pick a wireless router for me
 

I have had it with the one year old Netgear WNR3500l constantly crashing. Using my 7 year old DLink DI 524 right now but it has poor range. At least it never drops connection though.

I've had good experience with dlink.

http://www.dlink.com/DIR-655

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833127215

A fantastic value

http://images.dlink.com/new/products...-655_front.png

Linksys E1200 - $47
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833124412

or

Linksys E2500 - $73.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833124414

---

This is the one I have if you don't mind refurbished. Mine runs a touch hot but it strong like bull. - $59.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833124419

Oh, it needs to be gigabit wireless N and preferably have a USB port for external HDD sharing.

The linked unit has you covered.

I'm looking at it. The only con I am finding is the fact the USB only allows use of the external HDD one computer at a time.

Where are you reading that? It has SharePort technology -- plug in a USB external drive or printer and you're now sharing it across the network.

Am I going to have any issues using this because the router I have with AT&T Uverse is already a "wireless" router?

Nope -- you can disable the wireless on that combo or just use the new router on a different channel (1,6, or 11 is recommended)

I've grown quite fond of Buffalo routers.

This is a really good router: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833162031

What kind of range are you guys getting out of these? I've got my desktop and router in my office and my service in the living room ****ing sucks.

With a quality router, you should have full bars at your mailbox. Unless you have 10" thick brick walls lined with lead or something. Or a 1/4 mile driveway.

Well my range ****ing sucks with my UVerse router.

LOL... well that's not really unexpected... When you rent equipment from those ****ing thieves in the cable and internet business, they tend to give you the cheapest shit products possible. Then charge monthly fees for it, which will pay for the shit products about 100 times over, while giving you the shittiest possible performance.

I've seen it on several reviews. First it requires proprietary software to run the shared device and can only be run on one computer at a time. So I would need a host computer running 24/7 to access the drive from my other network locations. My Netgear didn't require any of that. Any computer could access the drive at any time without any other computers needing to be on to use it.

From CNET reviews....


The good: The D-Link DIR-655 offers decent throughput performance and stable wireless signal. The router has an intuitive and responsive Web interface, support for Gigabit Ethernet and guest networking, and an extensive set of networking features.

The bad: The DIR-655 doesn't have dual-band support. Its SharePort USB port can work with only one computer at a time.

The bottom line: With the latest firmware update, the D-Link DIR-655 is arguably one of the best among single-band Wireless-N routers on the market.

Yeah I'm reading that now -- how bizarre and stupid. Well happy hunting.

Starting to think I should just go with the WRT54GL even thought it feels like I am paying for outdated tech.

The Buffalo router would run circles around that...

the reviews I'm reading on that router state it has a lot of signal dropouts.

Giving the Belkin 750 N+ router a shot first.

I have a Belkin N300 setup at my lady friend's house - works great and honestly doesn't drop much at all (or if it does, I'm not made aware of it).

The one you listed should be find but speaking of getting bad reviews of constant drops....

Yeah, I know. Problem is, I am seeing that report on just about every router in my price range I have looked at. Figured I might as well just pick one and see what happens for me. I'm not buying any of these online so I have the option of easy returns if the thing sucks. Found this at Best buy for $96. Definitely the most bang for the buck if it works without any issues.

My only con on it right now is the lack of a built in bandwidth meter in the firmware.

LMAO.... OK..... good luck.

Didn't read my last post did ya.

also, I'm never buying Netgear again after getting two bad ones in a row within a year.

No, it's just that I've noticed a bit of a funny pattern with you regarding advice threads. You post a question about something, then get a bunch of answers, then contest the advice givers, and do whatever you initially had in mind anyway. When I first saw this thread, the first thing I thought was, "He's going to get a bunch of suggestions, and ignore them all and go with something completely different."

Nothing against you, I just found it funny.

Seconded. Buffalo makes solid stuff.

Ummm OK? the Buffalo router and the dlink router both got lots of people stating they had several internet wifi drops. I figure I might as well work my way from the lower price on up. BTW, I didn't even go for the lower priced routers. Went straight to the $100 routers. That was hard for me.

The buffalo router I was looking at was only getting 3 star ratings on average.
My big issue with the dlink was the way the USB port worked. That was a big drawback for me. I was going to get it until I saw that. Had nothing to do with ignoring advice.
The linksys routers didn't have the USB port I needed.

And cut me some slack. I have had a really SHITTY week. The thread gave me a FEW options that just didn't really pan out for me. Since I didn't exactly get a lot of hits in this thread I figured I might as well go the route I chose.

Just curious why you need to monitor the bandwidth on your lan? Does your ISP charge per Mb or something?

I'm a fan of Buffalo, Linksys, D-Link.

In my experience Belkin, Netgear have been garbage.

Hmmm, good to know.

to be fair, I found the interfaces to be the most shitty things about those products. If you can flash them with tomato or dd-wrt that makes them instantly better.

My kids like to abuse Netflix while I am sleeping and the wife doesn't really monitor that. I just like to make sure we are nowhere near our monthly limit of 150gb.
Definitely agreed on netgear. I'll know about Belkin soon though. If it doesn't hold up I'll most likely be trying one of the D-Link N600s next.

Well, worked like a champ until it hit 1 year. Does anyone make a product that lasts anymore?

Has anyone tried the Netgear N600 WNDR3700v4? Seems like it is getting pretty good reviews for a Netgear product.

Been using my Buffalo router for over 8 years now. Never had an issue. Great range and speed... :D

heh.

Yeah, i'm out of suggestions for this cat.

Exact model please

Nothing against your suggestion. I just really want USB network sharing.

Never had an issue with Buffalo. Solid equipment.

Think I am just going to have to stop reading user reviews because every single router I look at has 100 or more reviews talking about constant dropouts on Amazon and Newegg.

The model I have is discontinued, because of its age. But there are really nice new models that would do exactly what you're wanting. They have better hardware than mine anyway.

Here's a great model that will do everything you want: http://www.amazon.com/BUFFALO-AirSta...dp_ob_title_ce

With regards to reviews for the product, keep in mind that tech like routers are notoriously difficult to accurately review. Simply due to their complexity and dependence on many other independent variables. Most of which the majority of people don't understand and don't consider when reviewing. With routers, overall performance is dependent on much more than just your router itself. It's completely dependent on your ISP connection first and foremost. A fluctuation with your ISP connection can easily be mistaken for "Router drop outs". Likewise the performance of the device you're connecting with. Even down to the web browser on the device you're connecting with. You can look at any model router reviews and find somebody complaining about connection, but I guarantee you that many of those are mistaken symptoms.

That is the exact model I was looking at other than the netgear

I have a Cisco/Linksys EA3500 that, IMO, is awesome. I haven't had any issues with it and the signal is very good. I have a Diamond Booster on the second floor of the house and with that and the router, I have a five bar signal on every floor.

Direct TV and Amazon stream with no issues.

I convinced my parents to get this router, and it's been really solid for them.

Buffalo is a good company. All their routers are open source. They're running a customized DD-WRT already, which is arguably the best router software. But you can install the super customizable open source version of DD-WRT as well, and have access to more router info and settings than is safe for most people. But they leave it open sourced, which means their hardware is solid enough that they can give it to you and say "There you go, you can run whatever the hell you want on it." Valuable quality in the technology field.

Going to order it and see how it plays out. Appreciate your input!!!!

This router looked like a hell of a deal but reviews were inconsistent as all hell. WD had the right idea but sounds like they never worked out the bugs on it.

http://www.amazon.com/N900-Dual-Rout...ords=wd+router

As luck would have it my router just took a dump. I'll check out the one you linked. I was looking at a $180 Asus but F that. This Buffalo option looks like it will handle my needs.

I need range and speed. I've been running DD-WRT on an old Asus but the signal directly upstairs from the router was 1 bar and even-though on on a 30/5 Mbps connection the best I could get on wireless was 5/1 Mbps.

I went with the no-name MediaLink N300 router on Amazon a couple months ago. It's nothing flashy, and the interface isn't as user friendly as some, but it's been rock solid for 6 months now. It's not as crazy fast as some options, but it's about the most reliable router I've owned.

http://www.amazon.com/Medialink-Wire...dp/B00A3YN0Z0/

I'm running 4 IP cameras into a belkin router and I'm not liking the set up -- occasionally hiccups when I stream on the laptop. I figure I need a router capable of larger local BW since the 4 cams plus 4 puters is are talking wirelessly locally through the router -- would the larger capacity Buffalo router be a good choice? or?

also, would it be a better idea to use say, this router for the IP cams and the recorder, plugged into a separate router handling the net? I'm concerned RF wise these two may impede the camera data. any experienced advice with this stuff is appreciated.

I just use a Cisco, not a problem in two years.

Just got the Buffalo router. Really nice. The only thing I am disappointed in is the fact it can't utilize a 3TB external HDD for the USB drive. Cant be set up as a media server at all. Just got off the phone with their customer service line and they confirmed it.

I'll live but that was disappointing.

Asus - Dual-Band Wireless-AC66U Gigabit Router with 4-Port Ethernet Switch

After being frustrated with the lack of range and or performance at my house of a set up with repeaters and what should have been plenty of internet speed I updated to the Asus and although expensive ($200) it was worth every penny. My internet is blazing fast even when streaming 1080p 2 stories up from where it resides.

Why? What reasoning did they give? That's what that port is for...

I got some idiot that had to go to his supervisor for everything but they insisted that I cannot use it as a media server on DDWRT. It has the ability on the Buffalo friendly firmware but only using FAT32 which only goes to 32GB not 3TB.

if anyone knows how to configure DDWTR to do what I am needing please chime in.

Well **** me. I put the DDWRT firmware back on it and now it won't allow me to login to the router firmware at all even using the default username and password. JFC

Not that I'm any kind of expert networker, but I found this article quite helpful and will do more research, but I may go with recommendations of this article and buy the Asus AC66U;

http://www.pcworld.com/article/20282...me-office.html

wait, this newer one (Asus RT-AC68U) comes out tomorrow;

http://www.amazon.com/RT-AC68U-Wirel...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I got this thing set up http://www.amazon.com/BUFFALO-AirSta...dp_ob_title_ce

And it's sucking the big one so far.

I was able to double my previous speed (now 10/2 Mbps) but the range and signal aren't very good. My routers have always been in the basement and my last one did pretty good with the Chromecast. Now the Chromecast can't play anything.

Should I pick up this thing and use it as a repeater http://www.amazon.com/BUFFALO-AirSta...ef=pd_sim_pc_3

Or just bite the bullet and get this monster http://www.amazon.com/RT-N66U-Dual-B...eywords=router

Thats surprising. I use mine in the basement as well and am getting great speeds in my 2 story home.

As I said, my only gripe is the fact the USB option is not an option at all. It doesn't even work for what it was intended to do and this is straight from the manufacturer themselves.