. With my Linksys-N router I get 300 Mbps speed, with my old G, 54 Mbps. I can download an 800 mb movie in about an hour, before it took 10-12 hours sometimes. I downloaded COD MW 2 in 13h and its 11GB. I play it online now with no problems what-so-ever. It would have taken days to download that with my old router. I don't think that it's a marketing gimmick at all or I wouldn't have experienced such a drastic change.

[AppleBonker]

Maybe your old router was just busted. Fact is, an 8 Mbps internet connection will not be faster on either the 300 Mbps router or the 54 Mbps router. Unless one or the other is broken. The bottleneck is at the internet connection, not the router. A functioning wireless G router would be more than sufficient for your use. That was my only point.

[audtatious]

Dunno about that. My Linksys G craps out when running torrent downloads....granted, it works fine for the PC doing the download but others connected via wireless or directly stop functioning (even ones only using 20% bandwidth) until I close the program.

"Any current one" doesn't include that. A G router is relatively archaic.

G router does fine if you are just surfing the internet. I only have a 40Mb service.

[PoorManQ45]

G router does fine if you are just surfing the internet. I only have a 40Mb service.

Check out this page to see if your router is compatible. http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database

I had an issue with my LinkSys WRT54G when torrenting. What happened is that the NAT table was constantly at its limit. The refresh rate is a little too slow and the max connections is 512.

I flashed DDWRT sp24 mini to it and set the max connections to 2048. Fixed every single issue I ever had. There are a plethora of other options that you may be interested in, but it works right out of the gate if that's what you want...

[MinisterofDOOM]

Dunno about that. My Linksys G craps out when running torrent downloads....granted, it works fine for the PC doing the download but others connected via wireless or directly stop functioning (even ones only using 20% bandwidth) until I close the program.

"Any current one" doesn't include that. A G router is relatively archaic.

You can walk into pretty much any store and pick up a WRT54G right now. Easily one of the most commonly stocked routers in my experience. I'd say that qualifies as "current." And they have horrible lifespans.

Like others have said, N is really unnecessary much of the time. Unless you're doing large file transfers within the same wireless network, you're not going to see any real performance benefits over G. Which is why, despite being older, G hasn't gone away.

[PoorManQ45]

You can walk into pretty much any store and pick up a WRT54G right now. Easily one of the most commonly stocked routers in my experience. I'd say that qualifies as "current." And they have horrible lifespans.

Wait, what?

The WRT54G is the Blue and Black Linkysys with external antennas. I haven't seen one on the shelf in awhile.

What you see now is the WRT54G2 which is the all black "saucer" with internal antennas. They are everywhere, but not as good.

[flohtingPoint]

"Any current one" doesn't include that. A G router is relatively archaic.

You can walk into pretty much any store and pick up a WRT54G right now. Easily one of the most commonly stocked routers in my experience. I'd say that qualifies as "current." And they have horrible lifespans.

Like others have said, N is really unnecessary much of the time. Unless you're doing large file transfers within the same wireless network, you're not going to see any real performance benefits over G. Which is why, despite being older, G hasn't gone away.

I can pick up my Grandma from the old folks home, doesn't mean she's current.

But seriously, there are plenty of old as balls things sold these days. Video games have a whole 15-20 dollar rack devoted to them. CDW-G sells severely dated garbage to the Department of Defense on a daily basis. Guitar center still sells Digitech floorboards, those things sucked when they were new back in the late 90's.

[szh]

Check this one out, D-Link DIR-655:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=2668

Actually, this is the one I have ... I typo'ed my original post here, so went back and edited it to show the correct model number.

I like this unit a lot and price at TigerDirect (your link above) is darn good!

Z

[szh]

Compared to what? Even the 802.11g standard should be able to keep up with your internet connection, assuming that is your result from speedtest.net in your sig. In fact, there aren't too many ISPs that can actually saturate the 802.11g spec pipeline anyway. The main benefit to N is in file transfers from computer to computer. Like I said before, N is a marketing gimmick which people are clearly lapping up.

Yes, agreed, but it helps with internal server accesses - both at home and at work for me. In fact, the 300Mbits/sec that a Dlink DIR-655 can achieve with the DIR-662 PCI card in my son's computer makes a world of a difference when loading files from the backup servers, movies, etc. At work, I only see 54 Mbit/sec speeds (using N routers and laptops) when in conference rooms, and again, it helps with local server accesses.

Clearly with Internet access, the limiting speed there is the ISP you have at home. My home ISP is slow (DSL line), but work is fast ... see below:



Z

[AppleBonker]

Z, I agree 100%. But Chaotic doesn't seem concerned with file transfers across a home network. The need for the increased speed is limited when you only have one computer (which may or may not have an N card) and a bunch of android phones/idevices/game consoles. To be honest, I don't even have much of a need for wireless N as only my laptop is capable, and I don't transfer large files to/from it with my other computers on the network. Large file transfers for me occur between my desktop and HTPC which are both gigabit and wired. In a minute I'll have Windows 7 reinstalled on my laptop and I'll run speedtest.net on it using both G and N wireless to verify that there is no difference when connecting to the web for those who still might doubt it.

Also, I'm guessing most people (ok, maybe not those offering advice) need to realize that there is a difference between Mb (megabit) and MB (megabyte). Don't confuse the two when talking transfer speeds as they are very different (google it, I'm too lazy to explain).

Edit: my comments about 802.11N are based on the advertisements I see claiming that it is better for HD video streaming. This may be true, but it's referencing device-to-device streaming, not web content. The only time this may come into play is if you have a home internet connection that is truly capable of maintaining roughly 50 Mb/s download speeds, which I would guess VERY few have (if anyone).

[szh]

We are on the same page.

Z

[AppleBonker]

Ok, just for reference I did what I claimed I would. I ran speedtest back-to-back-to-back testing the difference in wired (gigabit) and wireless N and G. There was minimal differences. I'm sure if I tested each connection multiple times and averaged it they would be even closer. I'm calling it a wash. Here are my results:

Gigabit:


Wireless N:


Wireless G:

[RCA]

From my experience N Draft has a much longer range than G

[C-Kwik]

I use a Netgear FVG318. Its designed with business use in mind but I decided on it because it has an 8-port router. Its harder to set-up but works just as well once set-up.

As for needing wireless N, there is no need for the purpose of connecting to the internet. It might be worth considering if you transfer between devices within the home. Especially with larger files. Even then, I just hijack one of the connections on my router if I need to transfer any large files to/from my network drive.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Thanks everyone for all the the input keep it going...

I understand that a G band router will work just as well as an N or N+ router, but my big concern is how well the wireless side of a G band will work in the house I live in, as I said in a previous post cell phone signals and radio signals get lost in Philly row homes because of the way they are constructed, so the wireless signal from my current router (Microsoft MN500) lose severe strength and drop out completely in the <20 feet that separates the back bedroom from the front bedroom where the router is, and I've had this router for years and was able to get wireless connectivity with it from much greater distances in the other places I've lived.

[AppleBonker]

Does your laptop have a Wireless N card?