Wireless Router choices (again)

TechPro · Post by **TechPro** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:10 pm

OK, it's been a little bit since we discussed this last, and the product choices on the market has changed a bit ... and I'm once again in the market for a wireless router ... and would like your suggestions.

The situation:
- I'm upgrading to a different ISP who provides faster connection and better throughput, enough of an upgrade that I'll be able to provide Internet for my renter in addition to myself.
- My trusty LinkSys WRT54G (with DD-WRT firmware

) is not on the market anymore... have to do something else.
- Will be buying at least two wireless routers (one for my downstairs renter, one for a backup/spare or as an upgrade for myself). Both routers in same building, but would be configured on seperate channels and different security codes.

What would you suggest? And why?

NUMBERZero · Post by **NUMBERZero** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:45 pm

Can't find your Linksys? Have you checked Amazon? You could probably find one for $2.

JK, I wouldn't know about routers, but I am using a NETGEAR WG614 v9. Wireless and 4 wired ports in the back.

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 11:47 pm

you are looking for the WRT54GL.

the WRT54G is still being sold... so where are you looking?

TechPro · Post by **TechPro** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:05 am

fliptw wrote:the WRT54G is still being sold... so where are you looking?

True, the WRT54G is still being sold (while supplies last) ... but it's no longer considered a "current" model. It is a good device and I'd probably do well with that model. I'm wondering what current or newer routers would be good ones.

Foil · Post by **Foil** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:36 am

Why not go with a second WRT54G, or at least keep the one you have? They're good routers, especially with that firmware, and 802.11g should be sufficient, unless you have some absolutely massive bandwidth. (My Belkin 802.11g router is plenty, even for streaming NetFlix movies to my media box.)

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:31 am

I frequently win torrent races with people who have faster connections than me purely because my D-Link DIR-655 trounces their routers in handling up to 250 connections at a time. Most consumer routers give up between 16 and 32 connections, a few reach 64 and there were some that only handled 8. DD-WRT may improve the amount of connections a WTR54G will allow through, but if the router has a slow CPU some of its limitations can never be overcome.

If you have a lot of bandwidth and you want to use it, get a router that has a sufficiently fast enough CPU or it could hold you up. The difference can be quite impressive, I get up to 2 MB/sec from my 20 mbit in some torrents compared to people with 30 and 50 mbit lines getting less than 1 MB/sec from the same torrent at the same time (from tens of thousands of peers).

In just straight up HTTP transfers there is very little difference, but if you are using peer to peer applications or hosting game servers a faster router can make a difference.

Zantor · Post by **Zantor** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:30 am

Get a D-Link. What specific model, I wouldn't know; I haven't done the research. I haven't liked Linksys since the started badging them with the Cisco name; they've gone downhill.

Canuck · Post by **Canuck** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:19 pm

X2 on the DIR-655. I went from being a die hard Linksys fan to this model of D-Link and I have to say its a winner. Better range, no dropouts, and a solid performer with P2P. Also when you close down your P2P program the D-link also stops the connect to peers immediately. The Linksys will keep trying for two weeks... and choke. Gigabit switch makes a huge difference sharing and transferring files locally.

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:32 pm

dd-wrt does have a list of hardware that dd-wrt works on, and they do sell routers with the firmware already loaded.

that being said, I've switched from dd-wrt to tomato on my wrt54gl, as I got tired of dd-wrt's unstable webserver.

Insurrectionist · Post by **Insurrectionist** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 5:20 pm

Krom wrote:I frequently win torrent races with people who have faster connections than me purely because my D-Link DIR-655 trounces their routers in handling up to 250 connections at a time. Most consumer routers give up between 16 and 32 connections, a few reach 64 and there were some that only handled 8. DD-WRT may improve the amount of connections a WTR54G will allow through, but if the router has a slow CPU some of its limitations can never be overcome.

If you have a lot of bandwidth and you want to use it, get a router that has a sufficiently fast enough CPU or it could hold you up. The difference can be quite impressive, I get up to 2 MB/sec from my 20 mbit in some torrents compared to people with 30 and 50 mbit lines getting less than 1 MB/sec from the same torrent at the same time (from tens of thousands of peers).

In just straight up HTTP transfers there is very little difference, but if you are using peer to peer applications or hosting game servers a faster router can make a difference.

Did you happen to try secure spot with that router?

Capm · Post by **Capm** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 7:04 am

Being that I work for an ISP, I have to say I hate it when people let their renters use thier internet. When you include it in with your rental like that, thats technically resale, and is a violation of most user agreements. See, that could be another customer, because its another residence.. so you're basicly stealing money from me. So Pay up buddy! I take cash and paypal! Don't make me send over Tony!

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 9:21 am

Insurrectionist wrote:Did you happen to try secure spot with that router?

Nope, using the 1.21 firmware with an older A2 hardware revision.

Wireless Router choices (again)

Wireless Router choices (again)

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