Good low cost router?

[Sophitia]

I've been looking at neweggs 48 hour sale and I saw some routers in the $20-30 range in their sub $50 deals.

http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemail...NDER50#UNDER50

Would any of them do the job for a studio apartment with 1 pc and 1 xbox 360? It is growing tiresome having to unplug the ethernet cable from the pc to xbox in addition to unplugging the ac adaptor from the time warner cable modem every time I want to swap between the two.

[wirednuts]

cant go wrong with this one- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...33124419-L020B

i flashed mine to ddwrt and ran an overclocking script. it runs as good as the wndr3700!

[Muse]

Originally Posted by wirednuts

cant go wrong with this one- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...33124419-L020B

i flashed mine to ddwrt and ran an overclocking script. it runs as good as the wndr3700!

I've been reading the reviews (3 of 5 eggs). Seems that you can go wrong. It can be YMMV. There's some support from Cisco rep on the thread but it's not at all impressive: "We're sorry to hear... go to this forum."

[kornphlake]

This one looks like it's got decent reviews, it's probably what I'd get if I were looking for an inexpensive router. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833320066

[cmetz]

Originally Posted by Sophitia

Would any of them do the job for a studio apartment with 1 pc and 1 xbox 360? It is growing tiresome having to unplug the ethernet cable from the pc to xbox in addition to unplugging the ac adaptor from the time warner cable modem every time I want to swap between the two.

Nearly any SOHO router will do the job just fine. Search on this forum for past threads and you'll find lots of specific SOHO router advice, but the good news for you is that your situation is easy, so you don't need to buy the biggest and best (unless you want to).

[s44]

Just get the E3000. If your unit is bad RMA it.

Otherwise, the best sub-$50 is the refurb E2500. That doesn't have gigabit... though you won't notice for your applications. Or, if you are willing to flash Tomato, there's a $25 Belkin at Amazon that may or may not have gigabit (depends which model they send you) but doesn't have dual-band. Again, you probably won't notice the absent features.

EDIT -- this $19 one was *no* gigabit

For $46 you can get the dual-band Belkin with gigabit. (Note that you always want the *older* squarish Belkin models, since the new ones aren't custom-flashable.) Radios not as strong as some of the Linksys ones, but that won't matter in your use case, and it will be stable as hell if you flash Tomato.

[CA19100]

[disregard; item I linked wasn't a router]

[wirednuts]

Originally Posted by Muse

I've been reading the reviews (3 of 5 eggs). Seems that you can go wrong. It can be YMMV. There's some support from Cisco rep on the thread but it's not at all impressive: "We're sorry to hear... go to this forum."

sorry i didnt gauge user error into my conclusion

[VirtualLarry]

http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/Rou...VVviewprod.htm

This is the router I'm using (actually, several in a 5Ghz WDS config). Works really nicely with Tomato 104. I didn't bother to even test the stock firmware because I needed WDS support from the get-go.

[Sophitia]

Would this do the job?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833166064

[s44]

No. Nothing cheaper than the $25 Belkin is even worth looking at.

[kmmatney]

I would highly recommend a refurbished NetGear WNR2000, which was on sale for $19.99 shipped. I've had one for 2 years, running hard with the following devices attached to it:

8 computers
1 WHS Server Running a public Minecraft server
Ooma VOIP device (my main phone line!)
Wii
Roku streaming Netflix
Blue-ray player
WD Live Player
2 iPads
3 Smartphones

So it will handle what you have no problem!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

[JackMDS]

It is "silly" to pay anything for a Single Radio Wireless Router when a good Dual band cost $35.

http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/Rou...VVviewprod.htm

[GullyFoyle]

If you can avoid wireless, do so. Just buy a cheap switch, such as this, or this.

[Sophitia]

I went with the Belkin one a week ago, sadly. I couldn't wait forever.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...K?tag=at055-20

I was under the impression a Switch wouldn't work with just a cable modem. Shows what I know about networking. In any event, I need to get this one up to speed if possible. Where can I find the tomato open source firmware? My apologies, this is my first router and I'm learning everything from scratch.

[s44]

Did you get delivered the 7301 or 7302?

In either case, you want to flash a smaller build first, as explained here. That guide uses a mini DD-WRT for the first flash, which is fine. But for the second flash I'd use the *latest* Shibby K26 MIPSR2 Big-VPN build, which you should download from here.

[Sophitia]

Where on the unit would I look to find the 4 digit number?

[s44]

By the serial #?

The model number will start with F7D and finish with the four-digit number.

[bearxor]

Originally Posted by Sophitia

I went with the Belkin one a week ago, sadly. I couldn't wait forever.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...K?tag=at055-20

I was under the impression a Switch wouldn't work with just a cable modem. Shows what I know about networking. In any event, I need to get this one up to speed if possible. Where can I find the tomato open source firmware? My apologies, this is my first router and I'm learning everything from scratch.

A switch wouldn't work for your situation. Your ISP is only going to give you 1 IP address, and a switch would make the PC and the XBox fight over it. You'd still only have 1 device online at a time. That's what a router solves. It gives every device in your house a private IP address and shuttles all the traffic out so it looks like its coming from one IP.

Also, judging from your description of your set up, one PC and one XBox with no other clients, you really could have bought just about any router and been perfectly happy. I really don't see a reason at all for you to flash firmware as well. The router would most likely be perfectly serviceable for you out of the box.

Now, if you want to learn about routing, that's a different story. But the networking forum here is pretty dead. Better off trying smallnetbuilder or hardocp. Just read all the threads. You'll learn a lot by just reading through everything. Go through your routers options and do searches in them so that you'll learn what they all mean. I don't think trying to jump head first in to flashing a custom firmware is the best choice when you'll probably be overwhelmed with the choices after you're done.

[VirtualLarry]

Originally Posted by bearxor

I don't think trying to jump head first in to flashing a custom firmware is the best choice when you'll probably be overwhelmed with the choices after you're done.

Kind of like learning to drive, on an Indy car.

OP, almost any router would work for you. If you bought the Belkin off of Amazon, then great. They come pre-configured for security right off the bat.

I wouldn't bother flashing any 3rd-party firmware, unless you have a specific need (like I do). It is more likely to be confusing than helpful.

Stock firmware, although limited in features, generally works.

[s44]

Originally Posted by VirtualLarry

Stock firmware, although limited in features, generally works.

You didn't read any of the Amazon reviews of this unit, did you?

Stock Asus or Linksys firmware is decent. Others... Don't expect stability, esp. over wireless.

[Sophitia]

Thanks guys! I got the router hooked up and now have my PC and 360 wired directly into the router and can play soul calibur and stuff without having to swap ethernet cables and unplugging my cable modems AC adapter every time I want to do it. The performance has been fine in fighting games where precision is essential, so I may not hack the firmware. (I'm SO terrible with electronics sometimes... >.>) But I'll certainly consider it for the future if it ceases it's current level of reliability.