New Router Suggestions?

[Guest Keal G Seo]

Well a while back my Belkin Play N600 burt out during a storm, failed surge protector I suppose. Anyway, been back on a Linksys N450 for a while now and am getting tired of the constant lag and having to reset it. So, I am in the market for a new router. I am wanting to stay sub $100 but try and upgrade to a N900 given all the wireless connections we have. Do need a couple of wired connections so no wireless only units. Would also like to include Gigabit ports for future proofing but not necessary for the right deal. Any suggestions?

Been looking at the Edimax BR-6675nD but kind of hesitant because I am unfamiliar with the brand.

Edited January 18, 2014 by Keal G Seo

[TrickyNicky]

Well I was all set to plug my Craftsman plunge router until I realized why I had not heard of the brands you mentioned. :D

Good luck, I'm sure someone here knows what you need. I just use the one AT&T sent me and for what I need (TGO, streaming Netflix) it works great.

[dawgdoc]

Every time I buy a new DSL modem it goes bad faster than the one that proceeded it.  I think its because, other than being Chinese-made crap, that modems and routers basically stay on all the time and burn up their insides.  The last DSL modem I had was a Motorola, it went kaput way too fast.  I now have a Netgear.  The most that I can say is that it is still working and it doesn't drop the connection like previous modems seemed to do a lot.

I think I had a Linksys something that also went bad fast.

 

The problem I had was finding a stand alone modem.  So many of them are combined with a router.  I like having separate components because I reason that any combination product (TV and DVD player, Microwave with vent hood), one part is going to give out before the other, and then you have to replace both.

[Peace]

Ha!  I was ready to step in and recommend a Bosch or DeWalt...   oh well.

 

We are using a Netgear WNDR 3700 v3... bought it at Walmart last year.  It has been pretty good.

[RC3]

I wish I could remember the name of it, I have a kick ass net gear one that was around $110.

[jcj]

I've been using a Buffalo router for nearly 2 years. It's been more stable than both the Netgear and Linksys routers that preceded it. Linksys (aka Cisco) consumer class routers are known to be... Problematic. Frequent need to reboot and such. Sent via Tapatalk. Blame the phone for any spelling issues.

[vontar]

I like Linksys routers, I have had some run 10 years.

[jcj]

[quote name="vontar" post="1096942" timestamp="1390009623"]I like Linksys routers, I have had some run 10 years.[/quote] Newer ones or the old ones? The older Linksys routers were great. The newer Cisco branded ones... Not so much. At least in my experience. As always, YMMV. Sent via Tapatalk. Blame the phone for any spelling issues.

[Guest Keal G Seo]

I'd love to have a NetGear but for what I need I would be looking at the $150+ price range. As for the 3700 it is only a N600. Buffalo's are maxed out it seems at N450. Linksys is great if you only have a couple of connections that aren't always on. However, we have 7 devices connected 24/7 and another 1-5 cell phones depending on who is here. On top of that we usually streaming a couple of things on different devices at the same time even if it is just YouTube.

[ironsniper1]

if i still had the power adapter and/or the router i would just offer a price for it but i threw away a bunch of stuff including a couple of routers, but anyway the one i use is a linksys WRT54GL and have had it since about 2008-2009 and its been running great no issues at all!

[Guest Keal G Seo]

if i still had the power adapter and/or the router i would just offer a price for it but i threw away a bunch of stuff including a couple of routers, but anyway the one i use is a linksys WRT54GL and have had it since about 2008-2009 and its been running great no issues at all!

Now that is a golden oldie. I had one of those back I think around 2003-4? Not very gamer friendly but did have a good UI to get around it's quirks. I don't think 54Mbps is even close to what we use these days though. Heck, if you stream anything or have multiple connections I'd suggest you try something in the N300-450 range and see what that broadband connection can really do!

Thanks for the thought though.

[ironsniper1]

Now that is a golden oldie. I had one of those back I think around 2003-4? Not very gamer friendly but did have a good UI to get around it's quirks. I don't think 54Mbps is even close to what we use these days though. Heck, if you stream anything or have multiple connections I'd suggest you try something in the N300-450 range and see what that broadband connection can really do!

Thanks for the thought though.

I game ALOT and download ALOT with torrents and netflix etc and not so much as a hiccup

[Sam1]

There is another thread around here that recommended an Asus router, personally I didn't like the brand previously but decided to give it a shot.

Best router I've ever had, the darn thing covers a 3 level house and multiple acres just sitting on a shelf. Can't remember what the model# is though, just do a search here, it's an AC router.

[enfield]

I'm currently running 10+ year old Linksys WRT54G routers that I bought used on Ebay for $20 each.  Durable and fast enough for me.

 

'New' ain't necessarily better, and price has nothing to do with quality.

 

All new Linksys routers are made by Belkin - Cisco sold out to them.

[2.ooohhh]

Now that is a golden oldie. I had one of those back I think around 2003-4? Not very gamer friendly but did have a good UI to get around it's quirks. I don't think 54Mbps is even close to what we use these days though. Heck, if you stream anything or have multiple connections I'd suggest you try something in the N300-450 range and see what that broadband connection can really do!

Thanks for the thought though.

I'm also back to a wrt54gl (after I had both an asus and then a newer linksys give up the ghost) though mine is flashed with DDWRT firmware. The internal wi-fi is turned off and is now handled by a pair of airport expresses though a lot of my internal wired traffic never hits the router since I have a separate cisco catalyst switch which manage all of the LAN traffic from the plex server to the ps3s and aTVs.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Cant recall my linksys, was the top of the line wireless gigabit linksys router a couple years ago.

Haven't had any trouble from it. Don't recall ever having to reset it since it was first powered up. Maybe loaded heavier it would misbehave as others describe. I have a laser printer and two desktops hardwired thru a gigabit switch, and two laptops and five various handheld devices wifi, but they are rarely used "concurrently" though it can happen that most are "alive" simultaneously.

Maybe there are much finer routers that I've not tried.

This linksys has the usb connector to connect a hard drive for use as a NAS. Been meaning to try that out. Recently the external backup drive for the win 7 desktop died. I have reason to suspect the old ext drive enclosure as much as suspecting the drive itself, so I got a small network UPS for the router and hard drive, and got a new 4 tb usb drive.

Rather than periodically connect the drive to the PC's USB for backup, as with the old drive, see if the linksys will act like a halfway decent NAS and just backup to the local network. If it crashes and burns, will come back in the future to bitch about it here. Edited January 18, 2014 by Lester Weevils

[2.ooohhh]

I'm also back to a wrt54gl (after I had both an asus and then a newer linksys give up the ghost) though mine is flashed with DDWRT firmware. The internal wi-fi is turned off and is now handled by a pair of airport expresses though a lot of my internal wired traffic never hits the router since I have a separate cisco catalyst switch which manage all of the LAN traffic from the plex server to the ps3s and aTVs.

Well, I had some network Issues over the weekend that I ended up tracing back to the ancient router I had pulled out of storage before the holidays, so I did a little research and am back up and running and happy as can be. Ended up with a Ubiquity EdgeRouter Lite, spent around an hour configuring it and am back in business with slightly faster speeds to boot for anyone who has delved deep into dd-wrt or similar firmware to get more from a consumer router this little box may be a great next step for your network.

 

EdgeRouter Lite

 

If your don't consider yourself tech savvy this is NOT the router for you it is absolutely not Plug and Play, but it is great for the experienced who want more control over their home network.

[dralarms]

I just spent 200 bucks on a linsys 6900 (the ac1900) due to having to reset my old one 5 or 6 time in one day.

2 things, you can overload one and it causes them to act up.

And this sucker is super fast, it took the brakes off everything.

[2.ooohhh]

Well, I had some network Issues over the weekend that I ended up tracing back to the ancient router I had pulled out of storage before the holidays, so I did a little research and am back up and running and happy as can be. Ended up with a Ubiquity EdgeRouter Lite, spent around an hour configuring it and am back in business with slightly faster speeds to boot for anyone who has delved deep into dd-wrt or similar firmware to get more from a consumer router this little box may be a great next step for your network.

 

EdgeRouter Lite

 

If your don't consider yourself tech savvy this is NOT the router for you it is absolutely not Plug and Play, but it is great for the experienced who want more control over their home network.

 

15 min ago comcast went down in my area the ER flawlessly switched to my secondary provider, I didn't even realize the Cable modem was down until I walked by and saw the flashing red light in the rack.

 

Log into my comcast acct. and. . . 

 

• "Comcast is currently experiencing a service interruption in your area. Technicians are aware of the issue and are working toward resolution."

[Guest TankerHC]

On the staying on and burning up computer hardware. It is actually best if you leave it on all the time. You reduce the life of your computer and hardware, by shutting it off and turning it back on. The reason being the contact and soldered points warm up and cool down every time you turn it off and back on. Eventually, over the long term, the soldering points crack and the motherboard or daughterboard fails. 

[jcj]

[quote name="TankerHC" post="1114327" timestamp="1392955910"]On the staying on and burning up computer hardware. It is actually best if you leave it on all the time. You reduce the life of your computer and hardware, by shutting it off and turning it back on. The reason being the contact and soldered points warm up and cool down every time you turn it off and back on. Eventually, over the long term, the soldering points crack and the motherboard or daughterboard fails. [/quote] Long ago I had a chat with an engineer at AMD. He told me that "modern CPUs" (at that time would have been the Athlon XP) were designed for continuous operation and--barring external factors--had a life expectancy of ~18 years of *continuous* operation. Obviously voltage spikes and power cycling would shorten this dramatically and its almost never the CPU that fails first in any case. Just thought it was interesting info. Sent via Tapatalk. Blame the phone for any spelling issues.

[Guest TankerHC]

Long ago I had a chat with an engineer at AMD. He told me that "modern CPUs" (at that time would have been the Athlon XP) were designed for continuous operation and--barring external factors--had a life expectancy of ~18 years of *continuous* operation. Obviously voltage spikes and power cycling would shorten this dramatically and its almost never the CPU that fails first in any case. Just thought it was interesting info. Sent via Tapatalk. Blame the phone for any spelling issues.

 

All computer hardware is designed for continuous operation. Most hardware lasts longer today than it did 30 years ago, but the effect on cycling is still the same when it comes to heating and cooling. Longer, but still reduces life of the hardware. 

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Should also factor the power expense, to determine whether the extra expense of 24/7 power usage is lower than increased replacement cost from routine power cycling.

Additionally, if the gadget is expected to be obsolete and junked before reaching its MTBF, then any extra power expended in the name of un-needed longevity is pure waste.

Because so many modern gadgets are power throttled automatically, going into low power modes when idle, wouldn't one expect similar heating cooling stresses to be applied to a unit which auto cycles, as caused by manually cycling the gadget?

[Guest TankerHC]

Should also factor the power expense, to determine whether the extra expense of 24/7 power usage is lower than increased replacement cost from routine power cycling.

Additionally, if the gadget is expected to be obsolete and junked before reaching its MTBF, then any extra power expended in the name of un-needed longevity is pure waste.

Because so many modern gadgets are power throttled automatically, going into low power modes when idle, wouldn't one expect similar heating cooling stresses to be applied to a unit which auto cycles, as caused by manually cycling the gadget?

 

There is a difference, the throttling you are talking about, or the auto cycling during times like auto firmware updates do not completely cool the hardware's weak points. Has little to no effect. Running a computer all day or a piece of hardware all day then shutting it down every night or every time you are not using it, which could be thousands of times per year makes a difference.

 

From "hot" (Relatively speaking) to warm and back to full power will have little effect. From hot to cold to hot to cold for several thousand times makes a big difference.

 

Slightly off topic (Because this is an extreme) but I have an 8 core machine that is liquid cooled, the RAM timings are manually set, everything is overclocked. (not a gamer, just a hobby), it has 6 heavy duty ball bearing fans and still runs hot compared to any standard machine. If I shut it down every night. It would not last a month. Same with any regular machine, except instead of a month, it is over many months (Years). But the result is the same, reduced life of the hardware.

 

For hardware longevity, I dont think that is an issue. Reason being if you look at the new AC Standard, that standard was designed 3 years ago, launched about 18 months ago and the IEEE only released their approval of AC as an "official" standard in documentation less than a year ago. 802.11a (Which is 802.11) has been around for 25 years, it is considered a legacy standard but is still supported by modern routers simply because the architecture of modern standards is basically the same. it might suck to be restricted to 802.11a/b, but if someone had a 15 year old a/b router, it would still work. I have a Speed Stream 10/100/1000 Pro hardwired router with a built in print server, it is over 10 years old, still works and the exact same router is still in use today. (Think I may have offered it up here to give away).

 

I once saw a photo of a lit lightbulb that was over 100 years old, and supposedly was never turned off. (Had to throw that one in, however not relevent :woohoo: )

Edited February 22, 2014 by TankerHC

[frankmako]

netgear has work the best for me.