Looking for a cheap wireless router for home with decent range performance

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SNYP40A1

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
Messages
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I am looking for a cheap wireless router to use with my home DSL line. I am looking for something in the $40-$50 range. My only requirement is that the range performance must be decent. I have a Netgear Wireless G router (WRG614?) and it is a piece of shit. The router is located downstairs in my house and I have a really crappy connection when in my bedroom. How do I know that the router is the problem and not my laptop's wireless networking port? Because the neighbor's router which is located up the street a few houses away provides a stronger signal!! And no, my router does not have to penetrate any more walls to get to my room compared to my neighbor's router. He's using a MIMO router, but I feel kinda guilty leaching off his/her connection. Well, not really, but I don't want to be confronted about it. Anyway, all I care about is range and with about a 1 Mbps pipe (DSL service is relatively slow). Recommendations?
 
I use a Linksys WRT54G v4 with the DD-WRT firmware on it. I haven't upgraded because it is rock solid with that firmware, and DD-WRT provides shitloads of settings. The only problem with the 54G is that it doesn't support 802.11n. If you aren't worried about the hype about Pre-N, Draft-N, and the other "Almost, but not quite"-N's, get the WRT54GS which is $74.99 on Newegg as of right now.
 
If you want DD-WRT (awesome), you'll need the WRT54GL instead of the GS. You may get an older GS that works, but odds are you'll get a v5 or higher that doesn't support DD-WRT or any other third party firmware.

Another option is the Buffalo WHR G54S. These routers are all good as they stand, but DD-WRT adds so much function, I flash it on almost all I touch now.
 
0ldman said:
If you want DD-WRT (awesome), you'll need the WRT54GL instead of the GS. You may get an older GS that works, but odds are you'll get a v5 or higher that doesn't support DD-WRT or any other third party firmware.

Another option is the Buffalo WHR G54S. These routers are all good as they stand, but DD-WRT adds so much function, I flash it on almost all I touch now.
Click to expand...

I would just get a plain WRT54G v4 then. I don't think that the v5's would work with DD-WRT. And i don't know anything about the differences in the 54g and the 54gl.
 
the 54G is in v5 as well, its a crapshoot.
The 54GL is the v4 hardware, guaranteed to work with 3rd party firmware, the L is for Linux.
 
Thanks for the advice. I ended up buying a Linksys WRT54G v5 locally from ENU. I picked it up for $63. Those guys have treated me well in the past so I owe them my loyalty. I had a hell of a time installing it though. Took me about 3-4 hours to install. One real pain in the ass. It turns out that the problem had nothing to do with my router, but instead with my stupid Westell (Verizon) DSL modem. The modem had for some reason locked onto the MAC address of my old Netgear wireless router. So the Netgear would pick up an IP from the modem using DHCP, but no other device would. Finally, I had to call Verizon and had them perform a line check which in the process caused my modem to unlock the MAC address of the Netgear router and instead lock onto the MAC address of my PC. But the trouble did not end there. The other part of the problem came from using that stupid (for idiots and non-technical people really) CD that came with the Linksys router. On any other router I could type in http://192.168.0.1 and I would arrive at the setup page. Linksys for some odd reason insists on http://192.168.1.1, but I could not arrive at that webpage until I held the reset button on the back of the router for 5 seconds while powered on, consequently restoring the router to factory settings. Once I had the factory settings back I was able to pull up the configuration webpage and I then immediately updated the firmware to the latest (I downloaded the firmware using another computer on a dial-up connection...yeah, really painful). After I had the most up-to-date firmware up, I had the router clone my PC's MAC address...and guess what, suddenly it received an IP address from my wireless modem. So Verizon's retarded MAC address locking caused this mess. I really hate those pig f***ers. Why would they do such a stupid thing?

Anyway, as for performance, I like the Linksys a lot better. I put the router in the same exact spot as my own Netgear and my wireless reception in my room is much better. I have yet to drop a connection. I think I also get faster response when on VPN services, but this could be a side-effect of the better wireless range. Hard to say. So in the end the $63 was worth it. Just be careful when upgrading routers on DHCP modems...they might become very attached to your old MAC addresses.
 
I never use the CD that comes with the routers...no matter what brand. Good old fashioned web admin all the way for me.

Never heard of Verizons Westell modems locking onto any MAC...and I've done quite a few Verizon installs. I have a hunch it was more related to wether it was running pure bridged mode or not, or which was doing the PPPoE. Matter of fact today I have to go replace a wireless router at a clients, got frizzled somehow last week...I used my temporary loaner wired router to get them up and running while I ordered a new Linksys wireless. No problems swapping out the old modem with the replacement.
 
A 10 second power cycle will usually solve all MAC locking problems.
 
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