What wireless router?

[Usarka]

Wassup peeps. Will no doubt get some tumbleweed or multiple different opinions on this........ but what are good wireless routers to buy these days and which ones should be steered clear of.

Nothing special about requirements, needs to act as a 1ghz switch for a couple of devices is the only requirement. Smallish coverage area.

Chur

[blackdog]

I bought a dlink. Avoid them like the plague is all i can say, the thing is not much better than a paperweight.

[Gremlin]

Well, it's not 1ghz you're after, or a wireless router... you want a gigabit switch... unless you're connecting devices wirelessly? You won't get a gigabit switch that's wireless. In fact... now I have no idea what you want :wacko:

Avoid Dlink, get one with a decent warranty, then when it fails (as most consumer level devices do) you can get another one free

[pzkpfw]

My Netgear ADSL + 4 port Switch (or Hub?) + Wireless thing is so reliable I've been using it for about 9 years and can't be arsed upgrading.

I can get ADSL2+ in my area now, so my Internet would be faster, but I can't bring myself to chuck out a good working piece of equipment.

[Usarka]

Well, it's not 1ghz you're after, or a wireless router... you want a gigabit switch... unless you're connecting devices wirelessly? You won't get a gigabit switch that's wireless. In fact... now I have no idea what you want :wacko:

Avoid Dlink, get one with a decent warranty, then when it fails (as most consumer level devices do) you can get another one free

:doh: I meant to have typed 1 Gbps. For the wired bits.

[Winston001]

Assuming you want a wireless router to use in the house, I have an SMC and it seems to be very good. Recommended by some geeks. You'd want 802.11n for future proofing even if your devices only receive g.

If you want to connect ethernet devices then you need a router with more than one port. Again, useful but not everyone needs it. Here's one from a toaster shop which should do the job: http://www.100percent.co.nz/product/Computing/SMC-4-Port-Lan-802.11n-Wireless-ADSL2+-Modem-Router/108633

[sil3nt]

+1 for a netgear router

[Gremlin]

I stand corrected, but I don't think any of wireless all in one routers have a gigabit switch... If you want that, get a wireless modem (even one port) and then link it to a gigabit switch (what I've done).

As for modem, the Netcomms have proven to be good performers.

[Usarka]

I stand corrected, but I don't think any of wireless all in one routers have a gigabit switch... If you want that, get a wireless modem (even one port) and then link it to a gigabit switch (what I've done).

As for modem, the Netcomms have proven to be good performers.


I'm sure I have seen some that do have gigabit switch if I've been reading specs correctly eg http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wirelessrouters/high-performance/DGND3700.aspx Am I misreading the specs?

Long boring story but I have an old SMC 10/100 ADSL wireless router and a separate gigabit switch and one of the things I want to do is get rid of the switch.....

[Scuba_Steve]

I stand corrected, but I don't think any of wireless all in one routers have a gigabit switch... If you want that, get a wireless modem (even one port) and then link it to a gigabit switch (what I've done).


I'm sure I have seen some that do have gigabit switch if I've been reading specs correctly eg http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wirelessrouters/high-performance/DGND3700.aspx Am I misreading the specs?

Long boring story but I have an old SMC 10/100 ADSL wireless router and a separate gigabit switch and one of the things I want to do is get rid of the switch.....

No not misreading You can get wireless routers wif gig ports I've had my Airport for 5yrs now? & it's N wireless with gig etherwebs & USB (for printer sharing or network ext HDD)
Think Netgear, Cisco/linksys, Apple, TPgear all do one.

All those brands are decent too, I'd say if all you need is gig ports & wireless pick the cheapest from those brands. As blackdog said stay well clear of the Dlink name.

[Usarka]

Cheers guys!

[davebullet]

Netgear. I only have a G router (about 4 years old?) bought 2nd hand off trademe for $50. Has never skipped a beat

[jrandom]

I've used the same Netgear DG834G for the last 8 years or so. No complaints. They seem pretty ubiquitous.

Edit: Don't buy TP-LINK. I just got a couple of TP-LINK wireless access points for work because they were cheap. You get what you pay for. They kept flaking out and having to be rebooted. The guy at the shop suggested turning off the N band, which worked - they're stable now. Still pretty shit though, selling a piece of equipment that only works with half its functionality turned off. Stick with Netgear.

[scracha]

I've used the same Netgear DG834G for the last 8 years or so. No complaints. They seem pretty ubiquitous.

Edit: Don't buy TP-LINK. I just got a couple of TP-LINK wireless access points for work because they were cheap. You get what you pay for. They kept flaking out and having to be rebooted. The guy at the shop suggested turning off the N band, which worked - they're stable now. Still pretty shit though, selling a piece of equipment that only works with half its functionality turned off. Stick with Netgear.

Beg to differ, TP-Link comprise about 90% of the wifi kit I've sold / supported for the last 4 years and my records indicate < 0.5% failure rate over 3 years. It's all about set-up. Their auto-negotiation for channel interference is shit (as is some of the other brands). Just set them to a specific channel and they're ROCK SOLD.

D-Link = shite IMHO. Newer Linksys, Edimax, Netgear, SMC.....hit n' miss depending on model. I also rate the 3Com stuff.

[jrandom]

Beg to differ, TP-Link comprise about 90% of the wifi kit I've sold / supported for the last 4 years and my records indicate < 0.5% failure rate over 3 years. It's all about set-up.

In other words, they work in some modes but not others, just like I discovered when I had to turn off the functionality that was advertised in big letters on the box before they'd stop crashing.

It's an indictment on the state of the industry that this is considered above-par reliability.

[Gremlin]

In other words, they work in some modes but not others, just like I discovered when I had to turn off the functionality that was advertised in big letters on the box before they'd stop crashing.
No, I'd agree with Mr scracha... I'd never leave an accesspoint to auto-negotiate a channel...

Do a scan of the surrounding area, find a channel not used, put it on that channel... easy.

[Taz]

What's a gigabit swithch and what's it for? Why do I need one?

[jrandom]

No, I'd agree with Mr scracha... I'd never leave an accesspoint to auto-negotiate a channel...

They seem to be working fine with auto channel negotiation. Disabling the N band wireless was what fixed them. Maybe it would've worked if I'd left that on and turned off auto-negotiation, too. I just did what the chap at the shop suggested.

*shrug*

Either way, IMHO, it's shithouse that one can buy stuff that doesn't work unless you turn features off.

I am unimpressed.

[jrandom]

What's a gigabit swithch and what's it for? Why do I need one?

Wired computer networks used to run at 10 megabits per second. Now they run at 100. Some of them run at 1000.

For comparison, your average home broadband connection in NZ hooks up to the local telephone exchange at about 2 megabits per second. And then your transfer speed across to the rest of the internet tends to be an order of magnitude lower than that again.

Generally you'd only need to be running links at 1000 megabits per second (ie, 1 gigabit) if it was carrying a lot of traffic from a number of devices destined for something much more industrial than a home broadband connection. Like if it was hooking a switch with a couple dozen office PCs hanging off it back into your fibre optic backbone, etc.

Or if you were linking machines together in a processing cluster to form a home-made supercomputer.

I'd be interested to know what Usarka's doing in his shed that requires a gigabit switch. I've always suspected him of being some type of super-villain.

[scracha]

Wired computer networks used to run at 10 megabits per second.

And new houses are still being wired by fuckwit electricians who use coax cable everywhere.





I'd be interested to know what Usarka's doing in his shed that requires a gigabit switch. I've always suspected him of being some type of super-villain.

Probably the much more mundane task of backing up his terabytes of porn :facepalm:


Oh...shit not working.
a) If IT equipment actually worked properly then I'd be out a job.
b) Even "back in the day". IT stuff didn't do what it said on the Tin.
c) Lotsa wifi stuff doesn't work with other wifi stuff. Some Acer aspires don't like wifi channel 13. Some Atheros wifi cards don't work with some TP-Link. As an example, many moons ago I once spent 2 hours trying to get a Linksys N router (which was the shiz back in the day) working with it's companion Linksys N PCI card.....phoned Linksys and had to revert it to 20mhz (144Mbps not 300). Now that's a manufacturers own kit not working with erm...their own kit. Incidentally...it caused a blue screen of death on any XP notebook using a certain D-link PCMCIA wifi card until we updated the drivers.
d) "bloke in shop" was correct in that by reverting back to ye olde "g" type network, then you're more likely to resolve compatibility issues. Doubt he'd want hassle of investigating multitude of reasons for it. I'm just saying that the real issue was more likely to be wifi interference (other wifi kit, dect phones, smart power meters, CCTV cameras, etc). Auto channel negotiation doesn't really work well on unmanaged wifi kit, regardless of the brand.

[jrandom]

"bloke in shop" was correct in that by reverting back to ye olde "g" type network, then you're more likely to resolve compatibility issues. Doubt he'd want hassle of investigating multitude of reasons for it.

Well, I was just happy to get the goddamn pieces of crap working on some level so that all the VIPs with laptops and iPhones would be happy.

I hate computers.

[Scuba_Steve]

Wired computer networks used to run at 10 megabits per second. Now they run at 100. Some of them run at 1000.

For comparison, your average home broadband connection in NZ hooks up to the local telephone exchange at about 2 megabits per second. And then your transfer speed across to the rest of the internet tends to be an order of magnitude lower than that again.

Generally you'd only need to be running links at 1000 megabits per second (ie, 1 gigabit) if it was carrying a lot of traffic from a number of devices destined for something much more industrial than a home broadband connection. Like if it was hooking a switch with a couple dozen office PCs hanging off it back into your fibre optic backbone, etc.

Or if you were linking machines together in a processing cluster to form a home-made supercomputer.

I'd be interested to know what Usarka's doing in his shed that requires a gigabit switch. I've always suspected him of being some type of super-villain.

I can't speak for Usarka but I also use gig etherweb & I much enjoy the speed it provides moving my files from comp to comp (I am also impatient tho), we have 3 active & I do tend to move alot of files some quite big in size, the speed really does start to pay off.
Also HD streaming works much better over gig, the playback is similar to all speeds, but it's when you start to fast forward & rewind HD 1080p content that you notice the advantage of having it over gig etherweb.
Gig etherweb also allows the wired comp to provide my wireless comps with the full N wireless speeds 100Mbit connections obviously max out at the theoretical 100Mbit while the gig connection can provide the full standard theoretical 300Mbit (or max of 600Mbit)

So gig does have its uses, from impatience, to large or many file transfers, to full capability HD streaming, to full speed wired-wireless connection.

Also avg interweb speed is 4-6Mbit

[Usarka]

Finally i got off my arse and splashed out on a dual band Netgear DGND3700 / N600.

The first thing I noticed is the login time for my PC - it used to sit there pontificating after I log in for up to 90 seconds, now it's sweet as a nun's. And here I was thinking about buying an SSD or some stupid carry on. And the gigabit lan connection is awesomness in a box.

Cheers for the suggestions all.

[Gremlin]

The first thing I noticed is the login time for my PC - it used to sit there pontificating after I log in for up to 90 seconds, now it's sweet as a nun's.
If it's only at home, I'd suggest a static IP. Network drive connections are usually the biggest culprit around logging in (or roaming profiles), as the computer will try to connect, and if it can't, it waits for a while before failing.

[cs363]

And new houses are still being wired by fuckwit electricians who use coax cable everywhere.

You're not the first person I've heard say that either! :pinch:


a) If IT equipment actually worked properly then I'd be out a job.

I knew it! A conspiracy! :eek5:


c) Lotsa wifi stuff doesn't work with other wifi stuff.

Yep, been there done that ....and worse still, most of the troubleshooting 'guides' and 'help' centre phone numbers that come with stuff don't have the answers. Those are usually found on the interwebs, ...if you can connect - and if you only have access to one computer, you're not going to be able to fix it straight away and that's if it is even fixable. Aaargh! :angry2:


d) The real issue was more likely to be wifi interference ( dect phones).

I read in some electronics magazine recently (don't ask which, it was just waiting room fodder) that cordless phones are the biggest cause of problems with wireless networks, which makes sense when you stop and think how many are in use these days, and I bet a lot of people wouldn't even think to check frequencies when buying said stuff.