The Router Recommendations Thread (Consumer)

[wizzade]

I have a compter wired to a modem and was wondering what kind of router I would need to run my ps3 and another computer? Thank you

 

[Zero82z]

I have a compter wired to a modem and was wondering what kind of router I would need to run my ps3 and another computer? Thank you

Depends on specifically what you're looking for. If you just want something that you can connect your PC and PS3 to with wires, pretty much anything will do. If you want something wireless, take a look at the list on the first page of this thread to get an idea of the good products that are out there.

 

[wizzade]

i want wireless and i have no idea what im looking at

 

[Orinthical]

i want wireless and i have no idea what im looking at

Look at the DIR-625 or DIR-628, the former supporting 2.4GHz (N+backwards compatible) only and $20 cheaper and the latter supporting 2.4 or 5GHz (N+A).

The best part for you, perhaps, is that you can pick these up at any brick-and-mortar store like Best Buy and, at your option, have them "install and secure" it for you. Or, you can play around with the emulator until you're comfortable with disabling/securing wireless yourself.

 

[Anchen]

Hoping someone might be able to help me out, I got a D-Link DGL-4500 a few weeks ago and it works pretty well, I was able to get good signal to my PC and PS3 which are in the same room, which on my last router whenever both devices were on they would constantly interfere with one another. I do have a problem though in that it seems the device seems to drop signal due to rebooting or otherwise quite often (sometimes more than once an hour, although sometimes it goes a few hours fine). I've read some online that it is do to overheating problems, and it does feel warm when i touch it, but I've also read some people who have no issues and great experiences with this router, and it is recommended on this thread. Anyone have any solutions or suggestions?

 

[Orinthical]

I've read some online that it is do to overheating problems, and it does feel warm when i touch it, but I've also read some people who have no issues and great experiences with this router, and it is recommended on this thread. Anyone have any solutions or suggestions?

Which version of hardware do you have? Also, try updating the firmware to the latest version -- if it's still behaving this way, flash to an older version -- if it's still behaving this way you may have bad hardware. Exchange it for another of the same model if you can.

 

[Brock]

ive viewed the recommendations and checked the thread and i still cant decide.

i need something with uber range right out of the box at 150 max.....hmmmm..

 

[Orinthical]

i need something with uber range right out of the box at 150 max.....hmmmm..

Your best bet is to go to a B&M store, buy one of the models and see if it works in your environment. If it works well, great - if not, return it and get the next model from the list. There are too many variables in a given environment to tell you definitively whether one router is going to out-range another in your specific environment. My house for instance is a wireless black hole.

Define 'uber' range? And whether range is more important than speed to you.

 

[Jaguar Jim1]

Is there any quantitative proof of which Service is Faster or that offers better Security, or loss of Data? Which Solution is still the end all/be all for Serious Gaming/Networking Solutions? No matter how complete your Links are, without an Adequate Comparison between the competing formats, no person can make a viable decision.
For Instance, When Nvidia came out with Dual Gig Nics on a Motherboard Solution that allowed Dual Network Card Teaming, so that both NICs shared the Load, thus increasing throughput, it set the Networking Industry on its ear. Hey what's this, many Board Rooms were heard mumbling. Hmmmm?
When it comes to reliability and Security, there is no doubt the Wired is still the preferred method of Data Streaming. The only Drawback is Distance being Wired networks Achiles heel.
So the Logical Conclusion is to have Both, as each has its merits. aka redundancy

Not everyone has been involved in Networking for very long in terms of TIme invested in this Technology, even though they have Purchased Routers, Hubs, Switches and the Cards to connect their Networks, most of the time they Blindly stumble onto a working setup, without know how the Heck they Did it, hoping they can duplicate it if need be.

A lot of people come to Sites like this to gather as much info as possible in order to avoid purchasing Problematic Equipment, by Reading Other Peoples Views on some Item, that they may Purchase.

My 7 Year Old Linksys Router started to Drop Connections about a Week ago, necessitating a Complete Power Recycling of the DSL Modem and Router, in which to gain Access to the Routers Menu pages. After a couple of Days of this Strange Behavior by a Piece of Equipment that up until now had been Completely Reliable, albeit a tad Slow, 10/100 was still adequate for most Surfing Needs, and the Occasional Game.

I completely shut my Network down for a few days except for my basic Surfing Computer which I connected directly to my DSL Modem, and was still working. About an Hour ago the Fedex Dude drops off a Brand New D-Link DGL4100 Gaming Router, and D-Link DGS2208 8 Port Switch on my Doorstep. Problem Solved, and D-Link has been a Good Company for a Long Time.

 

[Orinthical]

Is there any quantitative proof of which Service is Faster or that offers better Security, or loss of Data? Which Solution is still the end all/be all for Serious Gaming/Networking Solutions? No matter how complete your Links are, without an Adequate Comparison between the competing formats, no person can make a viable decision.
For Instance, When Nvidia came out with Dual Gig Nics on a Motherboard Solution that allowed Dual Network Card Teaming, so that both NICs shared the Load, thus increasing throughput, it set the Networking Industry on its ear. Hey what's this, many Board Rooms were heard mumbling. Hmmmm?
When it comes to reliability and Security, there is no doubt the Wired is still the preferred method of Data Streaming. The only Drawback is Distance being Wired networks Achiles heel.
So the Logical Conclusion is to have Both, as each has its merits. aka redundancy

Not everyone has been involved in Networking for very long in terms of TIme invested in this Technology, even though they have Purchased Routers, Hubs, Switches and the Cards to connect their Networks, most of the time they Blindly stumble onto a working setup, without know how the Heck they Did it, hoping they can duplicate it if need be.

A lot of people come to Sites like this to gather as much info as possible in order to avoid purchasing Problematic Equipment, by Reading Other Peoples Views on some Item, that they may Purchase.

My 7 Year Old Linksys Router started to Drop Connections about a Week ago, necessitating a Complete Power Recycling of the DSL Modem and Router, in which to gain Access to the Routers Menu pages. After a couple of Days of this Strange Behavior by a Piece of Equipment that up until now had been Completely Reliable, albeit a tad Slow, 10/100 was still adequate for most Surfing Needs, and the Occasional Game.

I completely shut my Network down for a few days except for my basic Surfing Computer which I connected directly to my DSL Modem, and was still working. About an Hour ago the Fedex Dude drops off a Brand New D-Link DGL4100 Gaming Router, and D-Link DGS2208 8 Port Switch on my Doorstep. Problem Solved, and D-Link has been a Good Company for a Long Time.

Glad you're happy with your purchase, the DGL-4100 is a great router; it was my router of choice for a long time actually and is still up and running years later - just at a friend's house.

As for the start of your message, I'm not sure how to take it. I guess some history would help to clear the air but I thought that was explained in the first section of the original post. Many of the people on [H], especially in the Networking & Security subforum, are field professionals with many years of experience architecting, deploying, troubleshooting and repairing networks of all shapes and sizes. The list started, and continues to be, filled with routers that those people either have or currently do recommend to people based upon performance, reliability and price-point.

As for quantitative evidence: [H] doesn't have an official Router review/test section. Leaving many of the recommendations and ranking to either the personal experience of members of this forum, my own experience or data collected from various websites, not the least of which is smallnetbuilder.com . Most, if not all, of the routers recommended here have detailed reviews and statistical data on them over at that site. This is one of the reasons it's linked under the suggested reading section.

Of course I also ask people to post back here if they have trouble with specific models or wish to recommend a given model. If a person recommends a router that I haven't heard of or owned, I search the web for statistical data or detailed reviews on it. I read more than a few, look through forum links for reports of firmware bugs or bad hardware, etc. If that all comes back clean or the percentage of yays is higher than nays, the router is put in the list and ranked appropriate to its performance and overall 'score'.

But regardless of the amount of data a person's experience is ultimately subjective. There are far too many variables in wireless to give wholly accurate performance statistics for every person's individual home or business. Wired is easy because you eliminate the vast majority of these issues and can simply measure raw throughput and connections.

As for the nVidia dual-NIC thing; what they were trying to do was quickly smashed by the fact that the nVidia MAC was plagued with development issues and the Marvell LOM chip often used for the second NIC also had performance issues. I ended up putting a PCIe 1x Intel 1000PT in my boards that had the nVidia+Marvell solution because of performance issues. Ultimately though, the dual-nic on a desktop has been debated here before (search the Networking & Security forum) and the result tends to be that unless you're using your machine as a gateway for internet sharing, there's little use for the second NIC.

 

[brownkc]

Looking for direction on where I should buy off the list on the first page. I don't know if QoS, etc will make a difference. I'm not much of a tweaker and prefer to find a really good/stable setting and let it run.

I have a gigabit ethernet set up w/ an Xbox 360, HTPC, Server and Desktop hardwired to it. I have a couple of notebooks that access it occasionally but I usually hardwire them rather than going wireless. I would still like wireless capability even though I currently keep it turned off. I have a Netgear WGR614v5 connected to my cable modem and 2 HP printers (I'm losing a lot of download bandwidth with this router). I live by myself so there is usually only one major stream of traffic going at a time. Major uses are netflix downloads, accessing the server, browsing, torrents and gaming. Currently, I avoid more than one download intensive task at a time so I won't getting frustrated with slowdowns but if QoS will magically slow a torrent down so I can maximize framerates in TF2, I would spend the money. Also, I want to make sure the router will let me take full advantage of 15 Mb/s download bandwidth.

 

[DJS2]

Hey all, Im going to be installing a wireless network in my friend's house. She just got a new laptop and has an old crappy emachine which I despise as her desktop.

Need a cheap wireless router (< $70) with minimal "goodies." Must maintain decent signal to upstairs part of the house as well.

Questions:

1. Are the new alien-looking linksys routers any good? (IE, WRT54G2) and how do they compare to the older ones? (IE, WAP54G)
2. Ive really only worked with linksys before, but should I be considering d-link (honest answers, no fanboys ) Ive never really heard great stuff about d-link.
3. Any specific models I should look at?

Thanks all. Should be purchasing it later today or tomorrow.

 

[Anchen]

Which version of hardware do you have? Also, try updating the firmware to the latest version -- if it's still behaving this way, flash to an older version -- if it's still behaving this way you may have bad hardware. Exchange it for another of the same model if you can.

According to the box I have hardware version A1. I haven't upgraded the firmware yet I suppose, I'm still using the default 1.02 version. I would have hoped that the out of the box version would at least give me stability though but I guess maybe not? I'll give it a try. Do you have personal experience with this router? I've read on the net several complaints of similar issues to what I've had, ie bad stability/lots of resets, but I've also read a lot of very positive reviews so I'm not sure how much to stick with it. When it works it works rather nicely, so it's just these resets that are dragging it way down right now.

 

[Orinthical]

According to the box I have hardware version A1. I haven't upgraded the firmware yet I suppose, I'm still using the default 1.02 version. I would have hoped that the out of the box version would at least give me stability though but I guess maybe not? I'll give it a try. Do you have personal experience with this router? I've read on the net several complaints of similar issues to what I've had, ie bad stability/lots of resets, but I've also read a lot of very positive reviews so I'm not sure how much to stick with it. When it works it works rather nicely, so it's just these resets that are dragging it way down right now.

Some of the original version A1 hardware had manufacturing defects that manifested in lock-ups, resets or slow-downs and even a dim appearance to the OLED screen on top. It didn't affect all of them, only a few here and there. If you purchased the router at a B&M store and are still within the grace period for returns, return the device and look for newer revisions of hardware.

Otherwise, try firmware and such and lastly, try calling D-Link to get a replacement under warranty.

 

[Jaguar Jim1]

Thanks for the info, I found it enlightening. I really haven't done a lot with Networking, other than Configure my Routers with a DMZ Port, also locked my Router to the MAC Addresses of my Gear, to try and keep unwanted intruders out. But, you know that nothing can keep a sustained attacker out. I've been asked by a lot of my Customers, to set up their Networks, thankfully since they're mostly going Wireless nowadays, it's quite easy to get them going, though I'm not sure why they wanted me to do it, except for somebody else to blame if it goes wrong, oh well. Job Security.

 

[Jaguar Jim1]

I have a compter wired to a modem and was wondering what kind of router I would need to run my ps3 and another computer? Thank you

I Would also Recommend the D-Link DIR825 Extreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router, as not only does do B,G,N, Wired, it also has a Shared USB Port that would allow a Group to Share a Printer, or HD and that makes it a very nice Feature in itself.

 

[GJSNeptune]

The SharePort is a firmware feature. D-Links' other Draft N routers can utilize SharePort with the 1.21 firmware. I have the DIR-655, which also does B,G, and N.

 

[Mav451]

Need advice on upgrade.

I'm currently on a ZyXEL X-550. It's been a great light-weight for the past 2 years. Back then it was just 2 or 3 wireless users at a time. Fast forward to today, it's now common to have 5-7 wireless users on, with at least half of them potentially using Bit Torrent.

How big of a difference would I see upgrading to the D-Link DGL-4500?

 

[Zero82z]

Need advice on upgrade.

I'm currently on a ZyXEL X-550. It's been a great light-weight for the past 2 years. Back then it was just 2 or 3 wireless users at a time. Fast forward to today, it's now common to have 5-7 wireless users on, with at least half of them potentially using Bit Torrent.

How big of a difference would I see upgrading to the D-Link DGL-4500?

If you're experiencing slow connection issues, that would most likely be due to BitTorrent running rather than any router issues. On the other hand, if you're getting dropped packets and connections, then a new router will help. The first problem won't be helped by the DGL-4500, but that router certainly wouldn't have issues serving 5-7 simultaneous clients, so if you're having connection issues it would be a good upgrade.

Without knowing specifically what sort of problems you're having though, it isn't really possible to give you a specific suggestion.

 

[Mav451]

Uptime is great, never dropped a connection, etc.
I guess the ONLY problem is when you initially start a torrent.

E.g. the first 30-90seconds of opening connections for BT. Internet browsing gets incredibly unresponsive. I'm a pretty impatient person, so whenever a click doesn't result in a web page change (i.e. usual 0.5 seconds vs. 4-10seconds), it ticks me off. My more technical friends all have Linux boxes doing the hard work, but they're also ALL on wired connections. That said, once those connections are made, QoS seems to "work" and I'm getting great BT speeds (700KB/s+) while also getting great browsing responsive and speed.

It's just that initial connection time. My friend did suggest maybe going to DD-WRT + router that has more RAM could help with the BT opening connections issue...


To supplement this, for the most part, network speeds are GREAT! I just worry if two users simultaneously start torrents, grrrr.

 

[Zero82z]

In that case, a new router could be beneficial. It seems like your router is having trouble initializing parallel connections, so it's probably actually a CPU issue, although it could be RAM as well. I don't know if I'd go with a DGL-4500 due to the fact that it's a pretty expensive router, but a better unit could help a lot. I suggest you go to a B&M store and purchase a high-end router, then try it with your setup and see if things improve. If not, you can always return the new one and revert back.

 

[Mav451]

Looks like I can get a DIR-655 for $99 - which is not much at all . Guess I'll try that over the weekend and see how that works.

Hmm, DIR-825 is $30 more. SmallNetBuilder didn't seem too positive on it, but I think that's b/c he's comparing looking at dual-bands as a whole (not my concern right now). Also not sure how it compares to the 628, which the reviewer describes as a 4500-lite. I wonder where the 655 fits in then?

 

[prasvt]

I've had the DIR-655 for 6 months and it's been rock solid. If you have good quality N cards, range is pretty good but in my house the walls are thick so it's good for a singe floor. Other than that, I'd suggest sticking with firmware 1.11 as 1.12 wasn't so great.

I also have the DGL-4300 which I have connected to the 655 (via powerline) as an upstairs access point. With a D-Link 7dbi antenna, it seems to have better range than the 655. It's not an N router, but it's just as expensive as the 655 (though I did buy it at Frys as opposed to newegg this time). Anyway this router's been rock solid as well.

Though I have N cards on 2 comps in the house, I run the routers in G mode - don't really do LAN transfers and it's enough to support our 16mbit cable connection.

 

[Q-BZ]

Quick question:

I've seen interesting debates about the pros and cons of using the 5GHz bandwidth vs. 2.4GHz and the concept I get is: 5GHz would be great if it "had enough power behind it."

That being said...is shooting for 5GHz N really worth it or am I going to see the lack of range that I've seen complained about?

Otherwise, I'll just buy something like a DIR655 and matching adapter and forget about it, but I just wanted to make sure I understood all of this first going into it.


Also, I seem to run across a difference of opinion on this: As far as adapters go, are there really any benefits of PCI or PCI-E adapters over USB adapters?

 

[OmegaAvenger]

Quick question:

I've seen interesting debates about the pros and cons of using the 5GHz bandwidth vs. 2.4GHz and the concept I get is: 5GHz would be great if it "had enough power behind it."

That being said...is shooting for 5GHz N really worth it or am I going to see the lack of range that I've seen complained about?

Otherwise, I'll just buy something like a DIR655 and matching adapter and forget about it, but I just wanted to make sure I understood all of this first going into it.


Also, I seem to run across a difference of opinion on this: As far as adapters go, are there really any benefits of PCI or PCI-E adapters over USB adapters?

for wifi A/B/G/N? No. the theoretical bandwidth of USB still tumbs the theoretical bandwidth of even N.

 

[Q-BZ]

for wifi A/B/G/N? No. the theoretical bandwidth of USB still tumbs the theoretical bandwidth of even N.

N all the way on my above post.

So USB is no worries no matter what? That's what you mean?

 

[OmegaAvenger]

N all the way on my above post.

So USB is no worries no matter what? That's what you mean?

That's what I'd go for. PCI-E is totally overkill for wireless. PCI is also plenty.

an internal PCI/PCI-E card will leave just an antenna exposed, but a USB is more portable and you use a cable to extend it and position it wherever you need to. Plus it can be fun to hack those and add an RP-SMA jack for an even better signal.

USB adapters are probably cheaper too since they are less complicated

 

[Q-BZ]

That's what I'd go for. PCI-E is totally overkill for wireless. PCI is also plenty.

an internal PCI/PCI-E card will leave just an antenna exposed, but a USB is more portable and you use a cable to extend it and position it wherever you need to. Plus it can be fun to hack those and add an RP-SMA jack for an even better signal.

USB adapters are probably cheaper too since they are less complicated

Cool.

So the old myth about USB being a "bottleneck" isn't true, at least anymore. Good deal.

 

[OmegaAvenger]

Cool.

So the old myth about USB being a "bottleneck" isn't true, at least anymore. Good deal.

it is. but its not true for wifi.

 

[WalkedAirplane]

Can anyone suggest a router that can handle a 20mbps business connection (at my house, not for a business) for sustained periods of time and still run well?

I skimmed the thread and did not find that addressed directly, but it would be quite helpful to know.

 

[OmegaAvenger]

Nearly any home router can handle that was made in the last 2 years or so.

But based upon popularity:

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=530

 

[Q-BZ]

Choosing the router is the easy part for me on this. I'll probably either get the DIR 655 or DGL 4500.

Where I'm tripping up on is adapters. It seems like everywhere I go all I'm hearing and seeing about is poor range and suspect performance on most if not all of these adapters. From the earlier posts, I guess it doesn't really matter if I choose USB, PCI, PCI-E adapters...I guess just have to cross my fingers.

FWIW, my 5 year old G setup had done "ok" through 2 floors so wouldn't it stand to reason I'd see better performance with an all N setup? The only catch there being 5Ghz having less range at present due to the necessary being underpowered by pretty much all the manufacterers? (Read SmallNetBuilder, for one, for more details about that.)

 

[Klade]

Hiya,

I'm looking for a new router for some friends of the family. They have a new laptop that has a "N" card built in. Obviously the laptop can also read "g" signals. Right now they have whatever crappy router comcast gave them when they signed up for internet. What they are trying to do is use the laptop a good 70 yards away from the router. So I have a couple of questions.

The first question is, does "N" signals get better range then "G" signals, I.E. is it better for them to buy an "N" Router then it is a "G" router.

If N Routers do get better range can someone recommend a good one that is in the $70 and less market.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[pdawg17]

It appears that some gigabit switches slow all ports to the slowest connected device and some don't...how do I know one from the other? Is there terminology in the specs I need to look for? I need a 12 or 16-port gigabit switch but one that does not slow all ports...

 

[sonofander]

the reccomendations list on the 1st page is great, however it doesn't mention jumbo frames support for any of the routers...
TBH I don't even know what jumbo frames are, but on smallnetbuilders they seem to make a big deal out of it.
anyway, here's my situation:

I'm making a move to incorporate NAS on my home network and just want to maximize my data transfer rates (mostly between my wired pc and the NAS box).

I got the d-link dns-323 and plugged it in to my existing router (isp provided) and since it is a 10/100 wireless router I am limited to 12 mbs and I'm not so happy right now.

I know I need gigabit ports to start, but what else should I be looking at? What should I do to get my network data transfer rates up and how high can I expect them to get?

 

[kevinzak]

Hey all,

I have been doing quite a bit of research on wireless routers the last week or so. After around five years of use, my Linksys WRT54G router is slowly dropping connections and needing to be restarted. I've tried different firmwares and same results.

After all my research, I still have not really reached a conclusion on even the best brand for the job, let alone a specific model, so I figured I would ask the experts. I'll first describe my connection. My house is about fourteen miles out of a city and thus, we are limited to less-desirable internet connections. After years of loathing satellite internet, I have been trying Alltel EVDO wireless and while it can't compete with the cable source at my office, it is miles ahead of satellite and even gives me decent enough pings to game with.

What I have now is a USB device connected to a desktop system in my office which shares the connection with my router through the computer's ethernet port and Windows Networking. We have two laptops in the house, a Macbook and a Sony VAIO. Neither have Wireless N support, but I will be buying a new Macbook Pro for myself next year so I would like the router to have draft N support. I also run a pretty long ethernet cable to my workstation in the lower level (sort of a basement) of the house.

So, basically, I would like a very stable router with draft N support and at least four ethernet outputs. I was hoping to find one for under $100. I have always been loyal to Linksys as the four routers I have purchased from them have worked great, but I am open to suggestions on other brands. The main thing I want out of the router is for it to last. There are a lot of models that meet my requirements, so I thought I would leave it up to you guys and your experience to guide me towards the right one.

Thanks!

Edit: Oh, and if the firmware allowed me to give priority to the hardwired connection versus the wireless, that would be great. My WRT54G doesn't really let me do this, so sometimes when I'm in a heated battle on a given game, I just disable wireless all together to get better pings, but this pisses off the rest of the people in the house. So if there was some kind of option that allowed me to prioritize connections, that would be great.

 

[compslckr]

I finally got a dir-655 and it is great so far! the traffic shaping / QoS seems to work well with torrent downloads in conjunction with web surfing. I think it was money well set up.

I loved how you could put a sting of ports in a single box and forward all of them at once instead of having a separate box for each port. my WHS box alone needs 8 ports forwarded to it.

 

[Orinthical]

...I have been trying Alltel EVDO wireless...

What I have now is a USB device connected to a desktop system in my office which shares the connection with my router through the computer's ethernet port and Windows Networking. We have two laptops in the house, a Macbook and a Sony VAIO. Neither have Wireless N support, but I will be buying a new Macbook Pro for myself next year so I would like the router to have draft N support. I also run a pretty long ethernet cable to my workstation in the lower level (sort of a basement) of the house.

So, basically, I would like a very stable router with draft N support and at least four ethernet outputs. I was hoping to find one for under $100. I have always been loyal to Linksys as the four routers I have purchased from them have worked great, but I am open to suggestions on other brands. The main thing I want out of the router is for it to last. There are a lot of models that meet my requirements, so I thought I would leave it up to you guys and your experience to guide me towards the right one.

While EVDO specific routers are starting to come onto the market, they are still $160-$280 according to a quick search. By far the best looks like the Cradlepoint MBR1000, which retails anywhere for $180-250+.

I don't have any first-hand experience with this EVDO device but a router capable of directly interfacing with the device and thereby getting you out of having to use one of your windows workstations for ICS (internet connection sharing) would be a very good thing.

So... if your budget allowed for it, I would steer you toward giving that router a try as it looks like it would solve all of your needs in one easy to use device.

There is also the Linksys WRT54G3GV2-ST, for $120-$160, though that only officially supports Sprint EVDO cards.

That said, if your budget doesn't allow for such excursions, I would recommend the DIR-655 given your budget. It would directly replace your ailing WRT54G without changing your network topology.

Edit: Oh, and if the firmware allowed me to give priority to the hardwired connection versus the wireless, that would be great. My WRT54G doesn't really let me do this, so sometimes when I'm in a heated battle on a given game, I just disable wireless all together to get better pings, but this pisses off the rest of the people in the house. So if there was some kind of option that allowed me to prioritize connections, that would be great.

Just about any router with QoS (Quality of Service) is going to aid you with this. The DIR-655 has this and so does the MBR1000.

So really it's a choice between how much you want to change your topology versus how much you want to spend. If you spend some more you can secure your network, reduce energy usage and probably speed things up a little by putting the router in-front of all the systems instead of running it through a desktop. On the other hand you reduce the number of changes to your network and save some money by directly replacing your ailing router with another.

 

[kevinzak]

While EVDO specific routers are starting to come onto the market, they are still $160-$280 according to a quick search. By far the best looks like the Cradlepoint MBR1000, which retails anywhere for $180-250+.

I don't have any first-hand experience with this EVDO device but a router capable of directly interfacing with the device and thereby getting you out of having to use one of your windows workstations for ICS (internet connection sharing) would be a very good thing.

So... if your budget allowed for it, I would steer you toward giving that router a try as it looks like it would solve all of your needs in one easy to use device.

There is also the Linksys WRT54G3GV2-ST, for $120-$160, though that only officially supports Sprint EVDO cards.

That said, if your budget doesn't allow for such excursions, I would recommend the DIR-655 given your budget. It would directly replace your ailing WRT54G without changing your network topology.


Just about any router with QoS (Quality of Service) is going to aid you with this. The DIR-655 has this and so does the MBR1000.

So really it's a choice between how much you want to change your topology versus how much you want to spend. If you spend some more you can secure your network, reduce energy usage and probably speed things up a little by putting the router in-front of all the systems instead of running it through a desktop. On the other hand you reduce the number of changes to your network and save some money by directly replacing your ailing router with another.

Hey,

Really appreciate the advice. I think I'll probably end up going with the MBR1000. Seems like it's the right way do things, and ICS can get annoying after a while.

Thanks.

 

[travanx]

to chime back in the dgl-4300 does QOS so well with torrents and everything else. all you gotta do is set the torrents up correctly on the router and the rest just works in the background. Best thing I ever did was replace my WRT54G's.