Recommendations for routers for the parents?

Hi,

My father lives 600 miles from me, and he's got a Comcast cable modem
on the top floor of his house and a TiVo on the bottom, so wireless is
important. I'm a computer nerd, so I'm quite happy to set up whatever
I can get to work at my house, but when it comes to his house, I'd like
to get something particularly reliable that I can simply install and
forget. This has proven to be an elusive goal. So far, he's burned
out his second D-Link DI-514. The first one's wireless didn't actually
function, and after wrangling with tech support for hours, we concluded
that it needed replacement. That was 11 months ago, and now the
replacement has died.

My D-Link DI-624 has worked fairly well for the past 15 months (knock
on wood), though it does occasionally drop and immediately restore the
connection for reasons unbeknownst to me. I purchased it after a
lightning strike disabled my very satisfactory Orinoco wireless access
point, no-name hub, and Leviton router which I purchased thinking I
might install it within the enclosure I have for ethernet wires. That
router was okay, though the firewall rules were a bit tricky to manage.


I have read through reviews of dozens of routers but been unable to
come up with what seems to be a suitable product for the purpose. To
that end, I seek your wisdom and the results of your research and
experience.

What model wireless router do you use?

How long have you been using it?

How satisfied are you with it?

What router(s) do you recommended to others and why?

I plan to make some kind of meaningful summary of the responses and add
it to the wireless wiki (http://wireless.wikia.com/) along with a link
back to this thread, and then procure one of the top items for my
father.

Many thanks,
Jim Scarborough

On 21 Aug 2006 19:09:57 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote in
<(E-Mail Removed) .com>:

>My father lives 600 miles from me, and he's got a Comcast cable modem
>on the top floor of his house and a TiVo on the bottom, so wireless is
>important.

Unfortunately, wireless doesn't work well through floors and walls. You
would probably be better off with networking by:
* Powerline
* Phoneline
* Coax

>I have read through reviews of dozens of routers but been unable to
>come up with what seems to be a suitable product for the purpose. To
>that end, I seek your wisdom and the results of your research and
>experience.

Better units are more expensive. How much are you willing to spend?

>What router(s) do you recommended to others and why?

SonicWALL TZ-150 Wireless: Capable, solid, and robust.
ZyXEL G-2000 Plus: Cut above the cheap low-end routers
Linksys WRT-54GL + 3rd-party firmware: Good if you know your stuff

>I plan to make some kind of meaningful summary of the responses and add
>it to the wireless wiki (http://wireless.wikia.com/) along with a link
>back to this thread, and then procure one of the top items for my
>father.

Contributions are always welcome.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

On 21 Aug 2006 19:09:57 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote in
<(E-Mail Removed) .com>:

>I plan to make some kind of meaningful summary of the responses and add
>it to the wireless wiki (http://wireless.wikia.com/) along with a link
>back to this thread, and then procure one of the top items for my
>father.

A word of warning: Poll results on Usenet aren't terribly valid -- the
result is essentially an anecdotal popularity contest. Good products
that aren't widely used (e.g., due to cost) get little attention. Very
popular products tend to draw flames. Totally different new products
tend to get tarred by the reputation of old products. And on and on.
Very careful analysis and filtering is needed to produce anything
useful.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

On 21 Aug 2006 19:09:57 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> Hi,
>
> My father lives 600 miles from me, and he's got a Comcast cable modem
> on the top floor of his house and a TiVo on the bottom, so wireless is
> important. I'm a computer nerd, so I'm quite happy to set up whatever
> I can get to work at my house, but when it comes to his house, I'd like
> to get something particularly reliable that I can simply install and
> forget. This has proven to be an elusive goal. So far, he's burned
> out his second D-Link DI-514. The first one's wireless didn't actually
> function, and after wrangling with tech support for hours, we concluded
> that it needed replacement. That was 11 months ago, and now the
> replacement has died.
>
> My D-Link DI-624 has worked fairly well for the past 15 months (knock
> on wood), though it does occasionally drop and immediately restore the
> connection for reasons unbeknownst to me. I purchased it after a
> lightning strike disabled my very satisfactory Orinoco wireless access
> point, no-name hub, and Leviton router which I purchased thinking I
> might install it within the enclosure I have for ethernet wires. That
> router was okay, though the firewall rules were a bit tricky to manage.
>
>
> I have read through reviews of dozens of routers but been unable to
> come up with what seems to be a suitable product for the purpose. To
> that end, I seek your wisdom and the results of your research and
> experience.
>
> What model wireless router do you use?
>
> How long have you been using it?
>
> How satisfied are you with it?
>
> What router(s) do you recommended to others and why?
>
> I plan to make some kind of meaningful summary of the responses and add
> it to the wireless wiki (http://wireless.wikia.com/) along with a link
> back to this thread, and then procure one of the top items for my
> father.
>
> Many thanks,
> Jim Scarborough

I use a Linksys WRT-54GL with DD-WRT firmware.. 1001 widgets to play with!
Remote admin too... handy to reboot the router from 600 miles away!