need a good router,any suggestions

[shaneshane1]

I have a acer aspire 3000 notebook computer, and want to get a wireless router for my computer, and two PSP's (playstation Portable)

I dont know anything about routers, and was wondering if anyone can suggest a decent wireless router, and mabye some key features that these routers have,eg: why are some better then others?

i would prefer a cheap one ($AU) that i can get from local stores near me.

the range on the router doesnt have to be all that far (about 15 to 20 meters squared)

 

[Brian Hoskins]

I can't help you with picking the right Router, but I might be able to stop you from picking the wrong one. I've had quite a bad experience with Linksys wireless routers in the past. Basically the connection would drop in and out all of the time, even when the signal condition was excellent. If the wifi dropped out, sometimes you could get it started again by browsing to the HTML setup page and restarting it. Sometimes that still wouldn't work, and sometimes the html page itself wouldn't even work. If that happened the only thing you could do was switch it off, wait 30 seconds, and then try it on again. Then you'd have to wait for the router to boot up which always seemed to take forever and at the end of it all you still weren't guaranteed that it'd connect again! You end up rebooting your PC because you think it might be that, and in the end I got so annoyed with it that I ran a cable straight to it so that I wouldn't have to do wifi anymore.

My parents also bought a Linksys wireless router and they had the same troubles as me. In fairness though a few friends of mine have had problems with their wifi connections and they don't use Linksys routers so it might be a general problem with the technology. The main problem with my Linksys router was that it seemed to crash when the wifi connection was lost because you couldn't browse to the HTML setup page, even from a PC that was hard wired to it. When it crashed it was sometimes a right pain in the backside to get it going again, and because the wifi connection was lost so often it became too much hassle to bother using it.

What's everyone else's experience of wifi?

Brian

 

[shaneshane1]

iv looked at a few routers in some catalogues, and seen one that was D-LINK and it said 54kbps, i dont know how that effects my pc, will it still run as fast as my land line broadband connection or will it be slower?

 

[Brian Hoskins]

It should be fine for broadband speeds, but you will notice a considerable speed reduction in transfers over WLAN (as opposed to regular LAN). If you don't move files between the computers connected to your router very often, then this isn't an issue for you.

Brian

 

[mvs sarma]

did you try info for NETGEAR WGR614

 

[Brian Hoskins]

It should be fine for broadband speeds, but you will notice a considerable speed reduction in transfers over WLAN (as opposed to regular LAN). If you don't move files between the computers connected to your router very often, then this isn't an issue for you.

Brian

One time when it can be an issue, is if you try to access a large file on one of your computers from your wireless PC. For example, say your main PC is downstairs and you have some DVD quality movies on it. You have a wireless laptop and you want to watch the movies on it upstairs. You'll find that the wifi connection will struggle to communicate the data quickly enough. Personally, if I were to go the wifi route again, I'd go for the fastest I could afford. But 54Kbps is fine for broadband speeds so it really depends on your application I guess.

Brian

 

[shaneshane1]

It should be fine for broadband speeds, but you will notice a considerable speed reduction in transfers over WLAN (as opposed to regular LAN). If you don't move files between the computers connected to your router very often, then this isn't an issue for you.

Brian

mainly will be using psp (playstation portible) for wireless internet, and if i am using the pc + psp at the same time will the speed be reduced?

 

[Brian Hoskins]

Of course the wifi speed will be shared between all the devices you connect to the network. You won't notice it though, if all you're using it for is to browse the internet.

Brian

 

[Analog]

I like DeWalt Routers. Bit changes are easy, and it has variable torque!

 

[Torben]

I have a acer aspire 3000 notebook computer, and want to get a wireless router for my computer, and two PSP's (playstation Portable)

I dont know anything about routers, and was wondering if anyone can suggest a decent wireless router, and mabye some key features that these routers have,eg: why are some better then others?

i would prefer a cheap one ($AU) that i can get from local stores near me.

the range on the router doesnt have to be all that far (about 15 to 20 meters squared)

If you're planning on gaming, then latency will be important to you. Ye olde cheapo model X will probably disappoint. And 15 to 20 meters (I'm pretty sure you do not mean 20 meters squared, but rather a 20 meter radius around the router) is pretty good range unless you're talking wireless-N. I've been quite happy with my D-Link Xtreme N gaming router, but then I bought the matching PC Card adaptor for my laptop and PCI card for my desktop (my new laptop has it built in). The router is CDN $140 which is may seem steep but I've found it worth it. In the past I've tried to save money with, say, a lowish-end Linksys, and ended up just spending my time swearing at the stupid thing. The D-Link Xtreme has great range and latency and is plenty fast.


Torben

 

[crusty]

Go to https://www.dd-wrt.com
look for compatible routers, I would recommend one of the buffalos.
Flash it to DD-WRT, you'll never look back at any other routers again.
I have a linksys WRT54GS V7, i used to have to reboot like every day because it would freeze up on high traffic loads using the default firmware. I flashed it over to DDWRT and I can go about a 2-3 weeks without a reboot, plus it's very configurable allowing you to in/decrease the RF output power.

 

[monkeybiter]

i just got an asus wl600g for 40ukp. 4 port ethernet, wifi and two usb ports for print server and usb storage device ftp. very pleased so far.

 

[Pommie]

I think you may have misread the spec of the D-Link router. It runs at 54Mbps. I have a DI624+ and have no problems. I would however recommend getting a router with the DSL modem built in. I would also advise staying clear of Belkin, I had no end of trouble with a laptop wireless adapter made by Belkin.

Mike.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I think you may have misread the spec of the D-Link router. It runs at 54Mbps. I have a DI624+ and have no problems. I would however recommend getting a router with the DSL modem built in. I would also advise staying clear of Belkin, I had no end of trouble with a laptop wireless adapter made by Belkin.

Funnily enough I always use Belkin, I've found it easy to use any reliable, I'm connected via a Belkin router/modem at this very moment.

 

[jpanhalt]

Haven't seen anyone mention SMC yet. Mine is an SMC "Barricade" 7004VWBR. Installed it about 3 years ago. Had one little problem getting it to work with a printer (HP4101mfp), called service, got quick and efficient help. No issues at all since. It is upstairs in a brick and concrete block (double wall) home with real plaster walls. PC's on the first floor get a good signal everwhere. I have re-booted about twice in that time, but not sure whether it was the cable modem or router, since whenever there is a problem, I re-boot both to save time. John

 

[Pommie]

Funnily enough I always use Belkin, I've found it easy to use any reliable, I'm connected via a Belkin router/modem at this very moment.

I may be being unfair to Belkin. I had a D-Link router, a D-Link network card in a desktop and a Belkin adapter in my laptop. I was constantly having to reboot the Belkin and so swapped it for a D-Link and never had a problem again. It may well have been that had the router been Belkin I would have had the opposite experience and be recommending them.

Mike.

 

[crusty]

Don't forget that the name on the front doesn't mean jack. I got a linksys WRT54GS, and it's actually a Broadcom 5054 chip/board. Kinda reminds me of the new Sony's. Everything made now a days is a POS.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Don't forget that the name on the front doesn't mean jack. I got a linksys WRT54GS, and it's actually a Broadcom 5054 chip/board. Kinda reminds me of the new Sony's. Everything made now a days is a POS.

New Sony what? - all Sony TV's are made by Sony themselves, at least in Europe, but as you don't have your location filled in we don't know where you are?.

 

[crusty]

New Sony what? - all Sony TV's are made by Sony themselves, at least in Europe, but as you don't have your location filled in we don't know where you are?.

southeast USA, and yes i've seen a mitshumi boards in some sony's TV sets i've worked on. Panasonic in JVC, etc, etc. whatever is cheap and can rip consumers off with a big shiny namebrand on it.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Are you talking CRT, Plasma or LCD?. Mitsumi (assuming that's what you meant?), make 'components' such as RF modulators, tuners, and sometimes PSU's - I've seen Mitsumi PSU's in some VCR's. Most Plasma sets also use bought-in PSU's, and (obviously) bought-in PDP's - also Sony don't make LCD panels, although most they use are made by S-LCD, which Sony own 50% of - one share, and Samsung own 50% + one share.