I need a new router

[BLADEMDA]

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How about some help here? I've spent 20 hours researching routers for my home. I know next to nothing about this stuff.

I've got an old Belkin router which is acting up. My wife wants me to buy a new router. I can spend up to $200.

No networking between devices. Surf the web. No streaming Netflix or gaming as those are hard wired. But do I need QOS?

I'm thinking dual band with gigabit ports. My Netflix and X Box will be hard wired to the router so good ports might be important. My iPhone and iPads use 5ghz and I prefer that band. My wife uses 2.4 ghz band mostly.

I'm looking for Reliability then range followed by wireless speed.

Any ideas? Linksys Ea3500? Netgear N600? I'd prefer to wall mount the unit.

The reviews on C Net and Amazon.com are either positive or negative for every router.
No router gets about 80 percent or so positive ratings.

 

[nimbus]

You are already an Apple household. Maybe consider an AirPort Extreme or a Time Capsule.

 

[Mr Wizard]

Internals in a lot of the new wireless routers are actually sourced from the same or similar parts companies. I think a lot of the variability comes down to "proprietary" programming and network mgmt software that they develop to help sell the modem.

If netflix and xbox are coming off of your LAN, QoS set-up won't matter. The QoS packet priority can even actually be accomplished through MAC address profiling in most of the newer routers. Companies have just added easier prioritization through the router set-up.

I have Cisco/Linksys E42000 v1 which is working great. The new v2, which will have the new Cisco Connect Cloud with firmware upgrade is basically the E4500. It is true dual band, has gigabit ethernet if you connect your xbox/tv/dvd player up to.

The whole 802.11ac "Certified" logo you may see on some boxes is just a selling gimmick b/c that whole compatibility has not been finalized and most hardware being sold is yet to actually support it. It could just be a selling point if you plan on updating other wireless products in the near future.

 

[Mr Wizard]

You are already an Apple household. Maybe consider an AirPort Extreme or a Time Capsule.

This could be an option. Airport Extreme houses the same internal hardware from Broadcom that is in the Cisco E4200/4500. Similar price, internals, and easy compatibility with Apple products. The Airport Express could even be added easily as a range booster.

 

[Bertelman]

I think these last a long time.

 

[88845]

How about some help here? I've spent 20 hours researching routers for my home. I know next to nothing about this stuff.

I've got an old Belkin router which is acting up. My wife wants me to buy a new router. I can spend up to $200.

No networking between devices. Surf the web. No streaming Netflix or gaming as those are hard wired. But do I need QOS?

I'm thinking dual band with gigabit ports. My Netflix and X Box will be hard wired to the router so good ports might be important. My iPhone and iPads use 5ghz and I prefer that band. My wife uses 2.4 ghz band mostly.

I'm looking for Reliability then range followed by wireless speed.

Any ideas? Linksys Ea3500? Netgear N600? I'd prefer to wall mount the unit.

The reviews on C Net and Amazon.com are either positive or negative for every router.
No router gets about 80 percent or so positive ratings.

This is as good as it gets until 802.11ac becomes the next standard: ASUS RT-N66U Dark Knight Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router

 

[BLADEMDA]

Internals in a lot of the new wireless routers are actually sourced from the same or similar parts companies. I think a lot of the variability comes down to "proprietary" programming and network mgmt software that they develop to help sell the modem.

If netflix and xbox are coming off of your LAN, QoS set-up won't matter. The QoS packet priority can even actually be accomplished through MAC address profiling in most of the newer routers. Companies have just added easier prioritization through the router set-up.

I have Cisco/Linksys E42000 v1 which is working great. The new v2, which will have the new Cisco Connect Cloud with firmware upgrade is basically the E4500. It is true dual band, has gigabit ethernet if you connect your xbox/tv/dvd player up to.

The whole 802.11ac "Certified" logo you may see on some boxes is just a selling gimmick b/c that whole compatibility has not been finalized and most hardware being sold is yet to actually support it. It could just be a selling point if you plan on updating other wireless products in the near future.

I have an acess point already so range isn't an issue. I'm thinking Cisco EA3500 because it is wall mountable, dual band, gigabit ports and supports IPV6 down the road (not just IPV4 like the 4200).

My actual wireless content is pretty minimal as the fast stuff is hard wired to the router.
Just a few you tube videos and web downloads.

 

[BLADEMDA]

This is as good as it gets until 802.11ac becomes the next standard: ASUS RT-N66U Dark Knight Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router

Thanks. I have researched the Asus unit and several Netgear routers N600, N750 and N900. I don't really need anything more than a N600/750 and prefer wall mountable options.

 

[Consigliere]

How about some help here? I've spent 20 hours researching routers for my home. I know next to nothing about this stuff.

I've got an old Belkin router which is acting up. My wife wants me to buy a new router. I can spend up to $200.

No networking between devices. Surf the web. No streaming Netflix or gaming as those are hard wired. But do I need QOS?

I'm thinking dual band with gigabit ports. My Netflix and X Box will be hard wired to the router so good ports might be important. My iPhone and iPads use 5ghz and I prefer that band. My wife uses 2.4 ghz band mostly.

I'm looking for Reliability then range followed by wireless speed.

Any ideas? Linksys Ea3500? Netgear N600? I'd prefer to wall mount the unit.

The reviews on C Net and Amazon.com are either positive or negative for every router.
No router gets about 80 percent or so positive ratings.

I think the bigger issue that needs to be addressed is: why is your wife putting limitations on your spending? The first order of business is letting her know.......no, TELLING her that you'll spend whatever you damn well please on a router.

 

[BLADEMDA]

I think the bigger issue that needs to be addressed is: why is your wife putting limitations on your spending? The first order of business is letting her know.......no, TELLING her that you'll spend whatever you damn well please on a router.

Funny. I spent 5 hours converting an old router into an access point. The device was not compatible with tomato or the other open source stuff. I finally got it to work right though. I'm now able to get Wifi and a hard wired connection point from the farthest point in my home from the main router.

Yes, it would have been much easier to simply buy a new access point with dual band wireless and hard wired gigabit ports but where is the challenge in that?

This computer stuff is hard at first but with the Internet I'm getting quite an education. Without the Internet blogs and posts I wouldn't be able to even program these routers; if you aren't tech savy it can be frustrating at first and may take you some time but the educational experience (even a trial and error one) is priceless. (More than once I felt like throwing that old router against the wall)

 

[BLADEMDA]

I don't have my computers networked together. But, can someone hack into my router and get into my personal files in my main computer?

 

[2win]

You are already an Apple household. Maybe consider an AirPort Extreme or a Time Capsule.

I have the airport base and the stations all over the house.
The signal is good.
The main problem - seems that all my devices ( 3 macs, 1 ipad, LG tv) have problem choosing my network ( I am surrounded by at least 3 other neighbors with their own network).
I spent hours to find a solution, I hired people to find one - NADA so far.
My friends with CISCO are ok,
Any advice ?
2win

 

[BLADEMDA]

I have the airport base and the stations all over the house.
The signal is good.
The main problem - seems that all my devices ( 3 macs, 1 ipad, LG tv) have problem choosing my network ( I am surrounded by at least 3 other neighbors with their own network).
I spent hours to find a solution, I hired people to find one - NADA so far.
My friends with CISCO are ok,
Any advice ?
2win

The newer apple base stations offer 2 separate bands: 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz. You have the option of separating the bands so your devices can work off the 5 ghz band. That band has a shorter range but much less likely to suffer from interference. In addition, try manually changing the channels on the 2.4 ghz band. Perhaps, channels 9-11 are less busy.

 

[Mr Wizard]

I have the airport base and the stations all over the house.
The signal is good.
The main problem - seems that all my devices ( 3 macs, 1 ipad, LG tv) have problem choosing my network ( I am surrounded by at least 3 other neighbors with their own network).
I spent hours to find a solution, I hired people to find one - NADA so far.
My friends with CISCO are ok,
Any advice ?
2win

Have you changed the router's broadcast channel? Changing the channel from 1 could help with the interference if your neighbor's are using the same channel. Use a wireless channel sniffer KisMAC or this one for Windows.
With these you can see what channels your neighbors are overloading and pick a different one.

 

[Oggg]

I tried to extend my in-laws' network so it reaches the far bedroom where we sleep when we stay there, but it was so frustrating. I didn't want to spend $80 for a wireless extender. But I just ordered a $40 Cisco RE1000 refurb extender -- maybe thus will do the trick.

 

[drccw]

I've owned every brand of router.. belkin, linksys, cisco netgear etc...

I live in an older house, stone construction. I haven't had sucess with one router being able to cover the entire house with reasonable speeds. I've set up extenders and such but the reliability of the network has always been suspect. Some days the dropoffs will happen ever hour or sometimes weeks will go by....

Last year I decided to switch to apple gear. I've always been an apple guy but felt that their routers were too expensive. 1 Time capsule and 1 airport express later I've had 100% uptime. It's been complete set it and forget it. No problems at all..

drccw

 

[pgg]

There's no point in putting gigabit ethernet ports on a wireless access point, unless you're also using it as a network switch for other hardwired computers. You'll never saturate the wired end of a wireless network.


I've tried every kind of wireless router / access point / extender out there. Including some really high end commercial mesh units. I am thoroughly de-infatuated with wireless networking. I still have an access point so the laptops aren't tethered. Everything else is hardwired.

You said your bandwidth and latency sensitive things are hardwired, and that really is the best answer. No wireless anything ever beats gigabit copper. I don't think there's a role for QOS for your wireless tablets/laptops doing web surfing; if anything, you'd want to prioritize the video/gaming/VOIP traffic, not the laptop surfing. Regardless, the bottleneck isn't going to be the wireless network, it'll be your connection to your ISP.

Last, you get what you pay for in this as in all things. Comparing even entry-level commercial gear to whatever's on sale in Best Buy for $79 ... there is a world of difference in stability and throughput, especially when you've got a few concurrent users.


Unless you're really on a strict budget, I would start looking at >$150 and not even consider going for something inexpensive. Every time I've saved money with cheap wireless gear, it cost me time and sanity.

 

[cchoukal]

I use 2 airport express routers as access points with one wired to the rental Comcast router and the other being an extender and connected to my printer for wireless printing. The whole thing works just swell. For the user having trouble picking his network from among the neighbors networks, I had the same problem and all i did was bumped the network name up to the top of the network list within Settings; seems like this worked both for my macbookpro and iPhone.

 

[Planktonmd]

I don't have my computers networked together. But, can someone hack into my router and get into my personal files in my main computer?

The answer is simply yes!
A good hacker will not be deterred by you having file sharing turned off.
If your computer is connected to the internet then it can be hacked no matter what you do.
You can make it less likely to be hacked by a beginner if you implement common sense measures ( firewall, strong passwords, avoid suspicious downloads, stay away from shady websites, use dynamic IP...) But a real hacker will always be able to get your data if he really wants to.

 

[BLADEMDA]

Installed my new Router: Cisco. I have a Belkin and Netgear as well. The Netgear N600 seems as good as the new Cisco (I can't tell a difference).

I wall mounted my Cisco router and use the other 2 as access points. The only place I have a weak signal is in the garage and one more access point will solve that problem but I rarely need Wifi in the garage.

By the way Apple makes good stuff but I doubt their routers are any better than the competiton since the internal components are so similar.


http://reviews.cnet.com/wireless-access-points/apple-airport-express-base/4505-3265_7-35331567.html