Recommend good reliable basic router?

You guys were great about six months ago when I had just spent two whole
weeks trying to get a router working with my desktop and laptop.

But now, unfortunately, the router has died. It's not the adaptor. It's
definitely the router. Damned nuisance.

This time I don't want to buy a factory refurb which doesn't come with an
installation disc and documentation, because that'll only give me the grief
I had trying to install the last one - until you guys were able to help me
to get the thing to work. (But even then it took us about a week to trick
the thing into gear!)

What do you recommend?

I have a desktop (which will connect to the router via an ethernet cable)
and a laptop (with a wireless connection). The router needs to be beside
the desktop and the laptop will never be more than 8 metres away.

I don't know what made the last router die. It could have been some kind of
power surge. So if there's a router that comes buffered against attacks
like that, all the better!

Happy to order online or go pick up from Comet or Curry's. (Don't have any
other suppliers around this neck of the woods.)

I need something known to be reliable and long-lasting. Really don't want
to be plunged into this hell again for a good few years!

Thanks.

 

Avoid Belkin, D-Link and (probably) Netgear. Currys list the Linksys
WRT54GR-UK for £40, which is probably a good bet and not ridiculously
expensive.

 

An installation disk isnt necessary and documentation is easy to
download from the website for Netgear products, though once you have
pointed your browser to the router/modem all the setup menus have good
help on them.

 

Why?
My Belkin has been fine for at least 4 if not 5 years and the one at my
dad's is now getting on for three and has been just fine.

I wouldn't rush to avoid any of the well known brands including the 4 you
mention.
There will be occasional faulty ones of all brands but no major widespread
issues.
--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger , then I hide until it goes away"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk

 

Avoid Belkin, D-Link and (probably) Netgear. Currys list the Linksys
WRT54GR-UK for £40, which is probably a good bet and not ridiculously
expensive.

Why do you say to avoid those models? Is it because you don't have the
first
clue about computers and can only tell people how to get a router going if
it is the same model as the one you have?
I see many people like you claiming to be experts, but know very little.
Some
even run companies then come asking in this group for help and sell it on.

There is nothing wrong with Netgear routers, they are one of the easiest to
set
up. They also feature QoS if you want to google for that. Nothing wrong
with
DLINK either if you don't try updating it with the wrong firmware version!
Dlink has no UK support, but why would people ever need it? They are easy
to configure and get going. Most routers are. Belkin are OK too, never had
any
problems with them.

The person who posted the message will be back again in a few months saying
his new router is knackered. It's down to his error and/or misunderstanding
for
the router no longer working as it should. Unfortunately that is more
difficult to
address. So is your lack of knowledge.

You can tell a mile off when someone is a bit thick, they come to a
newsgroup
asking daft questions. Most would at least make the effort to look for
adverts
and prices of routers. The original message to me reads as, "I'm thick and
can't
set up a router - what do I do?".

 

You must be thick! It doesn't take two weeks, it takes 2 minutes.

Why do you think it is the router? If you tell us what you have tried to
mess
about with we can tell you how to fix it in minutes. A denial that you have
broken it will mean you don't get help.

You are definitely thick then if it took you two weeks to get the first one
going
and a further week to get the second one going! What is it you have
difficulty
in understanding apart from basic English?

Read the manual, then use the CD with the router. Or get an adult to help
you.

Power surge? Oh get a life, is that the new word for "I've messed with
settings"?

You will for as long as you can't follow simple instructions!

 

To wind you up, twat.

 

I find Netgear easy to set up (the menus are fairly intuitive). They also
have fault-logging so if the router fails to connect to broadband, you can
see the reason why - eg that it is bad username/password etc.

Dlink can be a bugger to set up and you seem to need to totally reboot the
router to make any config change. I don;t think they have fault-logging,
though I don't have recent experience of these (I think it's mainly the G604
that I've used) so things could have changed.

Linksys are good but in my experience they are susceptible to failure - it
is significant that although the majory of the routers that I install are
Netgear, out of the minorty of Linksys that I have been called to, a high
proportion have failed - either a transient failure needing a reboot or
positioning somewhere cooler, or a permanent failure of the ADSL modem -
this is for WAG54 routers, mainly.

Whatever router you go for, it must be able to display signal strength -
attenuation and noise margin - without these it is very difficult to
diagnose the cause of failure-to-connect-to-ADSL problems.

If you do go for the Netgear DG834 range (eg DG834G, GT, PN, N) I suggest
that you avoid the DG834N if you are using Belkin wireless adaptors: I have
had several cases where these cards have been unable to connect to the
router - in one case it was a total failure to establish a wireless
connection; in another case it connected and the PC could access the
internet but other PCs could not access the PC with the Belkin card.
Changing temporarily to a DG834G solved the problem, as did permanently
changing to a Netgear USB adaptor (the one that is advertised as being 100%
compatible with the N router - I think it's WN111).

For the record, my own DG834GT router is about four years old and has only
been rebooted about ten times - either due to power cut or else to moving it
elsewhere to test against a customer's router. It had given me faultless
service and provides excellent wireless coverage throughout my house.

But you may get other people saying that they prefer a different make of
router - they may be just as biassed as I am ;-)

 

I grabbed a £25 buffalo from ebuyer a few months back. Great little router
that runs 3rd party firmware (if you want it too). Some manufacturers
(linksys for example) have started crippling there products too make then
less desirable to hack meaning they take out lots of ram and flash memory :/

Any how my buffalo has been running fantasticly and i squeeze a lot of
trafic through it both wired and wireless. 2 pc's, a laptop, iphone and 2
consoles. Wireless is much more stronger and stable on this too then my old
Linksys wrt54g.

Gordy

 

Mortimer wrote:
[snip]

I have no experience of Linksys, but my son said he wouldn't buy one
(when he worked for Cisco) as Cisco seem to look down on their "mass
market products".

I've used three different makes (Safecom/ebuyer, Zyxel and Netgear/sky)
and all performed reliably.

--
PeeGee

"Nothing should be able to load itself onto a computer without the
knowledge or consent of the computer user. Software should also be able
to be removed from a computer easily."
Peter Cullen, Microsoft Chief Privacy Strategist (Computing 18 Aug 05)

 

Thanks very much Mortimer, Rob, Zoidberg, PeeGee, Robert, & Gordy.

After several hours studying three websites where purchasers can say
whatever they feel about computer-related products, I've decided upon a
NetGear DG834G.

Literally hundreds of people have written that NetGear routers are
exceptionally easy to install because the NetGear installation process has
been well designed. I have also found that few NetGear buyers have
complained of any form of "router failure" (including death) within the
first two years of use. On the other hand, it has been interesting to see
that there is widespread agreement that if a router gives more than two or
three years of continual usuage it is fortunate. Bearing that in mind, as
well as my fairly simple requirements of a router, the price of the DG8345G
(as low as £40 from some suppliers) is reasonable.

Anyway, thanks again for all helpful thoughts and suggestions.

 

What a totally ugly and loathsome response to what appears to be a very
genuine posting.

Eddy.

 

Yes I thought it was OTT as well. I hope the OP doesn't think that *all*
people in this group are as gratuiously insulting and patronising as Paul P
evidently is.

I install routers and sort out problems with them all day long, but I
sometimes find that a supposedly straightforward "two minute" job can take
considerably longer.

If the OP can say what he's tried and what leads him to thinking that it is
definitely the router that is at fault, I'll try and help him.

First things to confirm:

- is it all PCs that are affected?
- can the PCs ping the router (come back to me if you'd like info on how to
test this)
- are the PCs connected by Ethernet cable or wireless?
- did the router work and then suddenly fail
- did you change anything that coudl have caused the failure
- what lights are displayed on the router

 

Linksys- yes good, but can spontaneously stop working for no apparent
reason. Especially WAG54's!

DLink- no, just no. (not for routers anyhow) Ditto Belkin.

Netgear- easy to use and set up, lots of features without being over
complicated for a novice and reliability seems on the whole excellant. Avoid
the N models tho.

Tim..

 

Hi, Mortimer. Thanks for the reassurance. I visit occasionally just to
see what's what. I think when I saw Paul P's unwarrantedly aggressive
response to the OP it put me in mind of the kind of attitude that drives
all these stabbings we have been having recently . . . and I believe the
way to stop the stabbings, the sudden grab for the knife-as-solution, is
to stamp out at grass roots that nasty aggressive attitude that is at
the roof of it.

Eddy.

 

Good choice IMHO. I've had a DG834G here giving reliable service for
ages, and have set up a fair few for other people. They are basically
a set up and forget piece of kit.

One bit of advice though if you live in a rural location - damage
caused during thunderstorms due to lightning strikes on phone poles
can damage routers. I've had many calls from people with non
functioning kit following thunderstorms. It's a good idea to unplug
from the phone line if you've storms about, as a precautionary
measure anyway. No idea whether this also applies to towns and cities,
others will probably advise.

 

There are widespread issues with Belkins. I had to send mine back, and
when I was in PC World a few weeks later, there were two people in the
queue returning Belkin routers, two on the returns counter, and a pile
of them in behind the returns counter.

There is a known (to Belkin) issue with the firmware on most of their G
wireless kit (not just routers). The main problems are settings not
saving, passwords locking you out, and routing tables not operating.
They haven't released a fix for it, and told me they were unlikely to.

deKay