I am in need of a new wireless router and thought I would ask the experts.  I have a 30mb internet connection and want to make sure that I dont lose any speed through wireless.  Any thoughts of what is the best?  I have read a lot of reviews but I just cant trust most people reviewing on routers because over half of them probably dont know what they are doing.
 
Thanks!

chump7431


I am in need of a new wireless router and thought I would ask the experts.  I have a 30mb internet connection and want to make sure that I dont lose any speed through wireless.  Any thoughts of what is the best?  I have read a lot of reviews but I just cant trust most people reviewing on routers because over half of them probably dont know what they are doing.

Thanks!

First off what's your budget for this device like?
 
I bought a Linksys E3000 and converted it to dd-wrt and I have absolutely no complaints with it. With 80% signal strength I get around 10-12 MBps transfer wirelessly from my laptop to wired NAS device. A 30 Mbps connection should cap out around 3.75 MBps so you would be golden! Plus it works on 2.4 and 5 Ghz spectrum if you have an issue with many people with wireless around.
 
Although, Cisco did come out with a new line of products a month or so back and I'm not sure what the performance on these would be like. But from what I remember they did have an increase in throughput on n-wireless from the E3000/E4200 generation. It may be worthwhile if you're looking to purchase a new device.
 
Just my two cents!

I have been pricing these.  You need wireless N and some of the new ones are N900.  That's 450 on two channels and you will need a wireless N adapter that supports that.   At least think about future proofing. 
 
I've owned the linksys E4200. http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/Routers/Linksys-E4200-MaximumPerformance-Wirelessn-router_stcVVproductId122703236VVviewprod.htm
 Good router.  Has media capibilities but has a limit of 8,000 files on the external hard drive you plug into it.   It's a firmware glitch with the Wonky media server that has a max value of 8,000 items.    If you need a media server and and that limitation is ok, then it's a very good wireless N router.  I just have lots of pictures and had so many that it stopped an external drive from showing up in the media server.
 
The other is the net gear WNDR4500.  A very nice router with two USB 2 ports that allows you to hook up two external drives for media server capabilites. http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wirelessrouters/ultimate-performance/wndr4500.aspx
 
I have owned both and both had really good, long range wireless N capabilities.  My home is 3500 sq feet and is two story. No problem.
 
I also have owned the newest airport extreme.  Also a very nice router....no media server capabilities.
 
Lastly, there's this guy....The WBDR4700.  http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wirelessrouters/ultimate-performance/wndr4700.aspx#
It's the one I'm holding out for when it releases.  It has USB 3.0 and an internal hard drive at acts as your own personal cloud.   I took back the linksys E4200  because of the file limitation.   I took back the WNDR4500 because it didn't have the personal icloud feature and no USB 3.0 ports.  This new one, the 4700, has everthing I need.  Well, want.
 
 
 
 

I've heard very good things about the ASUS N66U.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...833320091&Tpk=n66u
 
Apparently it has one of the best heatsink designs of all routers and barely gets warm while running at full load. Runs much cooler than Netgear and Linksys routers of equivalent specs (E4200, WNDR4500).
 
It's definitely my next router... once I save up enough

I never once had to adjust the thermostat in my office because of the E4200 or the WNDR4500.  Just sayin, I really could care less about heat.

cheap one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124449
 
was on sale on newegg for $23 bucks recently. hell of a deal. and with recently added dd-wrt support to boot!
 
the hardware is plenty and pretty powerful(8/64MB flash/RAM, SpeedBoost for better wifi speeds with supported adapter, internal antenna amplifier.) the WAN ports are only 100mbps but that's only important if you're doing some really heavy duty stuff in your internal network(streaming a blu ray ISO is only about 28mbps...)
 
but yeah, excellent cheap router. only bad thing is that it is a refurb but since i use dd-wrt, doesn't matter at all to me.
 
if you want some extra features like 5GHz wifi(pointless IMO), USB ports, gigabit ethernet, and whatnot, look for the more expensive ones.

This is what i'd look into:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833162031

terrastorm

chump7431


I am in need of a new wireless router and thought I would ask the experts.  I have a 30mb internet connection and want to make sure that I dont lose any speed through wireless.  Any thoughts of what is the best?  I have read a lot of reviews but I just cant trust most people reviewing on routers because over half of them probably dont know what they are doing.

Thanks!

First off what's your budget for this device like?

I bought a Linksys E3000 and converted it to dd-wrt and I have absolutely no complaints with it. With 80% signal strength I get around 10-12 MBps transfer wirelessly from my laptop to wired NAS device. A 30 Mbps connection should cap out around 3.75 MBps so you would be golden! Plus it works on 2.4 and 5 Ghz spectrum if you have an issue with many people with wireless around.

Although, Cisco did come out with a new line of products a month or so back and I'm not sure what the performance on these would be like. But from what I remember they did have an increase in throughput on n-wireless from the E3000/E4200 generation. It may be worthwhile if you're looking to purchase a new device.

Just my two cents!

Thanks for the input.  I have been looking at the ASUS N56U http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320062.  I really dont know a lot about routers.  First off, what does it mean to convert your router to dd-wrt?  What benefit would I get with a customer firmware?  I will be connecting my ps3, laptop, smartphone, and hoping to get a windows 8 tablet wirelessly.  Right now I do not have a external hdd that I would want to connect to the router for my media, so that really isnt what I need the router for.  

Yeah, there's lots of bells and whistles.  If price is a concern, the ones I mentioned are not it.  I'm just in the market for one and while I'm buying or waiting for the WBDR4700, might as well get a few of those bells and whistles.   I would look for at least an N300 since most N adapters run at 300 mbps and will give you the better speed for video streaming. The newer N adapters are 300

chump7431

...  First off, what does it mean to convert your router to dd-wrt?  ...

I converted mine with DD-WRT because it becomes more customizable and it allowed me to setup OpenVPN connectivity on my home network.
 
From the looks of your thread, you're simply looking for network connectivity, so you may not get any added benefit from changing the firmware.

Trying to run dd-wrt is like trying to run linux on your computer.   If you know what you're doing, you will be golden.

I scraped the cheaper  Netgear and went with their N600
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041LYY6K/
For reference I get 24-26Mb 42ms on wired side, 15Mb on wifi with 62ms ping 
Never seen a router with such easy setup and their new GUI interface. 
 

I recently purchased this one.  So far it's been perfect.  My laptop and Xbox are on the 5ghz broadcast while my PS3 and cell phones are on the 2.4ghz broadcast.  No more buffering on Netflix at all.
 
http://www.frys.com/product/5957134?site=sa:Network%20Pod:Pod3

See my review on routers and my decision on the Asus "Dark Knight"
 
http://www.evga.com/forum...px?m=1524245&high=

Here's another vote for the E4200.  Not cheap, but it's simultaneous dual band.  Newegg is currently discounting it and there's a rebate.
 
I've had 0 problems, and get decent speeds waaaay at the other end of my house.
 
Z.

I am still rocking my Linksys E4200 V1 for a little over a year. Fantastic router and has been completely solid. Don't even need or have a reason to go with 3rd party firmware either. My last router was a Linksys WRT54GL with Tomato firmware. Keep in mind though. The new Linksys EA4500 and previous E4200 V2 will not let you load 3rd party firmware. Only V1 if you was interested in that.

So a few people have suggested the e4200......is the v2 worth the extra $30.  Future proofing would have usb 3.0 but very few routers have that.  The Asus n66u looks really nice also.  I dont want to pay a lot of money for things I do not use, but I want to get the the most for my money.  I want speed speed SPEED for all of my wireless components.

Read the reviews at smallnetbuilder and you will have your answer

I have a Linksys E3000 It works good. Also I have A netgear (get modal num latter its late.) I switch them out every month so they get a break and I dont have a signal problem with them

Well I made my decision
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I purchased the Asus N66U
 
My guess is that it is way over kill for what I need, but I want stability and speed and from what I read this router has it.  Thanks for your help guys

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very sweet router there. It will be my next one for sure.

You have chosen, wisely....
 
 

 
 
 

The N66U will be my next router too!

Well so far it is working.  This is my first ASUS product I have ever purchased (I love you EVGA )  
 
I am already a little displeased with ASUS.  I was trying to register my router and the web based register program didnt know my S/N.  So I called ASUS (they answered the phone quick...cant complain) they said that there was a problem with some serial numbers on the rt-66u so I had to send them a picture of my S/N and a copy of my reciept through email, so that they could registered it for me.  WHAT A JOKE.  EVGA is so much easier to register.
 
Any one know how to set up some devices on 5ghz (ps3 so I have a better connection) vs 2.4ghz??

devices have to already support 5ghz. can't just flip a switch and have them do 5ghz vs. the normal 2.4ghz. and IIRC the ps3 does 802.11g so you're sol there.
 
while 5ghz is nice(no interference in general), it does have worse propagation properties(shorter range) and almost non-existent device support. only routers seen to support it as far as I can tell.

Mangix


devices have to already support 5ghz. can't just flip a switch and have them do 5ghz vs. the normal 2.4ghz. and IIRC the ps3 does 802.11g so you're sol there.

while 5ghz is nice(no interference in general), it does have worse propagation properties(shorter range) and almost non-existent device support. only routers seen to support it as far as I can tell.

Thanks for the input.  What is the reason for a dual band router if you are only running on a single line. ASUS shows this picture on there website, so I was under the impression that I would set up my network the same way.  Interesting.

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Also, This thing gets warm....do I need to turn it off every night, or is it ok to keep it on all the time? I never had to with my older netgear

Wow going through this link I have not heard one mention of Belkin.  Stable, no issues had it for years.  Will take a look at the smallnetbuilder site.  Anyway you have made an excellent choice.