So my parents have decided it's time to go wireless in the house this Christmas and they've commandeered me to set it all up whilst I'm back, being the hopeless technophobes they are.
Ironically [i]I[/i] know roughly nothing about choosing the best hardware so I'd really appreciate some help with this one.
The house is moderately sized, there will usually be more than one machine online at any one time and in different parts of the house so a router that can provide a good, strong signal suitable for moderate-to-heavy internet use would be great. Decent quality wireless adapters would be a plus too. I haven't been given a budget but I'm not really looking to splash out, so reliability and 'bang-for-buck' is what I'm looking for if anyone in the Hardware forums owns a router that they swear by.
Thanks all.
[url]http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/WRT120N[/url]
That's our home router and it's great. I really recommend it.
Ever since we got a Linksys WRT54GL, I have had zero problems with our wireless connection, and only about 3-5 problems in the last 3 years where Comcast had to do some repairs, so it's pretty much always up and running.
I love linksys they are a bit more expensive but usually worth it. I get mine for free though so I don't care. :smug:
Big fan of Netgear myself, been using a DG834GT for years. Also used their RangeMax equipment in the past.
Linksys are good, Cicso even better (if you can afford it!)
[QUOTE=birkett;18817185]Big fan of Netgear myself, been using a DG834GT for years. Also used their RangeMax equipment in the past.
Linksys are good, Cicso even better (if you can afford it!)[/QUOTE]
I thought that Cisco and Linksys were the same company. :confused:
[QUOTE=sbradford26;18817217]I thought that Cisco and Linksys were the same company. :confused:[/QUOTE]
The company is Cisco, the range of networking equipment for home consumers has been called Linksys for a while to distinguish it.
Edit: Notice how most of the products come in packaging that says "Linksys by Cisco Systems" or similar.
[QUOTE=Split3ndz;18817233]The company is Cisco, the range of networking equipment for home consumers has been called Linksys for a while to distinguish it.
Edit: Notice how most of the products come in packaging that says "Linksys by Cisco Systems" or similar.[/QUOTE]
I was pretty sure it was but the guy said get linksys or if you can afford it cisco.
Linksys WRT54GL
Flexible, Reliable and worth it.
[QUOTE=Split3ndz;18817233]The company is Cisco, the range of networking equipment for home consumers has been called Linksys for a while to distinguish it.
Edit: Notice how most of the products come in packaging that says "Linksys by Cisco Systems" or similar.[/QUOTE]
More like Linksys used to be an individual company and Cisco bought them out.
Linksys USED to have good products before Cisco made them their bastard red headed step child, and then their products went down the shitter. Their wired routers (BEFSRx1) and wireless USB adapters (WUSB54G) are complete rubbish.
Most of their wired routers have a bug on the WAN port that limits it to 10BaseT. When you connect one of the modern 100BaseT cable modems to the WAN port, it can't negotiate the speed and will constantly drop the connection. I know this because I have [b]6[/b] of the shit routers piled in the corner of various revisions that all have the same problem, and it's widely documented.
Another problem with Linksys routers is a bug in the firmware that corrupts game data packets in Half-Life 1 (and possibly other games), resulting in the infamous "getting steamed" phenomenon. If you look in the console after such an event, you will see a list of networked variables, with the last one being SVC_BAD due to corrupt packets.
I also have 5 or 6 of the WUSB54G wireless adapters. They have the same connection dropping problems as the routers, plus terrible signal strength and no drivers for anything beyond Windows XP (even though they state Vista/7 is supported.)
TL;DR, Linksys got pimped by Cisco and turned to shit. Go with netgear, Dlink or in my case, build your own router. As for wireless, I bought a Rosewill (Realtek chipset) wireless adapter and don't know why I didn't sooner.
I recently bought a Netgear Rangemax WNR3500v2, and it easily does the job with it's 8 inbuilt antennas, outputting a lovely 300Mbit/s signal across our rather large house.
And if those antennas aren't enough, then it supports repeaters, that you can plant around the house where the signal doesn't reach.
Has anti-dos protection for the paranoid aswell. :v:
I have a Lynksys ruouter and i love it, never let me down.
Dlink is used here.
[B]Not[/B] Netgear.
They still don't support any 64-bit OS, and my own Network card is still not supported under Windows 7 at all.
Was on a belkin based network (one times N1 Modem Router for WEP Networking, one N1 Router for WPA Networking) up until yesterday, when the Modem Router was resetting for no apparent reason (switched to my ISP's ThompsonShitPit and it works fine), so that'll probably have to go in for RMA.
ON TOP OF THE FACT THAT I ONLY RMA'D THE WPA ROUTER A MONTH AGO FOR A POWER SUPPLY FAULT.
Anyone got a good Linksys [b]MODEM[/b] router that doesn't cost the earth (saw the Dual-Channel N does-it-all-while-having-its-cock-sucked one in PC world, was £160 - wut, the N1Vision Modem Router only costs £120)?
[QUOTE=LarparNar;18819384][B]Not[/B] Netgear.
They still don't support any 64-bit OS, and my own Network card is still not supported under Windows 7 at all.[/QUOTE]
Currently running a WiFi adapter from the end of 2005, on Vista x64.
What am I missing here?
Not anything by US Robotics. Everything is a bitch to get working on any platform.
[QUOTE=leach139;18819571]Anyone got a good Linksys [b]MODEM[/b] router[/QUOTE]
Can't you just buy an extra modem?
[QUOTE=DrTaxi;18820332]Can't you just buy an extra modem?[/QUOTE]
Or ask your ISP for a free one?
Linksys.
Got our for free :smug:
[QUOTE=Tools;18820559]Or ask your ISP for a free one?[/QUOTE]
The Thompson Shitscali gave me doesn't support running in standalone modem mode. I've tried running the modem router in pure modem mode (no NAT, no auth) and connecting it to the router but they just don't want to talk, and I can't be faffed paying £35 for an ethernet modem.
35? Over here they're 10€ on eBay.
[QUOTE=Tools;18819685]Currently running a WiFi adapter from the end of 2005, on Vista x64.
What am I missing here?[/QUOTE]
You are missing that I didn't say it won't work, I said it's just not supported.
I had huge problems getting my WG311v3 to work in Windows 7 x64.
Linksys WRT54GL with Tomato firmware, you'll get months of uptime without problems. Previously I'd have to reset my router all the time, now it's transparent and I've almost forgotten I have a router.
I'm using some Netgear brand one, although I don't use the wireless connectivity myself. It's mostly family that use it. Works fine too.
NetGear and Linksys are both pretty good.
Rocking a DG834N as a modem here, with the custom DGTeam firmware. For a router, I have a Smoothwall (2.66ghz P4, 2GB RAM, 4 NICs, totally overkill I'm aware). I use Belkin wireless access points (because I can get them free/very cheap).
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