Wireless Model & Router

Upgrade our computer(s). This will be our first go with more one computer in the house.

Have provider modem, from five years ago (westell) and router from four years ago.

Would like recommendations on, replacement, combined modem & router. Best Buy guy is recommending NetGear N300.

Thoughts?

Sounds like you have a DSL service (as do I, at the moment).

Let me first suggest something: do you really need to replace the modem/router? A new one probably won't be any "Faster" as you are likely throttled by your ISP (ATT? Verizon? Joe's Telecom?).

If you have a working modem and router, just buy your new computer, plug in, (or configure wireless to match the router's security settings) and probably you are good to go. It doesn't sound like you have any exotic needs like superfast gaming, gigabit media distribution, or any of that.

If for some reason you do need to replace your modem & router, I actually recommend against getting a combo. I've had lots of friends experience annoyances with them. I actually purposefully maintain them as separate so that:
1. I find it easier to troubleshoot the rare problem when they are separate, because it's easier (at least for me) to tell if the problem is with internet connectivity or a router hiccup.
2. I toy with going back to a cable modem instead of DSL; while most combo devices allow you to turn off the DSL modem piece, they still are really optimized for DSL.
3. At this point, I never recommend anyone buy anything other than a gigabit router, and it's cheaper to buy a separate gigabit router than buy a combo device that can handle gigabit speeds. Essentially, routers have reached the limit of what is needed and the router you buy today should last you 5+ years. My router is 2 years old, and there's nothing on the horizon that suggests it will reach obsolescence within the next decade. Lightning will probably zap it first. Media streaming (over the internet and within the home) is the new TV, and it's a lot better to do it over a gigabit network than over 100baseT, as you have bandwidth to spare then.

That all said, I run an ActionTec G701D DSL modem and a Netgear Gigabit N+ router and have had no serious issues with either. The router is a little slow to reboot (takes about 2 minutes to finish the whole connectivity cycle), but this only matters if you are troubleshooting some weird issue.

Good luck!

MArc

You'll like it...especially if you have laptops.

Once you go wireless, it's real difficult to chain yourself to a desk.

Anyway, I've used DLink products with no problems.

Also, I agree with Marc_G, don't use a combo device...you probably don't need a new modem unless the old one is busted.

FC

Thanks.

Am moving to a modem/router combo, because am paying $5 a month for Centurytel 5+ year old one. So investing in a modem/router will pay for itself in 20 months.

Do have DSL.


Any experience with NetGear. Previous router has been Linksys (also bought from Best Buy) and haven't had a single problem with it. Which makes me leans towards Linksys again.

Best Buy employee just recommends NetGear - which just happens to be the majority of their stock nowadays.

Linksys used to be the Yugo of network equipment, then Cisco bought the company, and infused the product line with their quality controls.

My only caveat is that Cisco still has not modified the stock username/password combination for administration. Change them immediately!

G.D.

I like the Linksys WRT54GL. They are inexpensive and can run DD-WRT firmware. There are more capable wireless routers but this model is proven and is reliable - and they can run Linux (that's what the L suffix indicates). Note the G and GL versions are NOT the same router.

I use one with the WiFi radio turned off to set up a VPN tunnel to work for my home network and another for my wireless LAN. They make good wireless bridges for equipment that may not have WiFi built in (eg printers, home theater PCs etc). It's a great general purpose wireless networking device.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190
https://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index

Note that the WRT54GL has won NewEgg's customer choice award 45 times, and is rated 5 stars with 3000+ reviews. I challenge anyone to find another router with those ratings.

FastCargo said:

You'll like it...especially if you have laptops.

Click to expand...

I agree and disagree.

I have noticed that a wireless download to a laptop is significantly slower than on a hardwired connection to a desktop. I have been told by some folks that wireless is 10x slower. Is this true? (is wireless really that much slower?)

And at least for me, I end up with the laptop plugged into the wall anyway for power (to keep my old batteries limping a little longer....on the laptop), so if I used the machine at a "work station" in the house where I also plugged into the net it really wouldn't make that much difference.

OTOH, it's really nice not to have to run a 50 foot wire through the house to run a hardwire net connection from our modem to wherever we are sitting with the laptop. At least until the battery runs low, it is very nice to be wireless.

I have an older Linksys WRT54GS that runs on an abandoned version of HyperWRT. I hear Tomato is the way to go but I'll probably just replace the whole thing eventually.

Look for something with at least one preferrably two USB ports so you can attach an external hard drive and/or a printer.

Although I ran an IT cabling crew professionally, I no longer recommend going copper in the home. Wireless is the way to go unless you've got your PC's in the same room. I have one copper connected PC and two Wi-Fi connected laptops. Also a network connected BluRay, a Wii, two smart phones, and a Kindle so make sure whatever router you get can handle all the connections. Most routers only support 4 hardwired connections so Wi-Fi is a must.

Marc_G said:

(snip).....you are likely throttled by your ISP

Click to expand...

Seems like no matter what ISP I use (we have tried 3-4 of them now) and no matter what sort of big claims they make, our home internet speed continues to draw a large vacuum.

Why is that?

powderburner said:

I agree and disagree.

I have noticed that a wireless download to a laptop is significantly slower than on a hardwired connection to a desktop. I have been told by some folks that wireless is 10x slower. Is this true? (is wireless really that much slower?)

Click to expand...

Yes, wireless is generally slower. 802.11b is around 10Mbps, 802.11g is around 54Mbps and 802.11n is 600Mbps if you are lucky. Compare that with a wired, switched 1000BaseT network which is 1000Mbps full duplex. Note too that all of the WiFi devices will be competing for the same bandwidth and are half duplex. That's not necessarily true with a switched network as each connection will have a direct path to the devices on each end and both devices can send and receive data simultaneously. You can stream 1080p video over wireless but you may get glitches periodically.

Wireless is great but for more demanding network intensive applications, wired connections are better.

DSL will only get you a certain speed.
If you are on a cable network & don't get the speeds they advertise then, complain until they fix it!

Everyone in my neighborhood seems to have cable internet and could only get 1-2 mbps as opposed to advertised 15 down.
They came out and tested the line at the modem and confirmed it. They replaced the modem with the newest one they had. It made a world of difference; I went from 3mbps to 15-18 mbps down with the capped 2mbps up.


JD

powderburner said:

Seems like no matter what ISP I use (we have tried 3-4 of them now) and no matter what sort of big claims they make, our home internet speed continues to draw a large vacuum.

Why is that?

Click to expand...

I have a Netgear RANGEMAX Wireles N 150 router

Works great!

powderburner said:

I agree and disagree.

I have noticed that a wireless download to a laptop is significantly slower than on a hardwired connection to a desktop. I have been told by some folks that wireless is 10x slower. Is this true? (is wireless really that much slower?)

And at least for me, I end up with the laptop plugged into the wall anyway for power (to keep my old batteries limping a little longer....on the laptop), so if I used the machine at a "work station" in the house where I also plugged into the net it really wouldn't make that much difference.

OTOH, it's really nice not to have to run a 50 foot wire through the house to run a hardwire net connection from our modem to wherever we are sitting with the laptop. At least until the battery runs low, it is very nice to be wireless.

Click to expand...

Unless you have incredible internet service, wireless should give you just as quick of download speeds as wired. The difference certainly shouldn't be 10x. Fairly typical wireless and wired speeds are 54Mbps for wireless (802.11g) and 100Mbps for wired. More modern equipment brings that up to 300Mbps for wireless and 1000Mbps for wired. However, most internet connections are 25Mbps or less, so in most cases, your internet connection will be the limiting factor, and download speeds should be the same in both cases (unless you really do have >54 Mbps internet and you don't have 802.11n wireless).

Oh, and unless there's some burning desire to go with an 802.11n router (which really isn't necessary right now), I'll second the recommendation for a Linksys WRT54GL. It's just about the best router in existence - rock solid, and extremely reliable.

I have been through a multitude of routers. Being young and in the years of roomates where it wasnt uncommon to have people on xbox live, 3 pc's on wow or cod, and laptops running pandora... I had a pretty serious nerd den when i lived in phoenix. we had a netgear and a linksys wireless but got serious lag. Switched to the 4500 over a year ago and i love it. I have my printer and a storage drive connected to it so anyone on the network can quickly access shared files and printing.

Another vote for the WRT54G or GL here, ours has been going strong for years.

As good as DD-WRT and any other custom firmware for it is, I would NOT recommend using them unless you really want/need the extra features they offer and know *exactly* what you're doing. Installing custom firmware on them is far from a user friendly experience, IMO.

Cheers,
Phil

cjl said:

Unless you have incredible internet service, wireless should give you just as quick of download speeds as wired. The difference certainly shouldn't be 10x. Fairly typical wireless and wired speeds are 54Mbps for wireless (802.11g) and 100Mbps for wired. More modern equipment brings that up to 300Mbps for wireless and 1000Mbps for wired. However, most internet connections are 25Mbps or less, so in most cases, your internet connection will be the limiting factor, and download speeds should be the same in both cases (unless you really do have >54 Mbps internet and you don't have 802.11n wireless).

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Exactly what I was thinking. We have wired and wireless, but unless you're running a home media server streaming HD video files to several devices (which I do), you're not going to realistically notice a difference.

Wired and wireless make a difference in transfer speeds of files within your LAN, but not your internet connection unless you A) have absolutely blazing fast internet or B) you get interference that drastically throttles your wireless connection.

FC

Funny. I called Linksys this morning to get their recommendations on the above, including Wireless-N.

Ended up getting somebody out-of-country (obvious because of 'tunnel' syndrome on phone, distance noise, and accent) AND they, literally, could not recommend one.

So, in effect, I called them and even they couldn't recommend one - or at least that individual. He just kept gaving me a series of modems to choose from; not a specific model based on my needs.

:eyeroll:

AKPilot said:

Funny. I called Linksys this morning to get their recommendations on the above, including Wireless-N.

Ended up getting somebody out-of-country (obvious because of 'tunnel' syndrome on phone, distance noise, and accent) AND they, literally, could not recommend one.

So, in effect, I called them and even they couldn't recommend one - or at least that individual. He just kept gaving me a series of modems to choose from; not a specific model based on my needs.

:eyeroll:

Click to expand...

That's because you spoke with a tech support guy, not a technical marketing guy. Most tech support types are poorly prepared to support spec-in type questions. They're trained on problems-causes-solutions, not features-functions-benefits. That said, I doubt Linksys has any technical marketing people to support end users. Most hi-tech companies have them, but they're focussed only on key customers. Hence, when it comes to decision making for regular users, about the best support you can get is from forums. I'd look around on some computer user groups and see what they recommend. While there are some very informed folks here, you'll probably get even better support on a forum more germane to the subject.

Doug

.

powderburner said:

I have noticed that a wireless download to a laptop is significantly slower than on a hardwired connection to a desktop. I have been told by some folks that wireless is 10x slower. Is this true? (is wireless really that much slower?)
.

Click to expand...

Ours is about half the speed in practice, and that's with the LT barely 6' from the modem.
It's still fast enough to stream video to the first floor, though.

spacecadet said:

Ours is about half the speed in practice, and that's with the LT barely 6' from the modem.
It's still fast enough to stream video to the first floor, though.

Click to expand...

The range is another thing to consider. While 802.11g is faster than the vast majority of internet services, its speed goes down with range - and even more so when the line of sight is obstructed. An 802.11n connection can be interesting for those who don't use their devices in the same room. It will also loose speed, but the distance at which it becomes the bottleneck is usually higher. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Reinhard

Our home modem looks like it is in its death throes. It is an old ATT '2wire' box that we have had for a couple years; I am told that's about it for the expectable lifetime of these things. It has been kicking my LT off increasingly over past weeks and now it won't even let my wife's school LT hook up (in wireless mode). Direct hard-wired connections still work but everyone here is now spoiled by wireless.

If this Linksys WRT54GL is such a great thing, where do I go to get one? Is that really what I want for home use? What is it going to cost me? Is it going to simultaneously support a LT (or two) and my son's gaming and an iphone (or two)? Lately we have had a lot of problems with one device causing another to 'choke'

If I go to BestBuy (or similar local store) what is a good modem they might have on the shelf? I really don't have the time to drive all the way across town to get to a Frys (30? miles away) but I can if I have to.....

powderburner said:

Our home modem looks like it is in its death throes. It is an old ATT '2wire' box that we have had for a couple years; I am told that's about it for the expectable lifetime of these things. It has been kicking my LT off increasingly over past weeks and now it won't even let my wife's school LT hook up (in wireless mode). Direct hard-wired connections still work but everyone here is now spoiled by wireless.

If this Linksys WRT54GL is such a great thing, where do I go to get one? Is that really what I want for home use? What is it going to cost me? Is it going to simultaneously support a LT (or two) and my son's gaming and an iphone (or two)? Lately we have had a lot of problems with one device causing another to 'choke'

If I go to BestBuy (or similar local store) what is a good modem they might have on the shelf? I really don't have the time to drive all the way across town to get to a Frys (30? miles away) but I can if I have to.....

Click to expand...

Not sure about Best Buy but Staples often has a lot of the Linksys stuff.

I just thought I'd jump into this thread - so far no one has mentioned Apple's Airport Plus. I use one and I really like it. It is solid and bulletproof, and the wizards are really easy to use for setup. My setup at home is a Dell desktop PC plugged directly into the Airport and an Apple Macbook laptop running off the Wifi (also have an iPod Touch and iPad using the same wifi signal). I had some issues a few years ago with a Linksys - it would go dead on my periodically. After a bit of research, I found out that that model (don't remember what it was now) would lock up if anyone tried to guess at the password and exceeded the login attempts - not only were they locked out, but so was I! Any time that happened, I'd have to reboot it and log back in. Again, I should point out that this was probably five years ago or more, and it was probably only that model which is likely long gone from the market.

powderburner said:

Our home modem looks like it is in its death throes. It is an old ATT '2wire' box that we have had for a couple years; I am told that's about it for the expectable lifetime of these things. It has been kicking my LT off increasingly over past weeks and now it won't even let my wife's school LT hook up (in wireless mode). Direct hard-wired connections still work but everyone here is now spoiled by wireless.

If this Linksys WRT54GL is such a great thing, where do I go to get one? Is that really what I want for home use? What is it going to cost me? Is it going to simultaneously support a LT (or two) and my son's gaming and an iphone (or two)? Lately we have had a lot of problems with one device causing another to 'choke'

If I go to BestBuy (or similar local store) what is a good modem they might have on the shelf? I really don't have the time to drive all the way across town to get to a Frys (30? miles away) but I can if I have to.....

Click to expand...

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...33124190&cm_re=wrt54gl-_-33-124-190-_-Product

$50.

If your ISP will provide you with a cable modem or dsl modem, then you can add your own broadband router. If the ISP charges you for the combination modem/router then you could save a little money by buying your own. If they will provide it for free then that is probably your best bet.

Since I went wireless a long time ago I've been through 3 different routers. First I had a DLink, then when it failed I bought a Linksys because I heard a lot about them, then when it failed I did a lot of research and picked another Linksys which had good ratings. I could not get it to connect to the internet in any way shape or fashion. After more research I picked a DLink model and traded the Linksys for it. The DLink went online as soon as I plugged it in. 2.5 years later and it is still running fine.

I have run my desktop computer wired and wireless. I've run a variety of laptops from 802.11b up through 802.11n and I cannot tell any difference in the actual internet access speed. On my older laptop now I just ran a speed test and I get about 16M download speed from my ISP. Now if I decide to transfer files from one machine to another I can tell a big difference depending on whether I'm wired or wireless, but I rarely do that.

We have about 7 WiFi connected devices in my house.

We are contemplating switching to FIOS in which case they provide a combination router/modem and I would stop using my router at home and use theirs.

And thanks, cjl, for that link----they were selling that modem for even a few bux less than what I could find it on Amazon. I ordered one earlier tonight

bjphoenix said:

If your ISP will provide you with a cable modem or dsl modem....

Click to expand...

Hey, we're signed up with ATT, they don't give you anything free. They want some $90 for another little 2-Wire POS box. We have used up two of them now (first one lasted about 2-3 yrs, second one about half that long) and I am not impressed with their equipment. We have a long house shape, and to get the 2-Wire wireless antenna pattern to cover the whole place I had to carefully select a spot in the middle of the house and stand the box facing 'just so'----then when my daughter comes home (it was in her room) and moves it out of her way (and dumps her stuff on top of it) we always had to start all over again with tweaking the %^#% thing. I am looking forward to trying something different.

OK, got my pkg on the doorstep tonight, opened the Linksys WRT54GL, uninstalled the broken 2-Wire box, plugged in the Linksys, and still no internet. Plus the house phone is now gone.

After much time on hold to Linksys, and a painful conversation with a cust service rep who doesn't speak recognizeable English, the story as I now understand it is this: the Linksys box is only a router and still has to have a modem to work.

So, what did I buy this Linksys box for? I mean, if I still have to buy another 2-Wire box to get a working modem, it already comes with the wireless stuff so why would I also need the Linksys? What am I missing here?

The linksys is a wireless router. You need to have a functional internet line already, and the Linksys will split that to your various computers, as well as provide a wireless network. It can also add some additional security and monitoring. However, you do still need an internet line coming in. Because of this, you will need a modem as well. Most modems don't include the ability to make a wireless network or some of the security features, which is why you would want the Linksys box as well.

Put the 2 wire modem into bridge mode (In essence you are turning off its wireless capabilities) and connect it to the router with the ethernet cord. Use the good router for sharing the connection (the 2 wire will be a dumb pass thru device to feed the signal to the router). If you have problems setting it up go the ATT forum at www.dslreports.com which is a great resource for anything internet related.

Please, for the love of all that is thrusty, change all the passwords.

I can drive through my neighborhood with my wife and her laptop, and connect to every third or fourth house by either clicking connect, typing "password" for the password, or using the default linksys password.

G.D.