Any good low/mid-range wireless router suggestions?

  • Thread starter G.T
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G.T

G.T

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Paganisterr
Ak Paganister
Hi all

Wireless routers are a pain in the backside, I know, but I've been very lucky with the Linksys WRT54G I've had for over 3 years... until now. I think it's starting to show signs that it will give up very soon. A few days ago it completely refused to allow anything to connect to it, even after several unplugs, and then randomly started to work again. Parent's torrents have been hammering it 24/7 for 2 years now, so I'm not surprised it's becoming sketchy.

The Linksys was only about £40, so preferably it has to be the same price and manufacturer, but I'll go higher and change if needed. I would buy another WRT54G, despite its age, but I remember reading a long time ago "realistic" bandwidth tests on the router only averaged out at 14meg, not 54 as it says on the tin. It's possible we'll be having 20meg in the near future so the connection would become a waste of money if the stats are true.

The stuff connected to the router will be 2 PS3s, 1 X360, and 4 (possibly 5) computers, one directly wired to it. Currently only one computer causes the router to reboot itself when it connects to it - I honestly want it to stay as reliable as that. Piority is the gaming consoles though.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!
 
I presume "n" gives you better transfer speeds and stronger signal at further distances?

With the current "g" router I get 75% at worst connection strength through the PS3, so I don't know whether "n" is needed.
 
n is set to be the new standard in about a year and the equipment runs a bit more $ than the older (read - tried and true) g.
 
It may sound a little backwards, but I'd suggest getting another WRT54G. That is, assuming you've been perfectly happy with it (which it sounds like you have). Every time I buy a new router I discover that there's some niggle with it, meaning I can't go as far outside or it starts disconnecting me randomly. If you've barely had any issues, grab yourself another one.

Or, if you feel like an upgrade, I'd suggest Netgear. Never had any issues with mine (although, of course, my broadband reaches 1.5mb/s max with one computer using it most of the time, so I don't know how it would cope in your situation). That said, it's been reliable for something like 2 and a half years now (whereas the Belkin we had lasted about 10 months) with no visible degrading in signal or speed. Or anything, really. Ours is the DG834GT, which has a 108mb/s mode that seems to make it invisible to all wireless cards when switched on. So don't expect it to be that fast without using a netgear USB dongle thing.
 

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