The Router Recommendations Thread (Consumer)

Thanks for the info, coconutboy; apologize for the lengthy delay as I've been busy. However, I did give those links a read and did some more research on it.

From what I've seen so far (found emulators for DD-WRT, and went to a friend's house to poke at his Netgear WNDR3700 and a tomato router) it doesn't seem like I'd be happy with anything other than D-link at this point. Biggest issue is the logging; everything else seems to do very basic logging, where the dlink will log everything, even web access and sites being visited.

Price is not too big of a concern for me, I'm willing to put down around $200 for a good one (and I mean GOOD; otherwise I'll go with a sub-100 option.)

The problem with dlink is that I have no idea if they've gotten their firmware problems fixed yet. I was looking at the DIR-855 which seemed perfect for my requirements, but SmallNetBuilder seems to be against it and also claims it was plagued with problems at launch. However, the 825 does not seem to be simultaneous dual-band which kind of negates its usefulness (I want to set my home network/laptop up with 5GHz, but my phone can only access N via the 2.4GHz band.)

I don't know what else to do at this point. I could build my own router probably from my spare parts, but I really have no time to wrestle with a new piece of software right now. My last resort seems to be to just try and pick up a cheap G router or a used DGL-4300 again and continue waiting for a better N router.

Any other ideas?
 
Any recommendation for a cheap ‘G’ or ‘N’ reliable router for under $50 or under (the cheaper the better) DD-WRT or Tomato friendly. It is for my in-laws, they currently only use one PC with wired connection, however they might be buying a laptop in the future (they don’t even know if they will). They don’t game or stream HD content, so they don’t need much. For now I would like them to use router’s firewall via wired connection and in the future wi-fi if necessary.
 
Screw you people and your perfectionist ways.
I just spent $340 on a WNDR3700 (the other $200 came from add-ons: a flashlight and a bunch of DVI cables.)
:/
 
Based on this thread, I purchased the Netgear GS724T about 1 year ago for my home network and it has worked perfectly since the purchase. Could not be happier.

It has been deactivated on newegg for a while, so a new model may be out and links need to be updated to the newer unit.
 
Buffalo has their version of DD-WRT that you can flash on their new high power routers.

edit: i see that was posted on the previous page.
 
Anyone know how the Linksys WRT160N (refurbed on Amazon for $31) compares to the Asus RT-N12 (new on Amazon for $40)? The RT-N12 is new and seems to have a few nice extra features (ie external antennae and failed firmware flash recovery), but the WRT160N is cheaper and if it has better performance I'd rather go with that. Or how about the D-Link DIR-655 ($70)? Would that be worth the extra $30-40? Or any other suggestions? Definitely want to be under $100, under $50 would be nice. RT-N13U ($55 - $10 rebate)? I always hate shopping, especially for stuff I'm less familiar with, cause I keep getting caught in a loop looking to spend as little as possible but still getting top performance. This is for the top floor of a house for 3 college students (games, p2p, the usual).
 
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WC Annihilus said:
Anyone know how the Linksys WRT160N
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I stay away from the 160N routers as lots of them have broken firmware with no upgrade path (no newer (that's compatible) firmware version available). Instead, you have to downgrade to an older firmware with a security flaw and use opendns to workaround the security flaw. http://audipages.com/router/ has details.

The older firmware + opendns does indeed work, but it's ridiculous. And, they still sell these all over the place. *Some* of the new ones may be newer versions that don't have this problem, but I don't trust them.
 
Well, after doing some more reading I think my main two considerations right now are the Asus RT-13U ($~55, with possible -$10 rebate) and the Engenius ESR-9850 ($60). Anyone have any thoughts or experience with either of these? And again, open to other suggestions as well.
 
WC Annihilus said:
Well, after doing some more reading I think my main two considerations right now are the Asus RT-13U ($~55, with possible -$10 rebate) and the Engenius ESR-9850 ($60). Anyone have any thoughts or experience with either of these? And again, open to other suggestions as well.
Click to expand...

Asus RT-13U will get my vote.
smile.gif
Have been using it without any problems for a while now.
 
Shadow2531 said:
I stay away from the 160N routers as lots of them have broken firmware with no upgrade path (no newer (that's compatible) firmware version available). Instead, you have to downgrade to an older firmware with a security flaw and use opendns to workaround the security flaw. http://audipages.com/router/ has details.

The older firmware + opendns does indeed work, but it's ridiculous. And, they still sell these all over the place. *Some* of the new ones may be newer versions that don't have this problem, but I don't trust them.
Click to expand...

That was for version 2 of the router. It seems like v3 versions are having another issue (also related to dns). See this 25 page thread of complaints.

Reddit thread on it
 
The WNDR3700 looks like the popular choice in this thread atm. Would you guys recommend it over the D-Link DGL-4500 for a home network with emphasis on gaming? I normally wouldn't go for a router that was labeled as a gaming router, but I figured I would ask since it is in the recommended list. I know newegg reviews aren't a great source of info, but they do seem to complain quite a bit about the DGL-4500 dropping the connection fairly often. I'm curious if there's any truth to that, and if the WNDR3700 would be a better choice regardless.
 
the BEST router from

http://www.bestbuy.ca

OR

http://www.futureshop.ca

Since I work at one of the above. and get a discount.

NEEDS:
Networked USB. Preferably enough that file transfers aren't doggedly slow.
Dual band.
Not going to choke under a 30mbps connection like my current WRT54G w/DD-WRT (I can't even access the damn web portal under load. )

Theeeenks :)
 
0mega said:
the BEST router from

http://www.bestbuy.ca

OR

http://www.futureshop.ca

Since I work at one of the above. and get a discount.

NEEDS:
Networked USB. Preferably enough that file transfers aren't doggedly slow.
Dual band.
Not going to choke under a 30mbps connection like my current WRT54G w/DD-WRT (I can't even access the damn web portal under load. )

Theeeenks :)
Click to expand...


Futureshop doesn't sell decent routers, they are all pieces of shit! it's just low end user stuff nothing great at all!
 
dashpuppy said:
Futureshop doesn't sell decent routers, they are all pieces of shit! it's just low end user stuff nothing great at all!
Click to expand...

I've got a DD-WRT now. I like it, but it sucks.

Lets be serious, the ONLY feature I use is bandwidth usage monitoring. I like the interface, A LOT, but really, it's not helping me when my 30mbit connection saturates the router to the point of COMPLETE FAILURE.

Seriously.

Usenet = Death
Speedtest = Death
Big downloads = Death

It needs to handle that.

As I understand it, both the e3000 and DIR 825 support DD WRT which leads me back to this idea:

If I were to buy a BIG ASS HARD DRIVE, and plug it on the network, which will love me more?

I'm good with computers, I just HATE messing with my network, it's usually quite picky... Stupid Canadaland... Stuff seems to just dislike existing up here ;)
 
0mega said:
I've got a DD-WRT now. I like it, but it sucks.

Lets be serious, the ONLY feature I use is bandwidth usage monitoring. I like the interface, A LOT, but really, it's not helping me when my 30mbit connection saturates the router to the point of COMPLETE FAILURE.

Seriously.

Usenet = Death
Speedtest = Death
Big downloads = Death

It needs to handle that.

As I understand it, both the e3000 and DIR 825 support DD WRT which leads me back to this idea:

If I were to buy a BIG ASS HARD DRIVE, and plug it on the network, which will love me more?

I'm good with computers, I just HATE messing with my network, it's usually quite picky... Stupid Canadaland... Stuff seems to just dislike existing up here ;)
Click to expand...

Ditch the lame ass useless POS routers, build a Untangle box, buy a access point with Wireless N.

Not only will this be better, but you will be stopping viruses, spyware and have more control over the network. "protection" is worth it in every way.

Old computer with 2 network cards is all you need :) Access point 80$ ish, and your set, way better than any off the shelf router. TRUST ME!
 
dashpuppy said:
Ditch the lame ass useless POS routers, build a Untangle box, buy a access point with Wireless N.

Not only will this be better, but you will be stopping viruses, spyware and have more control over the network. "protection" is worth it in every way.

Old computer with 2 network cards is all you need :) Access point 80$ ish, and your set, way better than any off the shelf router. TRUST ME!
Click to expand...

Yeah no.

Not building a computer to be a router.

I don't have virus/spyware problems. Thats what MSSE is for, and not being dumb in the interwebs. I just want a router. I don't want to work to do this.
 
0mega said:
Yeah no.

Not building a computer to be a router.

I don't have virus/spyware problems. Thats what MSSE is for, and not being dumb in the interwebs. I just want a router. I don't want to work to do this.
Click to expand...

The more important point is, when you build your own *nix distro router...if you used decent components you'll end up with a router that will run circles around just about any "off the shelf" boxed retail router that you could purchase in the thousands of dollar range. Yup..how about enterprise grade performance! How about max concurrent connections/state tables starting in the tens of thousands...and more...instead of just 200 or 1000. (here's where your torrents/p2p CRUSH home grade routers). How about something with QoS that really works? How about something that will keep up with your higher and higher speed internet connections?

With a *nix distro like PFSense, I have max concurrent connections set at 512,000. I can play my online games while the kid games, and the kid torrents, and the wife aggressively shops online.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
The more important point is, when you build your own *nix distro router...if you used decent components you'll end up with a router that will run circles around just about any "off the shelf" boxed retail router that you could purchase in the thousands of dollar range. Yup..how about enterprise grade performance! How about max concurrent connections/state tables starting in the tens of thousands...and more...instead of just 200 or 1000. (here's where your torrents/p2p CRUSH home grade routers). How about something with QoS that really works? How about something that will keep up with your higher and higher speed internet connections?

With a *nix distro like PFSense, I have max concurrent connections set at 512,000. I can play my online games while the kid games, and the kid torrents, and the wife aggressively shops online.
Click to expand...
And is totally not what I asked for.

At all.

I know it rocks your socks off so hard the unborn son of jesus would be impressed, but I believe this thread is INDEED titled

"Consumer"

And I am a consumer. An ENTHUSIAST yes, but not enough to care about building my own damn router. I've done it before and I hated it.

Ergo, Not building one.

Please, consumer router recommendations.
 
Yup the thread title does state that...point?:
You complianed about routers and "it's not helping me when my 30mbit connection saturates the router to the point of COMPLETE FAILURE.

Seriously.

Usenet = Death
Speedtest = Death
Big downloads = Death

It needs to handle that."

You can keep following the masses of sheep that keep being disappointed with the Stinksys, DStink, and Nutgear routers....and the placebo affects of DD and Tomato...or you can let people open your eyes to products that run circles around plastic box 60 dollar routers without even getting out of first gear or breaking a sweat. //shrugs

Ah well, keep the bar low on yourself...those who don't expect much won't be disappointed by much, but they won't know what REALLY GOOD is either.
 
I;m sure everyone on Fios and other high bandwidth connections use those homegrown router boxes, literally everyone of course.

I'll just buy one and abuse the return policy if I don't like it because asking for recommendations in a recommendation thread doesn't seem like the way to go.

Who knew.

Thanks?
 
0mega said:
I;m sure everyone on Fios and other high bandwidth connections use those homegrown router boxes, literally everyone of course.

I'll just buy one and abuse the return policy if I don't like it because asking for recommendations in a recommendation thread doesn't seem like the way to go.

Who knew.

Thanks?
Click to expand...

You asked for solutions, we suggested, If you are not doing any of the things we have listed, go buy the biggest piece of shit, return it every month and waste all your god dam fucking surfing time setting them up every month.

YOU BUY SHIT, YOU GET SHIT! when you get shit, you waste time and money, whats the point!
 
dashpuppy said:
You asked for solutions, we suggested, If you are not doing any of the things we have listed, go buy the biggest piece of shit, return it every month and waste all your god dam fucking surfing time setting them up every month.

YOU BUY SHIT, YOU GET SHIT! when you get shit, you waste time and money, whats the point!
Click to expand...

Took me ten minutes to set up my port forwards, security, and get everything going again... Much less time than it takes to build a computer.

I'm content for now. and I work there, getting a return done is simple. Walk in to work, grab router, exchange router, be happy.

No stupid system maintenance for a god damn router.
 
0mega said:
Took me ten minutes to set up my port forwards, security, and get everything going again... Much less time than it takes to build a computer.

I'm content for now. and I work there, getting a return done is simple. Walk in to work, grab router, exchange router, be happy.

No stupid system maintenance for a god damn router.
Click to expand...

You sounds like a Futureshop / Bestbuy sales person.! Typical too!
 
dashpuppy said:
You sounds like a Futureshop / Bestbuy sales person.! Typical too!
Click to expand...
You sound like an elitist asshole. Typical too! Seriously, the guy asked for an off-the-shelf router recommendation. You can't just give him the model of a decent one? Is that really so hard to do?
 
Zero82z said:
You sound like an elitist asshole. Typical too! Seriously, the guy asked for an off-the-shelf router recommendation. You can't just give him the model of a decent one? Is that really so hard to do?
Click to expand...

ok.i'll drop my ass holeness then, if he gives me a store he works at i'll look on line, since i deal with this lower end units everyday ill pick a few.
 
0mega said:
I've got a DD-WRT now. I like it, but it sucks.

Lets be serious, the ONLY feature I use is bandwidth usage monitoring. I like the interface, A LOT, but really, it's not helping me when my 30mbit connection saturates the router to the point of COMPLETE FAILURE.

Seriously.

Usenet = Death
Speedtest = Death
Big downloads = Death

It needs to handle that.

As I understand it, both the e3000 and DIR 825 support DD WRT which leads me back to this idea:

If I were to buy a BIG ASS HARD DRIVE, and plug it on the network, which will love me more?

I'm good with computers, I just HATE messing with my network, it's usually quite picky... Stupid Canadaland... Stuff seems to just dislike existing up here ;)
Click to expand...

You need to realize that most people around here know tons more than you on this subject, I would not waste my time with anything off the shelf if you want it to last. I suggest you pull the prudeness hat off you head and get with the times.

Torrents will kill any off the shelf router out there, they are not built to handle the concurrent connections.

Usenet is going to literally burn up routers, again, concurrent connections. Usenet will also saturate your downstream and most routers simply cannot handle the volume for periods of time.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/index.php?option=com_chart&Itemid=&chart=124

You have some solid recommendations here in this thread along with your "bitchfest" thread in genmay of those also trying to help you.

Go ahead and buy whatever you think is going to do the job, 10mo from now I will be here to tell you "i told you so".

I would highly recommend you check out a *nix distro if you want something that will last. You will also get something with a very decent QOS engine and advanced network settings.

Being in Canada has nothing to do with how your network is, it is the equipment you are using and the implementation.

My recommendation if you want something to last is look into a dedicated untangle box(atom powered/low power cpu will work), a decent switch(8 port giabit switches are cheap, and much faster than the "gigabit" switches in the routers.), and add a wap if you need wifi.

Does it cost more? Yes. Does it last longer? Yes. Does it do a better job? Yes.

I have a c2d powered box that runs esxi and has an untangle guest along with a few virtual machines for torrenting linux isos and it works fucking fantastic. Prior to this setup I was going through a router every 6 months.

If you're mom n pop sitting at home watching hulu/youtube and checking your email, a consumer grade unit will worh just fine.

I'd sugget you bust out google for an afternoon and do some research on the routers you think are going to do the job.

The e3000, quick trip through google shows heat/traffic problems using torrents.

WNDR3700, there are issues with using torrents, again, releated to concurrent connections.
 
I know you guys are trying to recommend the best router, but the thread title says "(Consumer)" for a reason. The thread starter seemed to have the best off the shelf routers that you can quickly get your hands on without the need to build a box.

Granted I have not read the past few pages, but come on guys be friendly and bare in mind the title of the thread and the original purpose of this thread...
 
First off, this thread was started at the end of '07, back when FiOS/Uverse was just starting to be rolled out (I got the 5/2 FiOS package at the end of 06, i think, and that was very early in the deployment for my area). A consumer router is going to have much more demand now, than 30 years ago.

If some guy is coming in here expecting to run usenet on a 30Mbit line and is expecting to find a little blue box that is going to handle that kind of load for a couple of years, that's not necessarily realistic. Untangle/pfSense is not that expensive, and considering that we are on [H]ardForum, people probably have a spare computer around, making it perfectly legitimate advise.

Sitting around recommending that everyone get a Cisco CRS-3 or a Juniper T640 or some other obscenely powerful router to terminate their 10/5 cable line would be an abuse of the (consumer) router recommendations thread. Recommending a solution like Untangle, which has a free (OSS) edition is not, especially since DD-WRT has been recommended. If we can recommend custom firmwares for the little blue box, what is wrong with recommending a custom OS for a general-purpose PC?
 
*/removes foot from mouth*
There's nothing at all wrong with recommending untangle/PFSense/Smoothwall here, it's even mentioned in the first post... Just noticed that :eek:
shows how often I look at this thread. last time I looked I believe post #1 only had consumer routers listed.
 
0mega said:
the BEST router from

http://www.bestbuy.ca

OR

http://www.futureshop.ca

Since I work at one of the above. and get a discount.

NEEDS:
Networked USB. Preferably enough that file transfers aren't doggedly slow.
Dual band.
Not going to choke under a 30mbps connection like my current WRT54G w/DD-WRT (I can't even access the damn web portal under load. )

Theeeenks :)
Click to expand...

I think that DD-WRT is a bit clunky and bloated for a router that old. I personally have had a WRT54GL for 4 years. I tried DD-WRT twice before. both times I uninstalled it less then a week later. I've been running tomato since version 1.23. It's much leaner and feels much snappier then any of the other firmware I've tried before.
Have you tried tomato yet?
http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato
Granted it won't be the same raw horsepower that a [H]ardcore router running pfsense would offer, but it should be much better then DD-WRT. seems to handle moderate use of my 20/5 connection pretty well :cool:
 
sc0tty8 said:
Usenet is going to literally burn up routers, again, concurrent connections. Usenet will also saturate your downstream and most routers simply cannot handle the volume for periods of time.
Click to expand...

LOL! You kids are way over reacting. I know people that easily transfer over 4-5TB per month for YEARS. They all used consumer routers *GASP* and it's been fine. :eek: Including my old D-Link. Someone call the fire department, my router is on fire! LMAO... this is how ridiculous you "elitist" sound as Zero so nicely put it.

You guys are also forgetting, any good usenet/torrent/DC client has bandwidth limiting.

Don't get me wrong, a dedicated box is the best, but is it absolutely needed as you guys are suggesting? Hell no.
 
Any reason why this thread became unstuck? If I didn't realize it was therebefore, I would never know to look for it.
 
Trepidati0n said:
Any reason why this thread became unstuck? If I didn't realize it was therebefore, I would never know to look for it.
Click to expand...
My guess would be that because there isn't a lot of (real) turn-over in the consumer router market and the lack of updates to the OP was interpreted for the thread being stagnant. It stopped some of the repeat questions but a lot of folks still opened their own threads for that same reason; or they just didn't see it.

I am in the process of re-working the OP -- if you have any suggestions on new models, please post here or PM me. I will also be putting in the [H] referral links where possible. Thanks!
 
Orinthical said:
My guess would be that because there isn't a lot of (real) turn-over in the consumer router market and the lack of updates to the OP was interpreted for the thread being stagnant. It stopped some of the repeat questions but a lot of folks still opened their own threads for that same reason; or they just didn't see it.

I am in the process of re-working the OP -- if you have any suggestions on new models, please post here or PM me. I will also be putting in the [H] referral links where possible. Thanks!
Click to expand...

As long as the spirit of the OP remains the same, the thread has solid value. This thread is the one I link to friends. It provides enough information for them to make a choice without having to know the gory details. Thus, adding the referral links is a great choice.

My only recommendation is to break out the PC based systems to a separate thread. It only causes bitching by a few people on pedantic points.
 
will we be seeing any price drop on NetGear w3700 during the blackfriday or something?
 
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