Hi everyone,
I am having a big problem. A few weeks ago our 3 year Netgear WGT624 (Super G) router died. Since it had problems reaching 1 particular room in our house, I decided to go with 802.11N this time.
(I should say that we have a 2 story house....and there are 2 laptops, 2 desktops, 2 iPhones and 1 Xbox360 that need wifi...and we have 3Mbps DSL)
So I went out and bought a Linksys WRT310N, which was OK except for the fact that the Xbox360 was unplayable with it due to freezes and pauses. So it was returned for a Linksys WRT150N....which had great range....but was not able to "pass out" the bandwidth among more than one user at one time. What I mean is that the router worked great if you were the only one using the net....but if more than one person was using the net at the same time, it seemed like the router claimed all of the bandwidth for the person who was using the net first, which left no bandwidth for anyone else who wanted to do the net.
So the WRT150N was returned yesterday, in exchange for a Netgear WNDR3300. I also bought a Netgear WNDA3100 USB adapter for the room that has signal problems. Anyway, once again I have had nothing but trouble with this router. Netgear advertises this router as having some of the best range of any of their routers....but it is terrible from my POV. And the 802.11G performance is awful too. In areas where it says that I have a good signal, my 802.11G laptops are connecting at 28Mbps where they would have connected at 54Mbps with any of the Linksys routers I had tried, as well as the 3 or 4 year old Netgear router that died. But the worst insult comes from the WNDA3100's drivers - they simply do not work. I have tried using both Netgears app, as well as Windows XP (wireless zero), but it doesnt make much difference - even if I am sitting 2 feet from the router, 75% of the time the adapter will not connect....and the few times it does actually connect, it doesnt stay connected like it should...instead it drops its connectiion within a couple of minutes, and when this happens it wont re-connect on its own - you have to do it manually. When I do get it to work, if I restart the PC, the adapter doesnt connect to the router automatically like it should upon startup....and finally, the Netgear drivers/softwaare is just terrible. Every time you change a setting, a weird and annoying box saying "Activating settings" appears on the screen, growing larger and larger....very irritating. And the adapters drivers wont even install on the PC that is located in the room that has the bad signal problem.....
Heres the deal - in my quest to replace my dead Netgear SuperG router, I have tried 2 different Linksys and 1 Netgear router. I just cant understand whatsoever why the "latest and greatest" from Netgear and Linksys have performed so poorly compared to a 3 or 4 year old obsolete Super G router. I also dont know why Netgear cant write a decent driver application. The crap they sent out with the WNDA3100 USB adapter is a disgrace.
So I need some opinions from people who have actually used some of these routers....Can anyone recommend a router that works well with an Xbox360....and works OK when more than one person is trying to use the Internet at the same time? I havent tried Belkin or Dlink routers yet.....Anyway I am at my whits end...very frustrated....I mean, do I need to buy a Cisco 871 and connect an access point to it to get what I want?
Thanks in advance for your help, and sorry this was so long...
Mike
I am having a big problem. A few weeks ago our 3 year Netgear WGT624 (Super G) router died. Since it had problems reaching 1 particular room in our house, I decided to go with 802.11N this time.
(I should say that we have a 2 story house....and there are 2 laptops, 2 desktops, 2 iPhones and 1 Xbox360 that need wifi...and we have 3Mbps DSL)
So I went out and bought a Linksys WRT310N, which was OK except for the fact that the Xbox360 was unplayable with it due to freezes and pauses. So it was returned for a Linksys WRT150N....which had great range....but was not able to "pass out" the bandwidth among more than one user at one time. What I mean is that the router worked great if you were the only one using the net....but if more than one person was using the net at the same time, it seemed like the router claimed all of the bandwidth for the person who was using the net first, which left no bandwidth for anyone else who wanted to do the net.
So the WRT150N was returned yesterday, in exchange for a Netgear WNDR3300. I also bought a Netgear WNDA3100 USB adapter for the room that has signal problems. Anyway, once again I have had nothing but trouble with this router. Netgear advertises this router as having some of the best range of any of their routers....but it is terrible from my POV. And the 802.11G performance is awful too. In areas where it says that I have a good signal, my 802.11G laptops are connecting at 28Mbps where they would have connected at 54Mbps with any of the Linksys routers I had tried, as well as the 3 or 4 year old Netgear router that died. But the worst insult comes from the WNDA3100's drivers - they simply do not work. I have tried using both Netgears app, as well as Windows XP (wireless zero), but it doesnt make much difference - even if I am sitting 2 feet from the router, 75% of the time the adapter will not connect....and the few times it does actually connect, it doesnt stay connected like it should...instead it drops its connectiion within a couple of minutes, and when this happens it wont re-connect on its own - you have to do it manually. When I do get it to work, if I restart the PC, the adapter doesnt connect to the router automatically like it should upon startup....and finally, the Netgear drivers/softwaare is just terrible. Every time you change a setting, a weird and annoying box saying "Activating settings" appears on the screen, growing larger and larger....very irritating. And the adapters drivers wont even install on the PC that is located in the room that has the bad signal problem.....
Heres the deal - in my quest to replace my dead Netgear SuperG router, I have tried 2 different Linksys and 1 Netgear router. I just cant understand whatsoever why the "latest and greatest" from Netgear and Linksys have performed so poorly compared to a 3 or 4 year old obsolete Super G router. I also dont know why Netgear cant write a decent driver application. The crap they sent out with the WNDA3100 USB adapter is a disgrace.
So I need some opinions from people who have actually used some of these routers....Can anyone recommend a router that works well with an Xbox360....and works OK when more than one person is trying to use the Internet at the same time? I havent tried Belkin or Dlink routers yet.....Anyway I am at my whits end...very frustrated....I mean, do I need to buy a Cisco 871 and connect an access point to it to get what I want?
Thanks in advance for your help, and sorry this was so long...
Mike
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