Best Wireless Router

Need extra help installing your Ooma Hub or Telo system? Let us know.
thunderbird
Posts:6388
Joined:Mon Nov 08, 2010 4:41 pm
Re: Best Wireless Router

Post by thunderbird » Thu Mar 01, 2012 5:40 pm

lbmofo wrote:
thunderbird wrote:I would purchase a Router that has Wireless N Wi-Fi, and Router gigabit ethernet LAN. (It isn't becasue you will need the Gigabit speed, but if you purchase a Gigabit router, you will probably will be assured to get a more up to date router, with the latest design).
So for the above choices, you'd pick 3 then :cool:
The next router I purchase will also have Dual-Band Wireless-N. Not that I need it now, but.... ;)

User avatar
lbmofo
Posts:9337
Joined:Sun Mar 14, 2010 7:37 pm
Location:Greater Seattle
Contact:

Re: Best Wireless Router

Post by lbmofo » Thu Mar 01, 2012 5:49 pm

I have the DIR-825 right now. I turned off the 5GHz band because signal was weak (maybe router specific).

EX Bell
Posts:401
Joined:Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:42 pm
Location:Toronto, Ontario

Re: Best Wireless Router

Post by EX Bell » Thu Mar 01, 2012 5:55 pm

+1 To the Cisco Linksys. Good routers and the QoS works fine, but choose the manual setting @ 80% of your measured upload speed. The Auto setting didn't work correctly when I tested it with my Telo. Could just be my model, which is a Cisco Linksys WRT160Nv3, but when I set it manually, everything works perfect.

Measure your upload speed here.

The 310N is a fine router, but a better model for the around $35 used is a Cisco Linksys E2000. Better still is E3000 because you can have simultanious and separate Wireless G and N trasmission, so wireless N won't slow down when a G client connects. Linksys has turned out some good routers and in my opinion, they've only gotten better since Cisco bought them. Cisco is a large part of the internets backbone. In my industry, the professional network switches are always Cisco.

D-Link is decent, but I've had bad experiences with strange network issues on their high end network switches. Makes me wonder, if they can't do a good job with their enterprise products, how good can their consumer level products be?

Belkin are very simple interfaces. A bit too simple. Their manuals leave much to be desired. I think you need to buy their top of the line model to get QoS, which I think is what they refer to as Bit Boost. It's their strange approach to instruction and relabeling of the industry standard terms that bothers me I guess. I'm sure it's sufficient, but I wouldn't personally buy one.
Customer Since: 1/17/12
Service: Premier 1/30/2012
BELL Canada Port: 1/30/12 - 2/13/12
TekSavvy via BELL FTTN: 25 Mbps/10 Mbps
Setup: Sagemcom 2864 > Cisco E2000 > Time Capsule v1 > Telo
Handsets: Panasonic KX-TG6655S DECT 6.0

Cyberchat
Posts:113
Joined:Wed Mar 23, 2011 2:01 pm

Re: Best Wireless Router

Post by Cyberchat » Thu Mar 01, 2012 8:55 pm

lbmofo wrote:For family, setting up wifi for first time. Trying to pick an inexpensive router...

.....

What number would you pick?
Ibmofo,

I recently upgraded to the Netgear N750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router (WNDR4000).

Here's a partial list of the features, specifically the ones which were important to me:

-QoS control

-Faster multimedia streaming — Provides total combined wireless speed of up to 750 Mbps on both Bands for streaming HD videos, simultaneous downloads, and online gaming in addition to basic Internet applications.

-Simultaneous Dual band — Runs both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands concurrently ensuring top speeds, greatest wireless range, and minimizes interference

-Lifetime Limited Warranty‡ — Hardware warranty for as long as the original buyer owns the product

-Ultra-fast wired — Four Gigabit Ethernet ports deliver ultra-fast wired connections for gaming and video

-ReadySHARE® USB — Wirelessly share a USB hard drive with Macs and PCs

-Guest network access — Provides separate security and access restrictions for guests using the network

-Broadband usage meter — Monitors Internet traffic and sends customized reports to help keep costs under control

I've had zero problems running Netgear routers for several decades.

(Quick edit for one more thought) I recommend that any new router purchased have support for IPv6
First year: Modem-->OomaTelo-->Router
Now: Modem-->Router-->OomaTelo
Ooma Premier, two phone numbers
Ooma Handset
AT&T DECT-6.0 two-line base with four remotes & headset

limey
Posts:1
Joined:Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:36 pm

Re: Best Wireless Router

Post by limey » Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:39 pm

I have the Netgear N600 and have the Ooma plugged in on the LAN side -- works just fine. No voice quality issues. Great 2-band wireless N/g/b/a capability, good performance, reasonable price.

harry12
Posts:32
Joined:Sun Nov 07, 2010 7:09 pm

Re: Best Wireless Router

Post by harry12 » Sat Mar 03, 2012 9:03 am

.
Just my 2-cents here...
Read ALL the fine print pertaining to any modem you might be considering; a new wi-fi standard ( 802.11ac ) is about to receive its 'blessing'.
Also, if money is a problem right now ( I'm thinking Apr 15th ), the 802.11b,g,n series is gonna be dumped ( Broadcom says 3rd quarter of this year for the new 5G chipsets ) and if you are able to wait, fire sale prices are coming.
.

User avatar
lbmofo
Posts:9337
Joined:Sun Mar 14, 2010 7:37 pm
Location:Greater Seattle
Contact:

Re: Best Wireless Router

Post by lbmofo » Wed Nov 14, 2012 7:50 am

Good deal @ $49.99 + $5 shipping?

New BUFFALO AirStation HighPower N600 with DD-WRT

http://tech.woot.com/offers/buffalo-tec ... s-n-router

Anyone with experience on this router? Tempting price.

The unit ships with buffalo pro dd-wrt build 15940 pre-flashed. If you would like to use community builds: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Bu ... -HP-AG300H

To avoid issues in lots of negative reviews out there, heard that you just need to upgrade to later version of firmware by 1 of 2 ways.

1) Go to http://www.buffalotech.com/support-and- ... /downloads and search for WZR-HP-AG300H

2) To find the latest community DD-WRT build, browse the FTP and look for the appropriate build. ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/others/eko/BrainSlayer-V24-preSP2/

richj11
Posts:17
Joined:Wed Sep 26, 2012 5:22 pm

Re: Best Wireless Router

Post by richj11 » Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:46 am

I've tried quite a few of the other models, but keep going back to the old school Linksys WRT 54 models.

I've picked up quite a few at the Goodwill for $5, flash it to DD-WRT and have an awesome device.

EX Bell
Posts:401
Joined:Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:42 pm
Location:Toronto, Ontario

Re: Best Wireless Router

Post by EX Bell » Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:06 pm

Just a few words of warning, DD-WRT is not created equal on all routers. I've installed a Telo for a client that owned a WRT54 and with the stock firmware (updated) QoS functioned fine. I have used DD-WRT on a WRT54 in the past, but not for QoS functionality. However, I have tested DD-WRT on some other Cisco/Linksys routers and QoS did not function well, but functioned perfectly with the stock firmware.
Customer Since: 1/17/12
Service: Premier 1/30/2012
BELL Canada Port: 1/30/12 - 2/13/12
TekSavvy via BELL FTTN: 25 Mbps/10 Mbps
Setup: Sagemcom 2864 > Cisco E2000 > Time Capsule v1 > Telo
Handsets: Panasonic KX-TG6655S DECT 6.0

Post Reply