Decent 4 port ADSL2+ G or N router

My Netgear DG834GT is showing sign of giving up. Google seems to point
to failing caps but perhaps that's for later. All I'd like is good
reliability and fairly straight-forward menus.

Everything I look at has reviews that seem fairly balanced between great
and crap, with a scattering in between.

So the question is, does a really reliable box exist, with decent
wireless to reach around my semi and a good set up scheme?

Cheers

Andy Cap wrote:
> My Netgear DG834GT is showing sign of giving up. Google seems to point
> to failing caps but perhaps that's for later. All I'd like is good
> reliability and fairly straight-forward menus.
>
> Everything I look at has reviews that seem fairly balanced between great
> and crap, with a scattering in between.
>
> So the question is, does a really reliable box exist, with decent
> wireless to reach around my semi and a good set up scheme?
>
> Cheers

the cheapest on the block is TP-LINK and allegedly its a sound piece of kit.

I've had issues with Belkin and Netgear, and more happiness with D-link
and Billion.

I've not tried Draytek.But they seem to come well regarded

On 21/12/11 16:46, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
> the cheapest on the block is TP-LINK and allegedly its a sound piece of
> kit.

Thanks for that. The reviews on Broadband buyer look pretty good for
the TD W8960N

> I've had issues with Belkin and Netgear, and more happiness with D-link
> and Billion.
>
> I've not tried Draytek.But they seem to come well regarded

Andy Cap wrote:
> My Netgear DG834GT is showing sign of giving up. Google seems to point
> to failing caps but perhaps that's for later. All I'd like is good
> reliability and fairly straight-forward menus.
>
> Everything I look at has reviews that seem fairly balanced between great
> and crap, with a scattering in between.
>
> So the question is, does a really reliable box exist, with decent
> wireless to reach around my semi and a good set up scheme?

All the routers supplied by BT seem to have universally awful user
interfaces.

At one extreme I've used Edimax, at the other Draytek - both have
reasonable user interfaces. The Edimax lacks a "save configuration"
option. The Draytek are known for operating at more conservative ADSL
parameters to achieve connection reliability at the expense of speed.
Primarily I use Draytek for their VPN facility, if you don't need this
they are probably overkill.

As to wireless, fundamentally all wireless devices are the same, since
they are all subject to the same maximum power output limitations. So
in good conditions you won't see much variation in performance from one
make to another. Some restrict you to entering WEP keys in hex only
(Belkin and older 3Com devices) - this can be a real pain. Edimax
access points (can't speak for routers) will not allow your WPA key to
contain spaces or some punctuation characters when there's no such limit
laid down in any specification I've seen.

However where your wireless has to operate in a noisy environment
(multiple other wireless access points nearby, no clear channels) and it
has to reach through walls or other obstructions you might get better
performance with devices sporting multiple antennae. It also depends
how many clients you need to service and whether they are all modern
with fast processors - one rogue client can screw up wireless networking
for all the other clients.

If you want reliability, avoid wireless and fit cat5 cable.

--
Graham J

"Andy Cap" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) o.uk...
> My Netgear DG834GT is showing sign of giving up. Google seems to point to
> failing caps but perhaps that's for later. All I'd like is good
> reliability and fairly straight-forward menus.
>
> Everything I look at has reviews that seem fairly balanced between great
> and crap, with a scattering in between.
>
> So the question is, does a really reliable box exist, with decent wireless
> to reach around my semi and a good set up scheme?


You cannot be sure of the coverage but the Netgear DGN2000 has given me very
good results. It has been running for 110 days non-stop. You can buy a
refurbished one on eBay for around £26 from istor. I have bought three so
far and am delighted with them as are the users. You need to update the
firmware with the rest of the world version rather than the USA version they
come with.

Peter Crosland

On 21/12/11 18:22, Peter Crosland wrote:

> You cannot be sure of the coverage but the Netgear DGN2000 has given me very
> good results. It has been running for 110 days non-stop. You can buy a
> refurbished one on eBay for around £26 from istor. I have bought three so
> far and am delighted with them as are the users. You need to update the
> firmware with the rest of the world version rather than the USA version they
> come with.
>
> Peter Crosland
>

I think I'll give one of those a try. I do like the Netgear look and
setup and it has a wireless on/off switch I see. I've already downloaded
the FW in anticipation ! ;-)

Thanks

Andy C

"Andy Cap" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:yoKdnTK6-(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 21/12/11 18:22, Peter Crosland wrote:
>
>> You cannot be sure of the coverage but the Netgear DGN2000 has given me
>> very
>> good results. It has been running for 110 days non-stop. You can buy a
>> refurbished one on eBay for around £26 from istor. I have bought three so
>> far and am delighted with them as are the users. You need to update the
>> firmware with the rest of the world version rather than the USA version
>> they
>> come with.
>>
>> Peter Crosland
>>
>
> I think I'll give one of those a try. I do like the Netgear look and setup
> and it has a wireless on/off switch I see. I've already downloaded the FW
> in anticipation ! ;-)


You can also use the DG Team firmware as an alternative. The download links
are

http://support.netgear.com/app/products/model/a_id/2334

http://dgteam.ilbello.com/index.php?pid=17

This tells you a bit about the reasons for using the latter.

http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/dg834GT_targetsnr.htm

Peter Crosland

In article <jct2ha$af6$(E-Mail Removed)>, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> > So the question is, does a really reliable box exist, with decent
> > wireless to reach around my semi and a good set up scheme?
> >
> > Cheers
>
> the cheapest on the block is TP-LINK and allegedly its a sound piece of kit.
>
> I've had issues with Belkin and Netgear, and more happiness with D-link
> and Billion.
>
> I've not tried Draytek.But they seem to come well regarded

So far I've used Draytek, Netgear (DG834, V3 and V4), several BT Voyagers
bought via Ebay, an Orange Livebox, and now a brand new Belkin F5D8636-4 v2
bought in PC World. Without any other changes to my system, the Belkin is
giving approximately double the download speed of all the others, and better
wireless coverage (even with wireless-g devices).

Rod.
--
Virtual Access V6.3 free usenet/email software from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtual-access/

The Natural Philosopher <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Andy Cap wrote:
> > My Netgear DG834GT is showing sign of giving up. Google seems to point
> > to failing caps but perhaps that's for later. All I'd like is good
> > reliability and fairly straight-forward menus.
> >
> > Everything I look at has reviews that seem fairly balanced between great
> > and crap, with a scattering in between.
> >
> > So the question is, does a really reliable box exist, with decent
> > wireless to reach around my semi and a good set up scheme?
> >
> > Cheers
>
> the cheapest on the block is TP-LINK and allegedly its a sound piece of kit.
>
I have several TP-Link devices (WiFi router, two small gigabit
switches) and to date all have been good. The TP-Link support people
are helpful too.


> I've had issues with Belkin and Netgear, and more happiness with D-link
> and Billion.
>
> I've not tried Draytek.But they seem to come well regarded

I have a Draytek 2820n here, works pretty well, though the web
interface is a bit arcan in places.

--
Chris Green

However, note that the 2820 series appears to have only 1 Gigabit
Ethernet port:
http://www.draytek.co.uk/products/vigor2820.html

On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:49:34 +0000, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>
> I have a Draytek 2820n here, works pretty well, though the web
> interface is a bit arcan in places.
--
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