What's the best wireless router?

Mredmond

I want to replace the Linksys wag54g as the degradation on the signal from downstairs to up is 5 down to 2 bars. Also the wireless network drops every 15 mins or so, and only a re-boot will do.

I've been reading reviews of both Belkin and Netgear kit, and tbh, both get mixed reviews. Surely there's a stable, reliable wireless router out there that can dish out 54mbps around a normal residential premises?

hostyle

Mredmond wrote:

I've been reading reviews of both Belkin and Netgear kit, and tbh, both get mixed reviews. Surely there's a stable, reliable wireless router out there that can dish out 54mbps around a normal residential premises?

Unfortunately there isnt. Many work well in a lot of situations, but theres no magic elixir of wireless perfection. I swear by Netgear gear as they've given me the least problems of all that I've tried. But their WG311 PCi network card gave me days of grief due to having a mobo with a VIA chipset. I purchased a Belkin card instead and everything went swimmingly.

I've also just purchased a WGE111 which apparently you can plug in and it will automagically work with a DG834G (or other Netgear products). Instead it brings down the entire network requiring lots of twiddling with settings.

EDIT: Just to make it clear: I've also used Linksys and D-Link (plus some other smaller names) wireless gear and they've been far worse than the Netgear stuff I've used. The Netgear DG834G is a great piece of hardware (except for it not liking IPv6).

kasintahan

I have SMC gear and it works very well.

Had it for a year and a half now, I once had to reboot the router.

dub45

hostyle wrote:

Unfortunately there isnt. Many work well in a lot of situations, but theres no magic elixir of wireless perfection. I swear by Netgear gear as they've given me the least problems of all that I've tried. But their WG311 PCi network card gave me days of grief due to having a mobo with a VIA chipset. I purchased a Belkin card instead and everything went swimmingly.

I've also just purchased a WGE111 which apparently you can plug in and it will automagically work with a DG834G (or other Netgear products). Instead it brings down the entire network requiring lots of twiddling with settings.

You seem to be right unfortunately. I am using the wag54g as is a friend of mine and its been absolutely fine. Another friend of mine purchased the netgear 834gt and could not get it to connect with any degree of regularity to the isp whereas the linksys connected every time no problem on his line. If you google you will find lots of complaints about most companies especially Netgear but other people swear by them.

Mredmond is there any possibility that you could borrow a router to try it in your particular set of circumstances? Have you upgraded the firmware on the Linksys?

Mredmond

Originally Posted by dub45

Have you upgraded the firmware on the Linksys?

Dub,

I tried an upgrade yesterday, to firmware version 1.02.07_3 (Annexe A), but immediately found that I could no longer log onto the WAG54G using it's own IP address in the browser. Didn;t fancy this at all so reverted by stickig a pin in the back of it. Maybe I should persist and try a different firmware version. I am now back on plain old 1.02.07 (Oct 2004), which is what it shipped with.
Did you need to upgrade yours and if so to what version?

Fobia

It is possible to get a good reliable router but it aint cheap or easy.....the best and most powerful thing would be to stick an omnidirectional antenna on a wireless card in adhoc mode and plant that in a WRAP or Soekris board running StarOS or me2000. However this isn't technically or financially viable for the average user.

So, I recommend the Linksys WRT54G for a standard, easy to setup, wireless router. But you could do alot better with a bit of cash and spare time.

zod

recommend the netgear dg834g

dub45

Fobia wrote:

It is possible to get a good reliable router ...............
So, I recommend the Linksys WRT54G for a standard, easy to setup, wireless router. But you could do alot better with a bit of cash and spare time.

The wrt54g is a router and would need a modem as well - Mredmond is looking at all in one units presumably as he is using the wag54g.

The most up to date firmware for the wag54g seems to be here. but there is also other firmware on the site if you look around a bit.

Surely there's a stable, reliable wireless router out there that can dish out 54mbps around a normal residential premises?

None of the 'g' model routers will give you anywhere near 54mbs in real life so maybe you are expecting too much in that respect?

Fobia

dub45 wrote:

The wrt54g is a router and would need a modem as well - Mredmond is looking at all in one units presumably as he is using the wag54g.

True, but is not the thread title "What's the best wireless router"? Going by that I assumed he wasn't talking about a bridge, modem or combo of any out of the three.

Mredmond

Originally posted by dub45

The wrt54g is a router and would need a modem as well - Mredmond is looking at all in one units presumably as he is using the wag54g.

Originally posted by fobia

True, but is not the thread title "What's the best wireless router"? Going by that I assumed he wasn't talking about a bridge, modem or combo of any out of the three.

Both right in a way. As the wag54g does the whole job (allegedly) I would like to keep it down to just the one device, however I do have the netopia modem that came from eircom too. Any one tried combining these? Netopia connected via USB to Box A (stable connection at least) with WAG54G connected to netopia ethernet port, serving BOX B (same as before) What setings would be required on the wag54g in terms of DHCP etc (presumably "off" or "relay")?