Router Recommendation?

[lambchops511]

I'm planning to get one of these (my WRT54-GL is dieing).

http://routerboard.com/RB2011UAS-2HnD-IN

Is this any good? Any one else have experience? Or am I better off buying a consumer board and flashing DD-WRT / Tomato?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Looks like a nice piece of kit. Looks like it'll offer a lot more performance than most consumer grade routers. The question is whether or not you need that performance and want to spent the money for it. If the WRT54-GL is working well for you, or was before it started to go, then you probably don't need to overspend on a router.

 

[JackMDS]

Hmm...

In most cases when buing a Router with large Switch (this one 10 ports) you are paying more than buying a standard 4 port Router and an inexpensive stand alone switch to add ports.

Only 5 ports of the above Router are Giga and it does not have Dual Radio.

Unless there have some specific reasons to buy this one, it is Not "hot" Router for general use.

 

[lambchops511]

It says... "dual chain 2.4Ghz 802.11bgn wireless", is that same as dual radio?

 

[lambchops511]

How come it has two sets of 5 ports? one set is gigabit, one set is "fast ethernet", what's the difference? Just gigabit?

 

[JackMDS]

It says... "dual chain 2.4Ghz 802.11bgn wireless", is that same as dual radio?

Dual Radio is defined as a/b/g/n and has a 2.4GHz radio, and a 5GHz radio.

Which does not seems to be the case with the RB2011UAS-2HnD-IN

 

[lambchops511]

I don't care too much about 5 GHz A, but they have another one that is cheaper and has 5 GHz.

What is the difference between "Dual chain throughput test" and "Ethernet only test" at the bottom of the page.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

How come it has two sets of 5 ports? one set is gigabit, one set is "fast ethernet", what's the difference? Just gigabit?

Gigabit ethernet is 1000 Mbps. "Fast" Ethernet is 100 Mbps. (In comparison with the 10Mbps that came before, it really was fast.)

So you'd plug your heavy duty stuff like a NAS or file server into the gigabit ports, and low-impact or infrequently used stuff like a printer (or older hardware that was limited to 100Mbps anyway - low end chipsets as recent as the nForce 610, for instance.)

It's also likely that the 100Mbps aren't as "smart" or programmable as the 1000Mbps ones. (In terms of supporting things like VLANs, separate networks, etc.) Exact specs will be in the manual.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

It says... "dual chain 2.4Ghz 802.11bgn wireless", is that same as dual radio?

Not sure on the specifics, but it has to do with the antenna type. (Dual chain antennae usually give better reception.)

It's not the same as dual radio.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I don't care too much about 5 GHz A, but they have another one that is cheaper and has 5 GHz.

What is the difference between "Dual chain throughput test" and "Ethernet only test" at the bottom of the page.

Dual chain throughput is working over WiFi. Ethernet Only is working over Ethernet.

 

[JackMDS]

AFAIK Dual chain is two Antenna working in MIMO arrangement which is part of the Basic 802.11n standard.

I.e., every 802.11n Router that has two Antennae is Dual Chain.

 

[Termie]

Funny, my Linksys WRT-54GL recently started dying, and I think my mom's is too. Maybe they have a pre-determined lifespan and the clock is ticking!

Based on posts in this forum and elsewhere, I purchased the Asus RT-N56U. I like it a lot, and using the 5GHz band has increased my throughput enormously, from a max of 4.5MB/s to a max of 20MB/s. I recommend you invest in a dual-band router (and adapter) if you're willing to spend more than what a basic router costs ($50).