The Router Recommendations Thread (Consumer)

shurcooL said:
Yes it does, but according to this thread, it seems that it is extremely unreliable with people having problems with newer firmware, etc. Isn't that true?
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I have no problems with mine, which is the A2 revision on firmware 1.21 Other people on similar aged routers have no problems either.

The few people whining about problems in this thread don't care to explain the problems, only bitch and get it removed from the list citing "problems." Granted there were some people having problems with a few of the beta firmware releases, which were pulled by D-link shortly there after, but that's why you don't update firmware/bios/software unless it's been tested and fixes a problem you've been having.

edit to add: current versions should be A4 hardware with 1.21 firmware and should work fine out of the box, granted mixed wireless modes with wireless-n don't work so well on any routers (mixed g/n drops them to g speeds if g devices are present, so it's best for n networks to be n only)
 
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I thought the latest firmware for DIR-655 was 1.32NA, and from looking at the forums, there are two threads that talk about how bad it is ever since 1.32NA, etc.

I'm still considering it, because the rating and user feedback for it are pretty positive at Future Shop...

But reliability is very important to me, I want this to be a purchase to last me like ~3-5 years like my last 802.11b router did. ;/
 
The latest isn't what's on the routers on store shelves, which are still shipping with 1.21 from the factory AFAIK
 
Oh, is that so?

So if I buy it, say, from Future Shop, is it likely to come with 1.21 then?

Does it also mean it's not recommended to upgrade to the latest 1.32NA firmware, especially given that you can't downgrade to 1.2x after you've upgraded to 1.3x?
 
shurcooL said:
Oh, is that so?

So if I buy it, say, from Future Shop, is it likely to come with 1.21 then?
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I believe so, yes.

shurcooL said:
Does it also mean it's not recommended to upgrade to the latest 1.32NA firmware, especially given that you can't downgrade to 1.2x after you've upgraded to 1.3x?
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Yes, stick with 1.21

If you buy locally you could easily return it if it doesn't work properly.
 
You really should add some of the ASUS models to the list. They are cheap, and incredibly good with Tomato or DD-WRT installed.

I used to be all for the WRT54GL and the ASUS is the first one to surpass that in my book.

I have a 520gU, but there are others that are great like the 520gC as well.
 
Ok, I bought the DIR-655 router from Future Shop today, and it is A4 hardware revision with 1.32NA firmware preinstalled. :/

I've got 30 days to return it, so let's see how it goes. Initial testing shows... It seems to work, at least I was able to connect to it and stuff.
 
shurcooL said:
Ok, I bought the DIR-655 router from Future Shop today, and it is A4 hardware revision with 1.32NA firmware preinstalled. :/

I've got 30 days to return it, so let's see how it goes. Initial testing shows... It seems to work, at least I was able to connect to it and stuff.
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I had a DIR-655 and foolishly upgraded to the 1.32NA firmware. It was fine at first, then the internet got real laggy, and I'd have to power cycle it all the time. Ended up returning it and got an Airport Extreme. After a week it started making a sizzling sound. Tried the WNDR3700 and didn't get good range on the wireless. Finally settled on the WRT610N from Linksys and so far it has been fast and rock solid. :eek:
 
Ok, so what kind of problems should I be looking out for on the DIR-655 / A4 @ 1.32NA? Besides ones that develop with time on their own, of course. Cuz so far it seems to work ok, but I haven't tried anything really extreme with it yet. I've just been using some n and g clients and they "work." ;/
 
My routers dying and need a new one was going to go with netgear because that's what my cable company (comcast) rents or whatever (though I'm buying my own), anything I need to know about compatibility or will any work?
 
Weiser_Cain said:
My routers dying and need a new one was going to go with netgear because that's what my cable company (comcast) rents or whatever (though I'm buying my own), anything I need to know about compatibility or will any work?
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any will do. ok onto my question:

NETGEAR WNDR3700

or

Linksys WRT610N

??
 
I need some quick input here on mine...

Basically, wired 100mbps connections run a good 85Mbps transfers on my network.
My G laptop runs a sluggish 4Mbps

So my thought was (new laptop is N) of replacing my router with an N router and run everything at 5Ghz. Then just configure the old G router as an AP for the old clients (this way I won't have the speed problem, by running two).

Anyway I just need a good N router. I wan't something stable, above all. My N card isn't dual-band so that really won't benefit me much, but obviously for future use it won't hurt.
 
TechieSooner said:
I need some quick input here on mine...

Basically, wired 100mbps connections run a good 85Mbps transfers on my network.
My G laptop runs a sluggish 4Mbps

So my thought was (new laptop is N) of replacing my router with an N router and run everything at 5Ghz. Then just configure the old G router as an AP for the old clients (this way I won't have the speed problem, by running two).

Anyway I just need a good N router. I want something stable, above all. My N card isn't dual-band so that really won't benefit me much, but obviously for future use it won't hurt.
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The Linksys WRT610N would be a good choice for that, alternatively the WRT310N is a good choice. Both are DD-WRT capable and have gigabit switches. The 310 isn't 5Ghz, though I have no issue with it, and usually get around 40MBps of transfer on wireless clients to my server on a gigabit connection.
 
I'd recommend a WRT320N. It's newer hardware than the 610N (I have a 610N and like it, by the way) with a much faster processor, and I believe more RAM. Can't remember specifics, but people were discussing differences over at DD-WRT forums and my over-all impression was that unless you needed the sharing port on the 610N, you were better off with the 320N. I'm wishing I'd read up a little more before I made my purchase. It looks like you can get a new 320N for about the same money as a refurbed 610N, too.
 
silent-circuit said:
I'd recommend a WRT320N. It's newer hardware than the 610N (I have a 610N and like it, by the way) with a much faster processor, and I believe more RAM. Can't remember specifics, but people were discussing differences over at DD-WRT forums and my over-all impression was that unless you needed the sharing port on the 610N, you were better off with the 320N. I'm wishing I'd read up a little more before I made my purchase. It looks like you can get a new 320N for about the same money as a refurbed 610N, too.
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The 320n uses a Boradcom 4717 processor at 357mhz and has 8MB of flash vs the 4 of the 610/310. The major advantage is the newer processor and being able to use the mega DD-WRT firmware
 
I am needing to boost the range of my current home network by quite a bit. Currently I have a DI-624. It's getting pretty old, but it has never had the range I needed. In my basement I get about 2 of the 5bars. I was thinking about buying 2 moderately priced routers and having one as a WAP. What is the best combo of routers for doing this with spending under say ~$75 or so per router. Is this the best option or should I just go with a single router? It is a really long house and the router is on one end and I need to reach the other.
 
hdawg06 said:
I am needing to boost the range of my current home network by quite a bit. Currently I have a DI-624. It's getting pretty old, but it has never had the range I needed. In my basement I get about 2 of the 5bars. I was thinking about buying 2 moderately priced routers and having one as a WAP. What is the best combo of routers for doing this with spending under say ~$75 or so per router. Is this the best option or should I just go with a single router? It is a really long house and the router is on one end and I need to reach the other.
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Best option for THAT kind of thing is just adding one to extend the signal. Install DD-WRT on a WRT54G or something (Those are $50-60).
Here's a tutorial on it: http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3655041

N would give you better signal but only in the 2.4Ghz band- and even then, dont' expect more than 1 bar extra (if that).
 
C7J0yc3 said:
The 320n uses a Boradcom 4717 processor at 357mhz and has 8MB of flash vs the 4 of the 610/310. The major advantage is the newer processor and being able to use the mega DD-WRT firmware
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Not sure about the 310N but the 610N definitely has 8MB of flash, it can also use Mega DDWRT. (DDWRT's 802.11n support -- or at least their mixed mode support -- seems to suck, though, which is why I'm still on stock Linksys firmware for the time being.)
 
I must agree with you about the DGL-4500 it is a waste of money. I have been through 2 of these this year. I have 2 locations that use these routers. Within a month of each other they quit working. They last 1 year and 1 month and just quit working. I call D-Link and they have no service department to repair them. I asked where I could send them for repairs even If I have to pay for the repairs. There answer was we do not fix our units, we just replace them if they are still on warrantee. Well I missed the 1 year warantee by a month. No mercy from them at all. So these units were the last time I will buy or recommend D-Link for any thing.

Very bad customer service. They don't give a s#%@! So long D-Link. They need to disapear.
 
I was wondering if anyone can recomend the best band-for-your-buck wireless N + gigabit router. I've got 3 wireless N computers that will be accessing the network via the AP, so the gigabit is a factor.
 
djBon2112 said:
I was wondering if anyone can recomend the best band-for-your-buck wireless N + gigabit router. I've got 3 wireless N computers that will be accessing the network via the AP, so the gigabit is a factor.
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I say the Netgear WNDR3700. I have one of these right now that replaced two DLINK DIR855 routers.

I've never been a huge fan of Netgear, but this router certainly got my attention.
 
On dlink, users of the DIR-825 (which I just bought) recommended the WNDR3700.
The dual-frequency DIR-825 is very buggy. I do not recommend it.
 
I noticed that everyone seems to hate on D-Link's consumer stuff a lot (with good reason :p), but what about their high-end stuff, enterprise grade and such. Anyone have much experience? I just pinked up DXS-3227 and I'm wondering what I should expect.

And, I'll be checking out that Netgear when I have a chance. Thanks guys.
 
Theres a reason why everyone hates on d-link. Their product isnt as good or reliable as others. I have a dir-655 draft n gigabit router and every now and then it kicks all of my clients off the network for no reason. At first i thought it was because of overheating, so i sit it vertically, but it was still doing it every week. Later i found out it could be the dns relay feature, so i turned it off and i am hoping this is the solution. Their CS sucks, i was told that since i was over my one year warranty they couldnt help me. Hopefully, if this thing is working fine now then thats good, but i would shy away from d-link, especially when i had a linksys (wrt54g) for the past 4 years before and i never had a problem, it just died on me one day last year. I always thought that since i spent more on this d-link router ($129 in mid 2008), reliability would be a standard feature. But thats nowhere near the case.
 
We are resellers for the local wireless ISP here and they set users up with the DIR-615s. I used to be a huge D-Link fan, but these things are the biggest pieces of shit I have ever seen. We're talking 60%+ fail rate in under 12 months, and it's not just a bad batch. They order in bulk and they only keep about 5-10 on hand.

Starting to use Netgear WGR614s with success so far. I don't like the web interface as much but meh, solid equipment > UI.
 
The DIR-655 and DGL-4500 were both great routers in their original release yet both have been crippled by bad firmware and quite frankly I agree that it's absolutely BS that it's taken D-Link this long (OVER A YEAR!) to 'sorta-kinda' fix the issue and that's only in beta code. They haven't released an official fix yet for either of these enthusiast, former leaders of the pack.

I'll admit that I used to be a D-Link fan; at least of the original DGL-4100 and then of the DIR-655 and DGL-4500 yet their complete disregard for the fact that this massive screw-up inconvenienced thousands of consumers and prosumers coupled with their lag in fixing something they caused is absolutely despicable. Unless D-Link makes some drastic changes to their customer support I will never recommend one of their routers again.

Unfortunately this only really leaves Linksys and Netgear in the mainstream consumer space, which bothers me.
 
I totally agree with you on that. I actually love my dir-655. 95% of the time its working and its very fast. Its just that other 5 percent when i get very frustrated with it because something i would never expect from a router happens consistently, especially when my old linksys never had a down time for 4 years. And d-link's CS needs to be purged. After reading the posts at dslreports.com, im more than sure that d-link realized that they have a problem with their product.
 
So at this point what is the best N router that can carry 3rd party firmware that gives the best performance at the lowest price possible?
 
Methadras said:
So at this point what is the best N router that can carry 3rd party firmware that gives the best performance at the lowest price possible?
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For now, probably the 320n, at least until they finish writing drivers for the WNDR3700
 
Was having some problem with a new Linksys WRT310N (kept locking up, "disconnected" when playing games, etc...). So I bought a Netgear WNDR3700 and its been great!

Gonna go get a new cable modem tomorrow to replace my Linksys CM100 as well. Getting a Motorola SB6120.

Been loyal to Linksys for a long time but no more!
 
I own a DGL 4500 and a companion DWA 160 rev b client. All N setup.
Latest firmwares across the boards.

I've been trying to track down a pesky issue I've had for a while and seeing some of the following posts makes me wonder.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=16584&postcount=61

^^ My story begins there and covers another couple of posts. You can see I got some good advice from one of the best but he's giving advice under the assumption that all the equipment is working properly which it may not be.


What I haven't written over there is something I'll write here: The computer on the DWA 160 is seperated from the DGL 4500 by two floors. Now obviously I don't expect miracles and hard wire performance but when things work right they work very well.

I see very inconsistent and sporadic performance and I do see drop outs.



The last couple of nights the computer on the DWA 160 has been left on around the clock to upload and save files to Carbonite (nice service btw).

Every morning I've come to see that computer has completely lost its connection to the Internet and the only way to get it back is to restart it.

I've checked every Windows and network setting and I'm confident there's nothing wrong there.

Even with the physical issues, I should not see blatant drop outs that don't recover themselves like this.


Now, to these posts:

crewzen said:
I must agree with you about the DGL-4500 it is a waste of money. I have been through 2 of these this year. I have 2 locations that use these routers. Within a month of each other they quit working. They last 1 year and 1 month and just quit working. I call D-Link and they have no service department to repair them. I asked where I could send them for repairs even If I have to pay for the repairs. There answer was we do not fix our units, we just replace them if they are still on warranty. Well I missed the 1 year warantee by a month. No mercy from them at all. So these units were the last time I will buy or recommend D-Link for any thing.

Very bad customer service. They don't give a s#%@! So long D-Link. They need to disapear.
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I've had my unit for about a year. This doesn't make my chest puff with confidence although I haven't seen anything yet that would make me believe I'm near at total failure.

Or am I?...

I would currently have my evil eye on the DWA 160 adapter before the DGL 4500 in my case.

I think I need a better adapter at least and would love recommendations on that. How are those Hawking little dish ones?





Charlie Hustle said:
Theres a reason why everyone hates on d-link. Their product isnt as good or reliable as others. I have a dir-655 draft n gigabit router and every now and then it kicks all of my clients off the network for no reason.
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^^ This is what I'm concerned about in addition to the fickle and inconsistent performance I'm getting on the DWA 160 machine two floors away.

That's what this looks like has been happening to me the last couple of mornings.


At first i thought it was because of overheating, so i sit it vertically, but it was still doing it every week. Later i found out it could be the dns relay feature, so i turned it off and i am hoping this is the solution.
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I'll need to look into this.






Orinthical said:
The DIR-655 and DGL-4500 were both great routers in their original release yet both have been crippled by bad firmware and quite frankly I agree that it's absolutely BS that it's taken D-Link this long (OVER A YEAR!) to 'sorta-kinda' fix the issue and that's only in beta code. They haven't released an official fix yet for either of these enthusiast, former leaders of the pack.
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Could you be more specific as to what that firmware has done negatively? "Massive screwup" being your words?

Since I've kept up with all firmwares that means I have it and I need to know what I've set myself up for.


If I have to, I'll sell this stuff and buy better gear. I hope I don't have to, but I know that a good N setup will be stable and fast enough for my needs even with the current physical setup and I shouldn't be seeing what I am here.


All tips and help appreciated. :)


http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r22544667-Info-DGL4500-New-firmware-121-beta~start=40

^^ These kinds of threads don't make me feel super confident and in fact a lot of that sounds eerily familiar to me.

I have an A1 DGL 4500 which is apparently a real troublemaker.


Boy, I hadn't seen this thread in a long time and I know it's serious when DGL 4500 and 655 are taken down off that first post.

I won't be buying D-Link again after this, I can tell you that. For years I had a Netgear 614 G router and that hardware was excellent. Maybe I'll go back to them.
 
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well, after almost 2 week of turning off dns relay (dir-655), i havent had a single problem. I am keeping tabs on this but so far my router has been running as its supposed to.
 
Charlie Hustle said:
well, after almost 2 week of turning off dns relay (dir-655), i havent had a single problem. I am keeping tabs on this but so far my router has been running as its supposed to.
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Mine mostly is, too, so I don't think I'm in real dire straits like some of those other folks. Hopefully the next firmware smooths this over and finishes it.
 
Charlie Hustle said:
well, after almost 2 week of turning off dns relay (dir-655), i havent had a single problem. I am keeping tabs on this but so far my router has been running as its supposed to.
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i did that as well and it behaved somewhat. i think my cable modem is crappy too lol. my pci-e dlink wifi N card always keeps a connection so i think that card is fine :)
 
I have just been dealing with this issue for almost a year. And i had bought a belkin wireless N router and i wasnt too happy with it because the UI wasnt as friendly and it wouldnt show my shares across the network. So i decided to refund that and go back to the d-link (past warranty anyways so im stuck with it). ANd looking at dslreports website thats when i came across this solution. Its working for me so far so, im pretty happy. I literally had to unplug that thing every week (usually a friday or saturday night) before i disabled the dns relay feature.
 
Happy with my Linksys WRT610N, extremely unhappy with my Linksys WMP600N wireless card -- horrible connection quality, drops and lag spikes, while the laptop a foot away keeps a very solid 802.11g connection the whole time, can't seem to get it working properly regardless of band or drivers used. Anyone have a reasonable priced alternative that's confirmed working with the WRT610N in dual band mode?
 
silent-circuit said:
Happy with my Linksys WRT610N, extremely unhappy with my Linksys WMP600N wireless card -- horrible connection quality, drops and lag spikes,
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Sounds just like the situation I've got with the DWA 160.


I'm seriously starting to eye that MoCa concept and getting away from wireless. I've about had it.
 
Wow, glad I read this... Been having some problems with my old Linksys WRT54G v6 and getting good connection strength throughout my 1400 sq/ft house. I can litteraly be in the room on my laptop and only get an 80% connection rate, 360 is in the front room no more than 30 ft away (straight point to point) and my media streaming (music only) is so horrible that it will barely stay connected, game lag online for COD:WAW is RIDICULOUS!!!

Looks like time to get the NetGear in the future, question is whether or not I should replace my modem too? Have and OLD D-Link Docsis 2.0 from when it FIRST came out, literally close to 8yrs old (got it when I worked at BB). Any recommendations for replacement or firmware upgrades for the modem?
 
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