Hey all. Im looking for a new router, I currently have a WRT54G and I wanna replace it since its been disconnecting a lot recently when downloading games off steam and whatnot. I Had the router since around 2004 i think. So im looking to spend around $50-$80 bucks. I have a PS3, 360, Wii and 5 PC's on it. Any idea on what to get? i usually use it more for gaming and streaming.
Looking for new Router
- Thread starter Jules
- Start date
Despoiler
Golden Member
- Nov 10, 2007
- 1,968
- 773
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I just picked up a SMC SMCWGBR14-N. SMC routers are solid although I think they are not making routers under than name anymore. You can still find that model on Amazon.
The Asus RTN16 w/custom firmware is supposed to be amazing.
http://www.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/RTN16/#specifications
http://tomatousb.org/
http://www.yourbts.com/blog/installing-tomato-and-optware-on-an-asus-rt-n16-router/
The Asus RTN16 w/custom firmware is supposed to be amazing.
http://www.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/RTN16/#specifications
http://tomatousb.org/
http://www.yourbts.com/blog/installing-tomato-and-optware-on-an-asus-rt-n16-router/
- Oct 25, 1999
- 29,553
- 430
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VirtualLarry
No Lifer
- Aug 25, 2001
- 56,587
- 10,225
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Why would you say that? 5Ghz has crap for range, and no console on the market, nor any blu-ray player that I am aware of today, has support for 5Ghz.
I would tell the OP to get a newer router with more RAM and more CPU power. Other than that, 5Ghz is a luxury, not a necessity.
alkemyst
No Lifer
- Feb 13, 2001
- 83,769
- 19
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In most homes 5GHz is fine with the right gear. You have to realize anyone doing a file stream over wireless is going to kill the network...so while you are playing music, your game lags. Also chances are your laptop/PC is Wireless N and the rest are b/g...everything gets screwed if on one radio.
Put somethings on 5GHz and other things on 2.4GHz.
5GHz range limitations aren't so bad, it's akin to some 2.4GHz networks getting screwed by the company microwave.
I run this at my home due to 2.4GHz supporting my video cameras on wireless G. My laptops and PCs run on 5GHz and will swap to 2.4GHz (and slower speeds in the fringe areas).
I have two reinforced concrete walls that border my equipment closet. I still get good 5GHz coverage except in the master bedroom.
You have to look at a consumer AP like a consumer 5 port gigabit router. The latter can usually only handle about 2 ports at full gigabit speeds before the backplane becomes saturated.
anti.machine
Member
- Sep 29, 2011
- 99
- 0
- 0
Ok I have a recommendation that will save you some money, I suggest you keep your wrt54g and flash it with DD-WRT and unlock the potential of your current router. Then you can boost your tx power and do some other tweaks(there are guides out there).
If you feel the need to buy a new router I would recommend any N standard Linksys router.
If you feel the need to buy a new router I would recommend any N standard Linksys router.
buffalo airstation come with DD-WRT commercially licensed. they are great and support the community by paying them. the 2.4ghz 2 or 3 mimo work quite excellent. They even have their own firmware that is simple. (it can auto detect by dhcp if it needs to be a router or a AP) - slick.
RAM determines what you can do. a unix box torrenting with 65K connections will torch most routers with less then 128meg of ram.
not many routers are made with 128meg of ram anymore. most are 64,32,16,or 8
64 is okay when you don't have alot of torrents going on.
RAM determines what you can do. a unix box torrenting with 65K connections will torch most routers with less then 128meg of ram.
not many routers are made with 128meg of ram anymore. most are 64,32,16,or 8
64 is okay when you don't have alot of torrents going on.
Gibson486
Lifer
- Aug 9, 2000
- 18,378
- 2
- 0
buffalo airstation come with DD-WRT commercially licensed. they are great and support the community by paying them. the 2.4ghz 2 or 3 mimo work quite excellent. They even have their own firmware that is simple. (it can auto detect by dhcp if it needs to be a router or a AP) - slick.
RAM determines what you can do. a unix box torrenting with 65K connections will torch most routers with less then 128meg of ram.
not many routers are made with 128meg of ram anymore. most are 64,32,16,or 8
64 is okay when you don't have alot of torrents going on.
Yeah, this thing looks great on paper. I will give them the benefit of the doubt because my first Buffalo router was pretty good until it died in the end(3 years of good service....kind of short, actually, but I only spent $15 on it). I bought the "high power" N router (the one the JackMDS linked). It was a huge disappointment. It was high power? maybe high powered enough to interfere with itself to keep dropping its signal. When you are in line of sight, the thing is great. However, when you go to the next room over, everything just goes to hell. After a day of using it and yelling at it, I returned it and continued to try and fix my old moto router. Also, this unit does use DDWRT, but it is a modified DDWRT and from what I saw, you cannot flash it to another version of DDWRT.
Honestly, I am open to the fact that it could have been a defective unit. However, when you read the reviews online, the issues I had were consistent. It seems like you either got a working unit, or you didn't. It was 50/50. I'd rather not buy and return and exchange. It's a pain to do that.
VirtualLarry
No Lifer
- Aug 25, 2001
- 56,587
- 10,225
- 126
Icemonkey.com has the WNDR3700 Netgear router, REFURB, for $55 FS. Not a bad deal, that's a pretty high-end router.
Assuming that you don't get a bad refurb, then you could use that as-is, or flash with DD-WRT. Not sure how well DD-WRT works on a dual-band router.
Assuming that you don't get a bad refurb, then you could use that as-is, or flash with DD-WRT. Not sure how well DD-WRT works on a dual-band router.
- Oct 25, 1999
- 29,553
- 430
- 126
Wireless Routers suffers from few major drawbacks.
1. It seems like there is an ""agreement"" in industry to perform very low QA testing of the Wireless manufactured devices, and to be inaccurate in the way that the Data Sheets are written
I.e., No matter what One buy, there is always high probability that a specific unit is "Bad".
2. Almost None of the vendors have design and support teams that have real understanding about Wireless per-se.
3. An objective factor is that Wireless by its nature is highly depending on the environment. No matter what people "feel" and say about their environment, Humans do not have the sensory capacity to assess the Electrical nature of the environment, you need expensive good instruments to assess and measure factors like actual signal strength (the bars in the Wireless utility are a “Joke”, SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) and SWR (Standing Wave Ratio).
I.e., while a specific unit might work for me it might not work for someone else because of a different Electrical (signal wise environment).
----------
Crying and complaining might help while dealing with One’s parents, but it does not solve technical issues. :'(-:hmm:-
Lucky for us Wireless stuff is really Not expensive, and it usually last for few years . :thumbsup:
I.e., the way to deal with it is to order from a vendor with liberal return policy. If it does not work well in One's environment return it and get something else.
---------------
*The number of actual Wireless hardware manufacturers is about five.
All the rest are Just vendors assembling their own plastic boxes with similar OEM components.
Buffalo provides for similar regular price few Models of Wireless Routers with high gain RF amplifiers that was designed for High gain.
In contrast, hiking the power of wireless Routers with software like DD-WRT while the RF output of the device was not designed for it, usually hikes the noise together with the signal ( http://www.ezlan.net/wbars.html ).
-------------
I have No connection what soever with Buffalo or any other Wireless vendor.
During the passing years I use variety of hardware from Buffalo and most other Wireless device's manufactures.
Statistically I got the best result from some of the the Buffalo models (as is, or with DD-WRT), followed by Linksys hardware (Not as is) when flashed with DD-WRT.
1. It seems like there is an ""agreement"" in industry to perform very low QA testing of the Wireless manufactured devices, and to be inaccurate in the way that the Data Sheets are written
I.e., No matter what One buy, there is always high probability that a specific unit is "Bad".
2. Almost None of the vendors have design and support teams that have real understanding about Wireless per-se.
3. An objective factor is that Wireless by its nature is highly depending on the environment. No matter what people "feel" and say about their environment, Humans do not have the sensory capacity to assess the Electrical nature of the environment, you need expensive good instruments to assess and measure factors like actual signal strength (the bars in the Wireless utility are a “Joke”
, SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) and SWR (Standing Wave Ratio).I.e., while a specific unit might work for me it might not work for someone else because of a different Electrical (signal wise environment).
----------
Crying and complaining might help while dealing with One’s parents, but it does not solve technical issues. :'(-:hmm:-
Lucky for us Wireless stuff is really Not expensive, and it usually last for few years . :thumbsup:
I.e., the way to deal with it is to order from a vendor with liberal return policy. If it does not work well in One's environment return it and get something else.
---------------
*The number of actual Wireless hardware manufacturers is about five.
All the rest are Just vendors assembling their own plastic boxes with similar OEM components.
Buffalo provides for similar regular price few Models of Wireless Routers with high gain RF amplifiers that was designed for High gain.
In contrast, hiking the power of wireless Routers with software like DD-WRT while the RF output of the device was not designed for it, usually hikes the noise together with the signal ( http://www.ezlan.net/wbars.html ).
-------------
I have No connection what soever with Buffalo or any other Wireless vendor.
During the passing years I use variety of hardware from Buffalo and most other Wireless device's manufactures.
Statistically I got the best result from some of the the Buffalo models (as is, or with DD-WRT), followed by Linksys hardware (Not as is) when flashed with DD-WRT.
Last edited:
Gibson486
Lifer
- Aug 9, 2000
- 18,378
- 2
- 0
buy it.
I mean, when push comes to shove, the biggest thing is that you want is wireless that is stable and constant. Yeah, another router may give you a faster speed, it may give you a slower one. But in the big picture, will you really notice the increase in speed anyway between 2 N routers?
I mean, when push comes to shove, the biggest thing is that you want is wireless that is stable and constant. Yeah, another router may give you a faster speed, it may give you a slower one. But in the big picture, will you really notice the increase in speed anyway between 2 N routers?
- Oct 25, 1999
- 29,553
- 430
- 126
Our society is "possessed" with Speed everything however with Wireless "Speed" is secondary issue
If the Router and the Client are in the same room it does not matter what you get 9 out of 10 Routers will provide the same Speed.
The difference come in how they provide the "Speed" when distance and obstructions comes into picture.
A good designed Router that provide clean strong Clean Signal will provide more "Speed" at a distance.
In may cases when the client is few rooms/walls away a Good powerful 802.11g will provide better connection than a mediocre 802.11n.
If the Router and the Client are in the same room it does not matter what you get 9 out of 10 Routers will provide the same Speed.
The difference come in how they provide the "Speed" when distance and obstructions comes into picture.
A good designed Router that provide clean strong Clean Signal will provide more "Speed" at a distance.
In may cases when the client is few rooms/walls away a Good powerful 802.11g will provide better connection than a mediocre 802.11n.
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