best wireless router for under $100

[warriorfan23]

anyone have any suggestions? im currently wired with a linksys but just bought a laptop and would like to use around the house. thanks for the help!

 

[jlazzaro]

a lot will recommend the buffallo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833162173

ive been going strong with my wrt54g, no problems...

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: jlazzaro
a lot will recommend the buffallo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833162173

ive been going strong with my wrt54g, no problems...

i have the buffalo and its been great. ive seen some of the linksys routers randomly default their settings, someone i spoke to at work mentioned it may be a firmware problem, but you can add some 3rd party firmware to it and probably keep it from being an issue.

 

[docinthebox]

Here are a few you can choose from:

1. Buffalo WHR-G54S flashed to dd-wrt firmware - $41 shipped

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833162173

2. Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 flashed to dd-wrt firmware (has internal amplifier for transmit/receive, good if you need to use it in a large house/office) - $60 shipped

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833162134

3. D-Link DI-634M for $30 AR - good quality of service implementation, useful if you do other things in addition to browsing web, like VoIP, gaming, BT

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=40&threadid=1997004

4. D-Link DGL-4300 for $95 AR - same as 3 but with gigabit ethernet

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=40&threadid=1938713

5. Asus WL-500G Premium for $100 shipped - solid router that can be flashed to dd-wrt, has more flash and ram and a faster CPU than the Buffalo routers - good if you need to run additional stuff on your router like running a VPN server. Also has two USB ports so you can hook up USB drives to run a file server on the router.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833320008

 

[joe360]

I am also looking for a new router, is it worth getting the new "N" type network? (upgrading from "B"). Also would these older routers work well with vista, incase I upgrade soon?

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: joe360
I am also looking for a new router, is it worth getting the new "N" type network? (upgrading from "B"). Also would these older routers work well with vista, incase I upgrade soon?

So OK, you get N type.

When N type works with regular wireless card it just like regular 802.11b/g.

You can buy a matching N card but they are more than $80 per card.

If you need additional Hardware, there is No N type antenna, or N type Bridge to N type any thing beside a Routers and cards.

And then, some time later in the year, the real 802.11n comes out, and your N type would not be upgradeable and probably Not compatible too.

So what to do?

If range is Not crucial No 1 in docinthebox post above.

For range similar to N system, get No. 2.

 

[VisionxOrb]

Im using the buffalo HP router with dd-wrt, the HP router has the "E" Version of the Broadcom chip where the non hp doesnt. On the dd-WRT forums this chip has been proven to clock higher. My router is running at 233 right now ( vs 200 stock) and has not frozen once.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Of Those above I would say #3, good price and a nice modem.

 

[dnoyeb]

If you can get a Zyxel then you cant beat it. CompUSA usually carries them and they go for as low as $20. I have had NetGear and Linksys and SMC. And I even bought them all when looking for a new router. Nothing compares to Zyxel. The feature set is top notch. If you want simple no frills setup then it dont matter. But I wanted port forwarding and logging and web configuraiton. There is even console access where you can give commands directly to the router kernel. I was able to use it to finally know why my WAN port constantly flashes. ARP requests...

 

[WiseOldDude]

WRT54GS is a piece of sh!t, it will not pass NetBEUI packets across the wireless bridge,(from wireless to wired PCs) thus if you have setup NetBEUI for file and print sharing for security reasons, it won't work. I tried it to replace my other POS Linksys, a WRK54G that locks up to the point only a power cycle will recover it when viewing videos from MSNBC and a few other sights. Linksys doesnt give a damn and said they ain't going to fix it even though I can duplicate the problem with ease.

 

[docinthebox]

Originally posted by: WiseOldDude
WRT54GS is a piece of sh!t, it will not pass NetBEUI packets across the wireless bridge,(from wireless to wired PCs) thus if you have setup NetBEUI for file and print sharing for security reasons, it won't work. I tried it to replace my other POS Linksys, a WRK54G that locks up to the point only a power cycle will recover it when viewing videos from MSNBC and a few other sights. Linksys doesnt give a damn and said they ain't going to fix it even though I can duplicate the problem with ease.

If I recall correctly, this is a well known problem among many routers not just the WRT54GS. There's an easy workaround which is to use the IP address instead, and to make entries to the lmhosts file.