Recommend me a ADSL router?

meglome

My friends wireless router is kaput so he's looking for another one. Anyone recommend a really good ADSL router with Wireless (2 aerials,wireless strength is v important) that I can install for him? And where I can get it in Dublin would be useful. He's using BT.

Xterminator

IMO you cant go wrong with Linksys.

Price is right, easy to configure, flash , and decent support.

Model Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router,

dub45

Xterminator wrote: »

IMO you cant go wrong with Linksys.

Price is right, easy to configure, flash , and decent support.

Model Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router,

Be careful the op is looking for an adsl wireless router - the wrt54g does not have a modem.

Xterminator

ah, i didnt see the adsl part.

few quid dearer, but in that case

this is your only man!

Oh and from hard earned personal experience, stay away from BELKIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

meglome

Xterminator wrote: »

ah, i didnt see the adsl part.

few quid dearer, but in that case

this is your only man!

Oh and from hard earned personal experience, stay away from BELKIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah I'm a fan of Linksys myself. Anyone know where I'd get one around Dublin today?

hobochris

meglome wrote: »

Yeah I'm a fan of Linksys myself. Anyone know where I'd get one around Dublin today?

peats

meglome

hobochris wrote: »

peats

Thanks lads.

Xterminator

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE1554889

elara are in south dublin.
price is usually a few quid cheaper than peats or maplins.

RobertFoster

I went looking for this today. Amazon don't ship electronics to Ireland, Dabs.ie have it for €81.27 (inc. shipping), and elara have it for €84.70...

Checked PC World (Airside), and it's on special for €49.99! The cable version is €10 cheaper again.

Now, to set up the wireless part...

EireEV

would this be available in PC World in Blach also I wonder?

RobertFoster

I'd say so. Prices are usually the same across all stores. If not, you could get them to match it. Beware though, the sign on the shelf said €49.99, but it scanned in at €59.99. The till person had to go down a look at the sign to make sure.

kleefarr

Quite simply, the best thing I have bought for ages...

Linksys WAG160N

EireEV

Have you tried it out yet Robert? Any good?

kleefarr - The one you bought is N standard compliant where as the original one Xterminator suggested is G standard?

Do I really need an N Standard router?

vibe666

another 2 thumbs up for linksys here too, but only 1 thumb up with stock firmware, it only gets both thumbs when re-flashed with a decent 3rd party firmware like ddwrt or openwrt (both compatible with several non-wrt based linksys (and non linksys) routers).

be careful though, not all linksys routers can be re-flashed with 3rd party firmwares so make sure you check the firmware's website for a list of what is and isn't, or on www.linksysinfo.org for the best advice on what to get and what to do with it.

lucernarian

Damn right. We got a completely unflashable WRT54G (version 7) with the added downer that the Wifi part didn't even work properply and had terrible signal strength. Very often I'd have a transmit speed of 54 Mbps and a receive speed of 2 mbps. Something's not right there methinks.

kleefarr

EireEV wrote: »

Have you tried it out yet Robert? Any good?

kleefarr - The one you bought is N standard compliant where as the original one Xterminator suggested is G standard?

Do I really need an N Standard router?

It does B, G and N. Hopefully won't need to buy another for ages. Here's to the future. :rolleyes:

RobertFoster

EireEV wrote: »

Have you tried it out yet Robert? Any good?

Using it now. I'm not getting great speeds, and it's dropping intermittently. It's hopping between 12Mbps and 36Mbps at the moment, while my old router was getting fairly constant 54Mbps. It seems to improve whenever a truck drives by... might need to find a new location for it, or point the box in a different direction (internal antennas be damned).

The wireless seems to dislike when I turn on my Xbox 360 (wired), so I may have to fiddle around with the Internet Access Priority settings to see if it improves anything.

My laptop (Vista) doesn't like it (dropping to "local only" for no reason etc.).

I'm not sure if it's a faulty box (I've had to reboot it a couple of times as neither my laptop nor desktop could see it), or the house/conditions are at fault. It's a pity really. The only reason I got it was to replace a wireless router (CNET) and bridged modem (BT ZyXEL) into one neat package (it looks good too!).

Aaaaand it's gone again. *goes off to reboot*

MunsterCycling

EireEV wrote: »

Have you tried it out yet Robert? Any good?

kleefarr - The one you bought is N standard compliant where as the original one Xterminator suggested is G standard?

Do I really need an N Standard router?

Giving up on the Netgear???

The WAG is a good choice, although I personally prefer external antennae

MC

meglome

What exactly is the story with the N standard, do G standard wireless devices work fully with it?

kleefarr

meglome wrote: »

What exactly is the story with the N standard, do G standard wireless devices work fully with it?

Working 100% ok here, using a Linksys 54 Mbps Wireless-G Notebook Adapter.

MunsterCycling

Normally a newer standard will include backwards compatibility with an older one but sometimes the older standard support is removed.

MC

Catalyst

Thought you may be interested...

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE1658885&productID=

meglome

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Normally a newer standard will include backwards compatibility with an older one but sometimes the older standard support is removed.

MC

Is there any performance hit using G adapters with N routers? (over standard G performance).

EireEV

Yeah gave up on the Netgear and bought the Linksys WAG54G2.

Have to say though I'm extremly disappointed with it - echo everything Robertfoster has said below.

The signal strength is terrible - laptop is like 3 footsteps away from the router and signal strength is only 3 or 4 out of 5.

When I go upstairs I can't pick up any signal at all and connection just drops to local only - surely this can't be right? I can pick up 6 or 7 other wireless connections in the area and I'm sure most of these routers are G standard.

Any ideas on what could be the problem?

meglome

Had the same problem and I'm taking it back. The features look very good but the signal strength is not brilliant.

EireEV

Changed the wireless channel on this last night and now I can pick up a signal anywhere in the house. Have you tried to do this? Scan through the channels to see which is best for you.

RobertFoster

Yup, I've been tweaking too, trying to get the best from it.

Changing the wireless channel to 1 worked with my Xbox 360 interference (an issue with the console looking for wireless controllers).

I think the Vista laptop ("local only") problem has been solved too. I had to completely remove all Norton stuff, rather than just uninstall.

Unfortunately, the router is balanced on the back of a chair in the middle of the sittingroom floor. Closer to the wall kills the wireless speed (from solid 54Mb to jumping between 9Mb and 36Mb). There isn't really anywhere else for it right now...

RobertFoster

meglome wrote: »

Had the same problem and I'm taking it back. The features look very good but the signal strength is not brilliant.

It's still bugging the hell out of me. Did you get it in PC World? What are they like with returns?

meglome

RobertFoster wrote: »

It's still bugging the hell out of me. Did you get it in PC World? What are they like with returns?

They took it back no problem I just said it wouldn't connect to the broadband (which was true) and that the signal strength was crap.

RobertFoster

Did you get a different (better?) router or a straight refund? Still looking for recommendations

meglome

RobertFoster wrote: »

Did you get a different (better?) router or a straight refund? Still looking for recommendations

Well I had Belkin which didn't work properly until I got a pre-release firmware for it. But I'd still like to get a ADSL router which I could boost the signal strength on.