help on choosing a wireless router

[Juno]

tell me which one is more secure because i will be moving to a house within this week and i don't want to give my roommates a lot of hassles with cables all over the house.

i will bring two computers with me in my own room so i believe it is the best bet to have wireless router in the living room and wireless hub (or access point) in my room so that i can connect them to my two computers.

i know linksys has a strong reputation and buffalo is raising its peak. what about dlink and netgear?

help me choosing the best one!

-juno

 

[JackMDS]

As far as wire Routers goes, all of them are based om NAT Firewall and thus have siniar level of security.

See more here, Internet -Basic protection: http://www.ezlan.net/firewall.html

As far as Wireless aspect goes.

From the weakest to the strongest, Wireless security capacity is.
No Security
MAC
WEP
WPA-PSK
WPA-AES
WPA2

The documentation of your Wireless devices (Wireless Router, and Wireless Computers Card) should state the type of security that is available with your Wireless hardware.

All devices MUST be set to the same security level using the same pass phrase.

Therefore the security must be set according what ever is the best possible of one of the Wireless devices.
I.e. even if most of your system might be capable to be configured to the max. with WPA2, but one device is only capable to be configured to max . of WEP, to whole system must be configured to WEP.

If you need more good security and one device (like a Wireless card that can do WEP only) is holding better security for the whole Network, replace the device with a better one.

Wireless Security - http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html

 

[KenAF2]

Is this your house and your Internet connection? In other words, does your connection deserve priority over your roommates' ?

What is the speed of your connection?

If the connection speed is <20Mbps and you don't need to prioritize your traffic over others, then look at the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 ($60 + shipping from Newegg) equipped with DD-WRT. If your connection speed is >20Mbps and you do want to prioritize your traffic over others, then look at the D-Link DIR-655 ($100 shipped from Frys.com).

 

[Juno]

not my house but my friend's house.

the download speed is 10mbps though (roadrunner.) i probably will go with linksys.

 

[KenAF2]

Pretty much any router released in the past three years can handle 10Mbps if you don't need QoS.

 

[cipher00]

I've had luck with Linksys. If you need a printer hooked up, though, D-Link will support that (Linksys doesn't, at least not on its draft-N) so you'll need a separate server. FWIW

 

[marulee]

Well, first of all, what is the name brand of your wireless adapter and your roommate's? You should also consider weather your OS supports the full features on some of the NAT routers! Most of encryption types should be support it by boingo if WZCU is not. If you want to invest little more than average, consider getting an access point to add up more cool features while you are enjoying your wifi devices! QoS should be something you should consider if you are a gamer. Some of Linksys, Dlink and Netgear have the access points with PtP, repeater and access pointer capablities! Personally my preference is DGL-4300 which supports Gigabit on LAN and QoS. Read more reviews before you go ahead and grab it from the shelf. Cheers!

 

[Juno]

my roommate has a wired router and i would like to replace with wireless router then have two access bridges upstairs.

i'll invest my time to research more on wireless routers/access bridges because that'll be my very first wireless product since wireless mouse. 😀

 

[Madwand1]

Look into wireless bridges. The wireless router part is easy -- any recent device should in theory work as advertised. Wireless bridges are not as commonly used, so you need to understand the product class yourself to choose something that will work.

E.g. Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 as main wireless router, and Buffalo "Wireless Ethernet Converter" as client bridge. These can work out of the box for not much money and give good wireless signaling due to a built-in radio amplifier.

A cheaper option would be Buffalo WHR-G54S on both ends with DD-WRT or some other third-party firmware on the bridge side. Linksys WRT54GLs can be used similarly. Note that the main router can run with original firmware; you need to change to third-party firmware to get client mode bridge functionality on your end.

Edit: You have another option, run two Buffalo WHR-G54S stock with their WDS-based wireless bridging option enabled on both sides.

 

[Juno]

so, are you saying i can buy two wireless routers and have wireless bridging option enabled? that sounds a good deal to me.

also, linksys wrt54gl looks good to me but i think it is kinda expensive for me.

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: Juno
so, are you saying i can buy two wireless routers and have wireless bridging option enabled? that sounds a good deal to me.

1 standard wireless router + 1 wireless client mode bridge (e.g. Buffalo Wireless Ethernet Converter)

or

1 standard wireless router + 1 DD-WRT-compatible router running in client bridge mode

or

2 similar routers which have proprietary / WDS bridging support built-in

Originally posted by: Juno
linksys wrt54gl looks good to me but i think it is kinda expensive for me.

$54 AR is expensive? I don't think you can go much cheaper without taking risks in quality and support.

Update: It looks like the Buffalo WHR-G54S is being phased out, and replaced by the WHR-G125. This seems to be a similar device in terms of the feature set and pricing. It is being supported by DD-WRT (v24, currently in beta). It has a faster processor and is said to have a better radio. This model will likely supplant the WRTG54L and of course the WHR-G54S once its in the field widely.

 

[Juno]

hey madwand1, what do you think of this buffalo wireless router?

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: Juno
hey madwand1, what do you think of this buffalo wireless router?

That's a recommended router. It's a bit more expensive than the regular versions, but its built-in amplifier is said to provide better wireless performance in some cases.

Its likely going to be superseded by a WHR-HP-G125 model, but these are nowhere to be seen at this time, and will likely take some time to stabilize (esp. with 3rd-party firmware support), and the WHR-HP-G54 is a good choice in the meanwhile.