Quality of consumer grade routers

Balfa

I had a Linksys BEFW11S4 wireless router and it died after a year. Now I have a D-Link DI-524 and it's never worked properly. If the bittorrent traffic gets too heavy, it just freezes and needs to be unplugged for a bit. I was intending to RMA it to D-Link, but I doubt a replacement would be any better. It seems as though it's just under-engineered for its intended task.

I've been looking for a replacement and reading user reviews on newegg.com, but the general consensus seems to be that routers in the consumer market are just pants. They keep crashing and can't take a full load. One of the users who posted a review was praising his router for being so good that it only crashes about once every two weeks.

Is it really this bad? Are there any sub-e100 routers that don't crash? I read good reviews about the D-Link DGL-4300, but it's $125. Is that really the only option for a half-reliable router, or can anyone recommend something cheap that just does what it's meant to do. It needs to be wireless and QoS features would be a huge plus. Gigabit Ethernet is welcome, but not essential.

Zenith74

I've had good luck with the Zyxel Prestige 623R Esat supplied, I can't remember the last time it was restarted because it hung, if ever. I use plenty of BitTorrent etc. Not sure how they're priced, but I'd be surprised if you couldn't pick one up second hand somewhere.

Considering how cheap and nasty they seem, I didn't have too many problems with Eircom's Netopias either.

Woudn't touch DLink however, had far too many problems in the past...

Occidental

Best I've used is the Netgear Rangemax WPN824. It'd be coming up on the €100 mark, but I've never had any problems with them.

I'd agree with Zentih on the Eircom Netopias. I've had a few dead ones, but one they're working, they seem to be stable.

WizZard

I've never had any problemns with my Netgear DG834G, even under heavy load.

I have a DGL-4300 as weel but I've never used it
Going to put it on Adverts.ie now (You're in Dallas so i's hardly any use to you Balfa )

monkey tennis

I've also heard great things about the Zyxel Prestige, and NetGear stuff tends to be good quality. I'm not a fan of D-Link equipment, but I'm surprised that the Linksys gave you trouble.

Best bet is to research whatever router you're considering online before you buy.

Kali

Any home/soho netgear equipment I've used has been pretty solid when it comes to actual traffic usage, however I've had serious problems when it comes to heat with them, place them anywhere slightly warm for a while and they'll halt.

Balfa

Kali wrote:

place them anywhere slightly warm for a while and they'll halt.

See, that's the problem. I have to place my one in Texas
I put it on makeshift stilts a couple of days ago to improve cooling and it's only crashed once sinze then. I also lowered my utorrent max connections and max upload speed, etc. at the same time, so I don't know which is helping the most.

I'm thinking a $4 mini desk fan (as long as it's not too loud) next to it, would be a hell of a lot cheaper than a new router, if it works
Yeah, I had a netgear that I was happy with before I left Ireland, but I wasn't doing as much torrenting then, and I think that's what really kills routers.

That was a good price, Wizzard. I might have bid if I had of been aware in time

SirLemonhead

The Billion ADSL-7402R2 modem/router was meant to be really good as it had a very good processor in it. I think it's been discontinued now, and I don't know if there's an equivelantly good product to replace it...

Think it sold for roughly €120.

Blaster99

I've had reliability problems with practically all consumer grade routers I've ever used, be they Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, or Draytek. I've had some problems with enterprise-grade stuff too but they rarely fall apart under load.