Wireless Routers

Skip Miller

Skip Miller

Final Approach
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Feb 22, 2005
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Skip Miller
I need to buy my third wireless router because the first two have gone TU. In each case the router works but the wireless feature quits. It acts like the radio link has drifted off frequency but that is a pure guess.

First one was a Linksys, lasted four years or so... not bad I thought.
Second one is an SMC. Bought for the low price (did I mention I am a cheap b*stard?) and also because it has a printer port installed, a feature I like.

Question: What is a durable brand name in Routerdom?

-Skip
 
Skip Miller said:
Question: What is a durable brand name in Routerdom?

-Skip
Click to expand...

Cisco but since the cost of routers for the non-commercial level is so cheap it makes almost nosense to but them unless you have a high reliability beed aka commercial business. Linksys is a the cheap cisco but netgear is just as good.
 
I used to only recommend Linksys WRT54G's, but they changed them to make them incompatible with open source firmware products. At the moment, the model that I am recommending is the Buffalo WHR-G54S. If you ever need more signal you can install firmware from the DD-WRT project onto it and boost signal 150%. One of hundreds of features added by the alternate firmware.
 
I've had two D-Link failures in my home over the past 3 years. The first one was covered under waranty. The second one wasn't worth going through D-Links 1-1/2 hour long (required for warranty) troubleshooting class so I trashed it. I won't buy another D-Link :no:
 
flykelley said:
I have a D-link and it had worked great, have had it for a year and would buy one again if need be. I had a Net Gear and the range sucked so I gave it away.

Regards Mike
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I've got two D-links. One is at least 5 years old and the other is three. Both are working fine. I did have some trouble getting VPN to work properly, but was eventually able to sort it out (you have to turn VPN support off in the router to get it to work).
 
Buy a Linksys WRT54GL. Do not buy the WRT54G. The GL is the model that still runs Linux and there is a ton of great third party firmware for it.

I've found most wireless routers fail due to heat. If you stick a little fan on the router they tend to last and last and last.
 
I"ve had trouble with some Netgear products, especially the firewall/router. Spontaneous reboots - particularly during heavy traffic.
 
wsuffa said:
I"ve had trouble with some Netgear products, especially the firewall/router. Spontaneous reboots - particularly during heavy traffic.
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Heat. Fan fixes it everytime.
 
jangell said:
Heat. Fan fixes it everytime.
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Not this one. It's traffic-throughput-dependent, not heat dependent.

Trust me. I've been down that road.
 
wsuffa said:
Not this one. It's traffic-throughput-dependent, not heat dependent.

Trust me. I've been down that road.
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IME, based on my monitoring with a temperature probe, increased traffic tends to generate increased heat...
 
It only took me 20 mins. to convince the tech my D-link router/AP was inop after 2 years of continuous duty and it only took 5 days to get it returned (under warranty). In the meantime I bought a Blitzz router at Walmart to tide me over, it's still running after 2.5 years continous (even on stby power during Katrina). You open it up and it is a D-link board inside. I still have the D-link in the box ready as a spare. Nothing lasts forever.


waldo said:
I've had two D-Link failures in my home over the past 3 years. The first one was covered under waranty. The second one wasn't worth going through D-Links 1-1/2 hour long (required for warranty) troubleshooting class so I trashed it. I won't buy another D-Link :no:
Click to expand...
 
For me - Belkin cheapo router. Works GREAT, and it was like 18 dollars at WalMart.

Why so cheap? Because I wanted to try it out. I have not been disappointed, and have had zero problems. I have had problems with Linksys and Netgear.
 
jangell said:
IME, based on my monitoring with a temperature probe, increased traffic tends to generate increased heat...
Click to expand...

Correct. But I can also tell you that's not the issue with this one. It appears to be buffer overflow in the firmware or hardware. I have spent some time working on it. The other Netgear router I have (my VPN endpoint) has been rock-solid.
 
Did you do anything to help it fail? With my old one (a Linksys WRT54g), it was obvious. That big red light staring at me and no response from 192.168.1.1. And after all we'd been through.
Remember when replacing it, you're dealing with 3 different types of standards (wireless A, B, and G) of which your PC might not be up to. Wireless G is the latest (and fastest) but not every wireless router can broadcast that nor can every receiver receive it. If you got into wireless with the "A" standard, you might just need a wireless that can do them all.
Also, before giving up on your current wireless, check the standard. And make sure your router is broadcasting correctly. Perhaps someone did something they shouldn't have. (For the rest of the story)
 
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silver-eagle said:
Did you do anything to help it fail? With my old one (a Linksys WRT54g), it was obvious. That big red light staring at me and no response from 192.168.1.1. And after all we'd been through.
Remember when replacing it, you're dealing with 3 different types of standards (wireless A, B, and G) of which your PC might not be up to. Wireless G is the latest (and fastest) but not every wireless router can broadcast that nor can every receiver receive it. If you got into wireless with the "A" standard, you might just need a wireless that can do them all.
Also, before giving up on your current wireless, check the standard. And make sure your router is broadcasting correctly. Perhaps someone did something they shouldn't have. (For the rest of the story:)
Click to expand...

If you buy a wireless G router. It will work with your wireless b card. If you buy a wireless b router and you have a wireless g card it will also work.

Wireless A is a bit different and quite frankly rare.
 
silver-eagle said:
Did you do anything to help it fail?
Click to expand...
Nope. Stock out of the box, set up the WEP security and let it run. It lasted about a year. In the last several months it has taken my laptop a while to find and connect. In the meantime, the laptop is searching the 10 to 30 (depending on where I am in our home) other signals available for one it can connect to.

I finally dragged out an old PCMCIA wireless card from an older laptop and popped it in. It showed a very weak signal strength from my wrouter and sometimes wouldn't even see it at all. Then a few minutes later it would be back to full strength.

The early bird has caught the worm. On the basis of the first reply, I got a Netgear backwards compatible G model. And, if you are reading this, it works!

Thanks to all!

-Skip
 
I've used Netgear and Belkin ... never had any trouble with either. They can be had dirt cheap during promotional sales. I keep my eyes open and try to have one "in inventory" that I've gotten for next to nothing. Just used my last one to set up my father in law ... so looking again.

Skip Miller said:
I need to buy my third wireless router because the first two have gone TU. In each case the router works but the wireless feature quits. It acts like the radio link has drifted off frequency but that is a pure guess.

First one was a Linksys, lasted four years or so... not bad I thought.
Second one is an SMC. Bought for the low price (did I mention I am a cheap b*stard?) and also because it has a printer port installed, a feature I like.

Question: What is a durable brand name in Routerdom?

-Skip
Click to expand...
 
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