Lack of good wireless routers

[Tuffgong4]

Is there really any good wireless routers out there? I've used a dlink, netgear, and now a linksys and none seem to work out of the box.

All seem to drop connections, not connect or need constant firmware upgrades. Also none seem to have great range either.

What I really want to know is what is out there that actually is a good out of the box wireless router?

Please give suggestions, as many as possible...even if it's a linksys with dd-wrt or micro dd-wrt (if the software adds connectivity and better connections) I'm running a linksys wrt54g ver 6 with the smaller amount of flash so I can still use micro dd-wrt but any suggestions would be great.

 

[LeeJend]

Are you sure it's the routers and not your location?

Power lines, building construction, amatuer radio operators, hospitals, airports, cellphone towers, TV/Radio stations or studios, fire/police stations, other wireless networks in the area, radio dispatched businesses, heavy machinery, etc will all interfere with wireless. I had a wired telephone that used to pick up the PA system at a hospital that was on a hilltop ten miles away. Electromagnetic garbage is all around us.

The linksys units seem to get rave reviews from everybody, but you could have gotten a lemon. On the other hand my netgear wgr614 sucks.

Can you check it at another location well away from your home?
Does it act up all the time? days, weekdays, nights, etc That will point to industrial interference.

 

[Petros]

I got this one and I haven't had any problems. Best router I ever had and a cool interface to boot.

 

[NetRyder]

I'm running a linksys wrt54g ver 6 with the smaller amount of flash so I can still use micro dd-wrt but any suggestions would be great.

Try out DD-WRT micro on the WRT54G before you consider replacing it.
I had a some stability issues on mine with the stock Linksys firmware, but DD-WRT has been solid for several months.

 

[_kC_]

been a netgear user for years, but their newer stuff is garbage, buggy firmware and dodgy hardware, with even worse support... recently switched to a thompson st585v6 which is amazing stable and secure, good support too!

linksys ive always had problems with in work, lots of returned units

belkin.. i wont even comment, i could face a ban for words i have to say on their equipment.

i picked up mine as a factory reconditioned one from www.dsldepot.co.uk for only £19.99, worked flawlessly am very impressed with the 585v6.

 

[X-Istence]

Just got a friend of mine his replacement for a Netgear router, a Linksys WRT54G, and it is awesome. He finally can get the full speed of cable over his wireless, and it is not like his Netgear where it would drop the wireless as soon as it saw more than 2 packets a second.

As for the linksys, make sure no-one else is using the channel you are on, that causes many problems.

 

[Tuffgong4]

Well it's settled. I was on the fence about dd-wrt and now I'm going to install it. Also I'm going to check the channel that I'm on. I know I'm not using the default 6 but I have to check where I put it at.
The weirdest thing about my linksys router is that if I am on my laptop on my couch about 10 feet from my router it drops in and out, but if I go on the other side of the wall in my bedroom it works way better. I'm baffled.

I will work on the ddwrt micro this weekend.

Last question. is there a security that gives a better performance. I've read that WPA2 and I can't remember if it was AES or TKIP gives the best throughput and security..

again thanks all for the responses...

 

[_kC_]

WPA2 & AES gives best security

tkip = slightly better performance

 

[synical33]

I got this one and I haven't had any problems. Best router I ever had and a cool interface to boot.

I thought I had the only DLink GameLounge router. Personally, I did not buy it for the whole GamerLounge title on it, I bought it for the 1GB on its ports where I can utilize in my network but along with that I have purchased this bad boy http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127215 to add my Wireless network onto the mess of things.

I now have 2 computers running on WiFi with no issues (even though I cant get my PSP up on that router =( the horror) but other than that everyone is happy with the bandwidth pushed back and forth from the server. Now all I need is to build a Media computer so I can hook up to my 71" Samsung DLP HDTV and stream my music, movies, & YouTube Clips.....

 

[muzikool]

My best experiences have been with Linksys and Belkin routers. I had trouble with one Linksys, but I think it got fried by a power surge as it was plugged straight into the wall (not at my house!). I always recommend the Belkin Pre-N router that I have now. I've had it for 3 years and it's been excellent in all respects, plus the web interface is really intuitive, which is a bonus.

 

[saeltmarae2k]

I have to vote against Linksys. For three years, I worked for a consultant firm that installed wireless (all sizes, enterprise and private) and can say that we had more problems and complaints with Linksys overall than any others (then again, some worked fine...). For a private wireless router, you cannot (IMO) beat the ZyXel X-550. EXCELLENT stability and reliability. It also has a hardware switch to disable the wireless portion if you see fit...just one man's opinion. I think you can pick them up at Newegg.

 

[Tuffgong4]

it's so weird with how all over the place peoples' opinions are on these things. You go down the line and hear so many different things about the same company.

That's what makes this so hard. saturday or sunday micro ddwrt is going on my router.

 

[LeeJend]

Wireless is finicky stuff. Location, EEE environment and quality of each individual node determines performance levels. If you live in a dorm near an industrial area your performance will be much lower than if you live in a single family, suburban setting.

 

[Tuffgong4]

dd-wrt micro installed...I have to test out my wireless first and see if anything has gotten any better...will post back with feedback.

One thing I'm not too excited about with linksys routers (dd-wrt or stock firmware) is that I can't forward ports to a range of ips. I wouldn't mind setting static ips but I have a laptop I use everywhere and can't change back and forth between dynamic and static ips all the time when I use it.

With the old dlink at my mom's house I was able to set the router to port forward to a range of ip addresses so all systems were taken care of at once.

 

[Tuffgong4]

dd-wrt installed and working great wirelessly, only problem I have had is that with the last recent stable release my internet would work for about 10 minutes and then crap out..

I installed the most recent beta firmware and it works even better know. I'm on my couch working away on my laptop!!!

I'm loving it. Thanks for all who recommended it I probably can't give you and more rep but if I could I would!!!

 

[ShepsCrook]

Yeah. I use DD-WRT and it took a little bit of extra work to figure out the layout, but after that, it works flawlessly.

 

[Tuffgong4]

yeah I'm still getting the random internet outages and slowdowns, but I'm trying to work it out because when dd-wrt works on my router it flies.

 

[falconguard]

Try this, go to the wireless tab and under Wireless security, change the group key renewal to 99999.

 

[Tuffgong4]

I will try that, but the weird thing is that it's going out even when I use my desktop which is wired. I think I'm going to power cycle everything including my cable modem and see what's going on. I especially don't want to give up on this because of this as well...

that is with dd-wrt and not the linksys firmware.

 

[falconguard]

hmmmm...maybe some line surges are happening, do you have this hooked up to an UPS?