We got a computer braintrust here? What's a good 'N' router these days? Thanks.

eggtimer rocketry
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I recently bought the Lynksys E1500, factory refurb from Amazon, for $29.99, to install in my Dad's house. I was pleased with it, though the fact that I disagreed with some of its default settings and had to change them was a bit annoying. Basically, it had QoS turned on which can throttle bandwidth for some applications to preserve it for others. It caused routine browsing to be slow until I unticked that box in the setup configuration.

These days, basically any router you buy as a consumer will do the basic stuff just fine. One thing I tell people is that if they plan to do any video stuff via their PCs, it is worth it to invest in a router that has gigabit wired capabilities as well as the N wireless. These are ~10x faster when using cables. I move a lot of video around my house and being able to move a ~20 gigabyte movie file from one computer in 6 minutes instead of an hour is a big deal.

Also, if the plan is to stream video as in from Netflix, Vudu, or some other service, plan for a wired configuration to the TV or streaming box if at all possible. Wireless may work but it may give stalls or dropouts in video streaming. As resolution of the content increases, it gets harder and harder for wireless to keep up adequately.

Personally, in my home I have a Belkin N+ gigabit router circa 2009. It's worked fine.

Marc
 
Marc_G said:
Also, if the plan is to stream video as in from Netflix, Vudu, or some other service, plan for a wired configuration to the TV or streaming box if at all possible. Wireless may work but it may give stalls or dropouts in video streaming. As resolution of the content increases, it gets harder and harder for wireless to keep up adequately.

Personally, in my home I have a Belkin N+ gigabit router circa 2009. It's worked fine.

Marc
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HD Netflix data speed tops out at around 5 mbs which is well within the bandwidth of wireless networks. Sometimes the wireless adapters built-in to the receiving devices or bought (USB plug-ins) are not the best.

In my home I have a Linksys E1000 in the basement as the main router. For the TV, I bought an ASUS RT-12N (about $30) and flashed it with DD-WRT open source router firmware and configured it as a Client-Bridge which runs a wire connection from the bridge to the TV.

If you have a high geek quotient choose a router that is compatible with DD_WRT or Tomato (can check on their websites). Then you can install the much more powerful firmware and tune things such as output power and other settings to optimize your performance.
 
I've always bought and recommended linksys stuff until a coworker bought one of the cheaper linksys models and it just wouldn't get an ip address from the isp. it was some sort of bug in the dhcp client. he replaced it with a much cheaper tp-link unit which worked perfectly. I've also bought a couple of tp-link's tiny portable routers for when we go on vacation and they have worked really well.

check out tp-link stuff. very impressive for the price and a lot will run dd-wrt, but I'm guessing that isn't of interest to you.
 
I don't know what the deal is with the wiring in my house or the quality of products being sold today but after going through several Belkin, Linksys and Netgear models I broke down and bought an Apple and it's still running three (maybe four?) years after I bought it!
 
majordude said:
I don't know what the deal is with the wiring in my house or the quality of products being sold today but after going through several Belkin, Linksys and Netgear models I broke down and bought an Apple and it's still running three (maybe four?) years after I bought it!
Click to expand...

I find that anything Walmart level is going to suck. Go pro-Sumer grade (think small office), learn a little bit about networking, and you will be very happy. I have a pro-Sumer wireless router that, while being slightly less user friendly, actually tells you what's happening, lets you change everything, and is presented in a nice, neat, easy to read manner. It also talks over ssh and such, so I don't need a web browser to mess with it. Web interfaces for routers are yech.

That being said, I work at a networking laboratory, so I'm not the average user of networking supplies.
 
awseiger said:
I find that anything Walmart level is going to suck. Go pro-Sumer grade (think small office), learn a little bit about networking, and you will be very happy. I have a pro-Sumer wireless router that, while being slightly less user friendly, actually tells you what's happening, lets you change everything, and is presented in a nice, neat, easy to read manner. It also talks over ssh and such, so I don't need a web browser to mess with it. Web interfaces for routers are yech.

That being said, I work at a networking laboratory, so I'm not the average user of networking supplies.
Click to expand...

unh-iol?

dd-wrt provides all of the business features on cheap hardware.
 
Cisco sell their Linksys division to Belkin, don't expect too much from Belkin. To the OP, Asus as top notch N router, all true they are more expensive, and don,t foerget your router is as good as the network adapter you use on the devices .
 
Not to hijack the thread, but on a bit of a tangent....

I currently am using a Belkin 'N' router that I got off of 'Deal a day' website. It includes a USB port that I am able to plug my laser printer into (built in print server?). It is *great* to be able to connect the printer this way, but the router itself stinks. In the discussions here as to a good N router, can anyone suggest a decent one that includes the print server that doesn't also break the bank?
 
If you are looking for the BEST, it's SonicWall (recently bought by Dell). Not cheap, though, a TZ105 will run you about $500.
 
I used to be a D-Link fan, but from about 5 years ago they suffered from cheap-parts-syndrome, and they just don't cut it anymore. Maybe they have improved since then.

Linksys, Belkin, and Netgear I would check out.
 
I usually shop Newegg for good prices. Replaced my old (but still working perfectly) Lynksys WRT54g with a D-Link Xtreame DIR-655 for under $70 bucks. With some tweaking it is serving us well. If I had a bigger budget I would have gone for Asus RT-N66u at about $150 this is an excellent router for home or small office use.
 
A couple years back I got a netgear N300 for under $50 and its worked great. Unless you have fios Internet or a large house then a basic N router should suffice.
 
awseiger said:
You bet! How'd you know haha. I have never tried dd-wrt. I should...
Click to expand...

Our WRT-54GL was slowing down, and slowing down... anything that wasn't port forwarded had really ridiculous latency.

Then I finally put dd-wrt on and BAM it's fast again.
 
Still using my almost 10 year old Lynksys WRT54g router feeding into a Gigabit switch (since I use Ethernet for most connections anyway).
 
A number of years back, I had a D-Link, but I kept having problems with it - I had it password protected, and it kept locking up. Found out that was a bug that whenever someone outside tried to guess my password and use my wifi, it would lock ME out and I would have to reset it.

I switched to an Apple Airport Extreme and I haven't had one bit of trouble since. Of course, I also have a MacBook Pro, iPad and iPod Touch, so I am pretty Apple intensive. (Also have a PC desktop and PC laptop and they connect to the AppleTalk just fine as well). A couple other points - I also use AppleTV and it connects to the the Apple Airport Extreme flawlessly. Other point is that there is an ap for my iPad that controls the Apple Airport Extreme remotely and let's me check the link and do firmware updates through the iPad. I'm VERY happy with the Apple wifi.
 
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I've found that "home" routers generally go stupid, over time and Reboots stop fixing them. One of these days, I'm going to try DD-WRT.

As far as the original topic goes, running an ethernet cable to our TV is no minor feat, so we're using it via wireless. We started out with G, but about four months ago I switched to N and gave it priority (several kids who play online games plus an X-Box can consume a LOT of bandwidth). We've not had any problems with dropouts with Netflix, due to the home network. We do, however, get dropouts from the cable company -- no problems during the day, even with kids home, but some issues in the evening.

-Kevin
 
Interesting stuff here. I've been considering going the DD-WRT route but I just checked and my Belkin model isn't listed as supported. Fortunately my router is working fine so there's not a compelling reason to make the change, other than geek-thusiasm.

Marc
 
troj said:
I've found that "home" routers generally go stupid, over time and Reboots stop fixing them. One of these days, I'm going to try DD-WRT.

As far as the original topic goes, running an ethernet cable to our TV is no minor feat, so we're using it via wireless. We started out with G, but about four months ago I switched to N and gave it priority (several kids who play online games plus an X-Box can consume a LOT of bandwidth). We've not had any problems with dropouts with Netflix, due to the home network. We do, however, get dropouts from the cable company -- no problems during the day, even with kids home, but some issues in the evening.

-Kevin
Click to expand...

Online games really don't consume much bandwidth, at least that I know of. They prioritize latency, so they probably wouldn't be sending lots of data.
 
FWIW, I recently put in a Netgear WNDR3700 dual-band, upgrading from an old Linksys b/g, and it works fine. 2 Wired PCs, wireless Macbook, iPod, iPad, and Canon printer, all relatively seamless. We don't do much video streaming, so I can't vouch for that. I liked that it had gigabit wired; I don't use the USB port for print sharing (the new canon wireless is really nice!). I changed a number of the default settings, of course, to suit my network.
 
I just got a linksys EA4500 dual band for just over $100 to replace a 5-year-old-ish WRT series that was starting to flake out. Working perfectly so far, didn't have to tweak the config too much, notably faster and let me repurpose my external gigabit switch. Netflix HD is flawless over the wireless.
 
At this point in time, why not be a bit more "future proof" and buy an AC router (the next generation 802.11 after N)???
 

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