Best b/g routers

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Perryg114

Senior member
Jan 22, 2001
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I am looking for a good solid b/g router. I have done some research on Newegg and not many routers seem to stay stable or reliable for very long. I have a wired gigabit network so I don't really need an N speed wireless network. I just want something that would let my hulu etc from a laptop without skips and pauses. I have a D-link 614+ router that has been a good one. It is probably the only thing from D-link that I bought that has not died an early death. The 614+ is starting to require resetting about once a week now because it shuts down my internet. Also I have found their tech support to be rather crappy. An RMA takes at least an hour jumping through hoops talking to some guy in india with pour english. This is when you already know it is a hardware problem because nothing has changed in your system. When you get the replacement unit it usually last a few days before it dies and then you just give up.

I would like something that will work out of the box and I don't want to load all kinds of firmware WRT, Tomato Etc. to make it work like it should have out of the box. Some of my machines have fixed LAN IP addresses but that should not be a big deal.

I have heard Linksys is worse than D-link as far as customer service. The few reviews I have found on TP-link seem to be good but they seem to be a new kid on the block.

Perry
 
JackMDS

JackMDS

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 25, 1999
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Buffalo WHR-HP-G54

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833162134

Asus WL-520GU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833320023

Both are Very Good. The Asus is less expensive and have regular performing Wireless, while the Buffalo has High Power Wireless

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Entry Level Buffalo, Asus, and Linksys GL Routers can be Flashed with 3rd party free firmware.

Unlike the other compatible Routers the Buffalo's High Power stock firmware is very Good As Is.

I.e., if you have a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 you do not need any of the additional features of Tomato or DD-WRT, No need to install either.

The Wireless Boosting Power Feature available in both is Not a useful feature for the Buffalo HP.

The Buffalo’s Wireless Power is at the Max., and Tomato/DD-WRT do not really Boost its Wireless. If the power boosting is not left at the default when using Tomato/DD-WRT on the Buffalo HP, the Wireless signal might get worse by adding noise and reducing the Signal to Noise Ratio.

http://www.ezlan.net/WHR-HP-G54.html

If you need extra features (other than the Power Boost) take a look at Tomato and DD-WRT.

If the features that you need are available in Tomato Flash with Tomato.

Tomato features - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_(firmware)#Features

Otherwise, use DD-WRT.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/What_is_DD-WRT?#Features

It is much easier to Flash Tomato than DD-WRT, thus to avoid frustration and Bricking risk I would recommend to casual “Flashers” to go with Tomato.

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As an indirect side Note.

Routers are actually small computers with very weak CPU, small memory, and the Firmware acts as the OS.

Just like you do not expect using a NetBook for D Gaming, do not expect Entry Level Router to perform well under the load that is generated by heavy P2P downloads.

Taking into consideration the big savings done by the "Questionable Downloads", One can spend few hundred $$ on a "real" Router.
 
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Perryg114

Senior member
Jan 22, 2001
768
4
81
Well I bypass my router as far as machine to machine transfers of data on my LAN. I have two GS105 gigabit switches networking all my machines together and the router just keeps them all straight and serves as an internet portal. The laptops are the only thing that will be using the wireless ports on the router. My main machine has a camera security system running on it and when the wife is monitoring stuff on her computer there is a fair amount of data transfer. I have two MCE2005 machines an one HD homerun tuner running on my network. I am thinking of adding a WHS machine as soon as I figure out exactly what I want. Thanks for the info. I will look at the Bufflo. I need to run more gigabit cables this winter. I really want something stable and reliable more than gadgets.

Perry
 
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JasonSix78

JasonSix78

Platinum Member
Mar 5, 2005
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The Buffalo router Jack recommended is a solid router from what I've read over the past week. I actually about bought it but decided to go with a Linksys WRT54GL for it's wide range of 3rd party firmware support/compatibility and reputation.
 
wiretap

wiretap

Senior member
Sep 28, 2006
642
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WRT54G/WRT54GS/WRT54GS + high gain antennas + DD-WRT = win

Stock firmware on routers is limited, even Buffalo (which in many cases has good options for tweaking). If you are just a basic computer user, you don't need anything special and any router will do. If you're an intermediate or advanced user, you'll definitely want to free yourself from the constraints of stock firmware. On the WRT54GL, it's super easy to flash to DD-WRT without bricking. There are no blocking features on the thing.. just load up your firmware via instructions on the DD-WRT website and you'll be up and running in a minute or two.
 
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Perryg114

Senior member
Jan 22, 2001
768
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81
Ok I bought a bufflo HP-G64. Now what is the best way to install it without messing up the rest of my network. I would like to just hook to one of the LAN ports and do manual setup but it does not want to let me into the setup that way. I was planning to go into the setup and spoof the MAC address with the one I am using now and set up all the stuff.

Perry
 
JackMDS

JackMDS

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 25, 1999
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Connect the Router through a regulat LAN port to a computer that is unlpugged from the Network.

Configure and do wahy you need then replace it with the current Router, and reboot every thing.

If the IP subnet of the new Router is different than the current one, make sure after reboot the static IPs etc. are corrected.
 
ChaiBabbaChai

ChaiBabbaChai

Golden Member
Dec 16, 2005
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The Buffalo and the Linksys both use the same 3rd party firmware because they have the same broadcom chipset, IIRC. I just bought the Buffalo and it's been great for the past few months, but I did not like the stock firmware at all. Tomato is great, just flash it real quick it takes 2 minutes. Seriously. 2.

Why would you need to spoof the MAC addy of the old router? You are going to have to set up your router no matter which one you bought. Did you read the manual and get the default password? I think it was root / admin or something like that. Just flash to Tomato you'll thank me. Oh and if you're on Win7 (and possibly Vista) just make sure to use TFTP to avoid hassle. I can email you the file if you can't find it I forget where I downloaded it. Also, don't set the power past 10 in Tomato. It goes up to 100, but the stock firmware goes to what is 10 in Tomato. If you go past 10 it will likely just cause distortion and melt your cat.
 
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Perryg114

Senior member
Jan 22, 2001
768
4
81
I finally got into the router but can't seem to get it set up. I put in the MAC address that my old router is setup to. The setup software that came with the router will not run on Win 7 so manual config is the only option at this point. I don't seem to be getting any communication between the router and the cable modem. The MAC address of my cable modem is fixed to whatever it was on the old router.
 
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Perryg114

Senior member
Jan 22, 2001
768
4
81
I have been able to get the router working when hooked to my laptop only but I can't seem to get my main desktop machine to accept an IP address from the router. I set everything to automatic IP addressing so it should let the router do all the LAN DNS stuff. I have internet on the laptop only.

Perry
 
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Perryg114

Senior member
Jan 22, 2001
768
4
81
Ok I got the router working sorta. It will give me internet access and wifi access but I can't do any port forwarding for my security camera system. I tried to manually open a port and then scan that port to see if it is open and I can't ever see the open port. Looks like there is something wrong with it because this is easy with my old router. The tech support guy tried to blame it on my camera system but it won't even forward ports on another computer that has nothing to do with the camera system. I have had alot of bad luck with electronics this year. Quality control seems to really suck these days on electronics. Probably 70% of stuff I have ordered has had issues.

Perry
 
ChaiBabbaChai

ChaiBabbaChai

Golden Member
Dec 16, 2005
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Did you flash to Tomato? I told you to because the stock firmware is awful. I doubt it's a QC issue.
 
R

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
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Flash it to tomato, my stock firmware would drop signals and cause issues weekly and require reboots weekly. My router has been running for 265 days without a reboot on tomato and has never had one problem.
 
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Perryg114

Senior member
Jan 22, 2001
768
4
81
Ya got a link to instructions on how to flash Tomato with this particular router? I am ready to RMA this thing back to Newegg.

Perry
 
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Perryg114

Senior member
Jan 22, 2001
768
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Ok here is what I found. It seems like the BAT file does all the flashing for you and you don't have to have to do TFTP or something like that. There are several BIN files and I guess it figures out what router you have and installs the correct one? It seems almost too simple.

Tomato Install Instructions for WHR-HP-G54:

WARNING: Be aware that you may not be able to re-install the original firmware back if Buffalo only has the encrypted version of the firmware available for your router.

Push and hold the reset button on the router for a few seconds to reset the configuration.
Plug your computer directly to the router. This will not work over a wireless connection.
Set your computer's ethernet card settings to: IP=192.168.11.2, mask=255.255.255.0, gateway=192.168.11.1.
In Windows, you can set this by going to Control Panel, Network Connections, right-click your ethernet card, click Properties, then select "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)", then click Properties, click "Use the following IP address". You can leave the DNS settings blank.
Make sure the red diagnostic light isn't lit on the router, unplug the power cable to the router.
Double-click on the whr_install.bat file.
Re-plug the power cable to the router.
There's only about a 5-second window between when the router looks for a new firmware and when it gives up and loads the current firmware. If it doesn't work, unplug, the router, wait a few seconds and try again.
After uploading, wait. It still needs about 2 minutes to flash the image.
Reset your computer's ethernet card settings back to use DHCP.
In Windows, you can set this by going to Control Panel, Network Connections, right-click your ethernet card, click Properties, then select "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)", then click Properties, click "Obtain IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically".
The default router address after installing Tomato is 192.168.1.1. TFTP-based upgrades will also use this address and will follow the whatever setting you enter in the GUI.
Make sure you're entering the username "root" and password "admin". Unlike the default firmware, they are required in Tomato.
A complete reset of the router after installing Tomato for the first time is recommended. Go to Administration/Configuration then under Restore Default Configuration, select "Erase all Data in NVRAM (thorough)", then click OK. When the router restarts then you can go into the Configuration and makes any changes that you need to.

DD-WRT Questions:

I did some research on DD-WRT and it seems that it is a little harder to install. It keeps mentioning the Web GUI. I did not find a download for this on the DD_WRT web page but only for TFTP. I can only assume that they mean that you use the firmware upgrade GUI that came with the Buffalo. What bothers me there is the firmware I downloaded from Buffalo has a different file extension than the BIN file that contains the DD_WRT flash. It would seem that they should have the same extension if you are to use the Buffalo GUI.

Perry
 
ChaiBabbaChai

ChaiBabbaChai

Golden Member
Dec 16, 2005
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I told you before it (BAT) doesn't work in Win7, so to save YOU the trouble that I went through, just skip straight ahead to TFTP.
 
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Perryg114

Senior member
Jan 22, 2001
768
4
81
I am using XP Pro. I have some Win 7 laptops but my main machine is XP. I will probably flash the router with my old Win XP laptop because I am tired of my whole network going down while I am screwing with the router. I have an HD Homerun Media Center Computer and it really screws it up when I am messing with the router.

Perry
 
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Perryg114

Senior member
Jan 22, 2001
768
4
81
Sorry, at the time I was using a Win 7 laptop to communicate with the router. I was able to get Tomato loaded and it is mapping the ports and I can see them in canyouseeme.org. My DNS server is seeing the WAN IP address but I can't seem to access the web log on. I can't log on locally either. I am alot closer than I was but things are still not working right.

Perry
 
JackMDS

JackMDS

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 25, 1999
29,500
400
126
Yeah the default IP's subnet of Tomato is probably the same as your old Router and the old IPs are working now.
 
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