Ask Engadget: What's the best wireless router?
By Ryan Block 
posted January 26th 2006 4:21PM
posted January 26th 2006 4:21PM
Ah, another Thursday,
which means you've got questions, and, um, some other yous have answers. This week Edward G. has a deceptively simple
query we think deserves a good, swift answering:In this day and age where a lot of us are going wireless, it's hard to choose a good wireless router. I hope Engadget can help us all determine what's hot and what's not in terms of wireless connectivity?One thing it seems like few (if no) companies are able to do right is a freaking wireless router. It's 2006, you know? Speed and range are improving daily, but who do you think's got the most feature-rich, solid and solidly performing device out there?
Another vote for D-link here
I had two Linksys WRT54G routers. First one just crapped out after two months, wouldn't even turn on. Second one, lasted nine months, started disconnecting at random. Answers I got from Linksys ranged from Electromagnetic interference(no joke) all the way to the power in my house wasn't providing enough juice for the router. Eventually after I talked to one of their more senior tech support people(only took me an hour and a half on the phone with some lady who told me to reboot constantly) helped me turn it into a swich, and then told me that it was defective but they wouldn't replace it, because I had voided the warranty by doing what they had told me to do on the phone...And so now I just ignore everything linksys.
Three things a wireless router MUST have:
1. ability to assign IP to MAC with the device NOT attached.
2. ability to forward WAN IP and port to internal IP and port. (Different port than WAN incomming port.
3. speed.
How can anyone with IP CAMS, linux box etc. NOT require the first two??? I have found NO routers that do these most basic requirements. Anyone know of one?
Forget the WRT54G. The revision 5 model SUCKS. Even with firmware 1.0.6 (the 5th one released since it shipped), it won't keep the PPPoE connection up for me more than 5 minutes. I've tried two other routes, and they work fine with the same cabling and everything. Common problem, apparently (along with many others). Everyone recommending this router likely has an earlier revision.. good luck finding them in stores though..
I had a netgear 108 summit summit, hell of a job to set it up. had it running 4 a day, failed, got it running agen 4 a day, failed, called there services... OMG worst i've seen other than dell. sent it back.. overheated, bad firmware. Bought belkin high speed ( 125mbps ) Hasn't stopped since great signal everywhere in my house above 60%. Go 4 it
I'm reading this thread coz I'm looking for an alternative to my Linksys WRT54Gv5, which is giving me quite a hard time (port forward/trigger, DMZ are not working and symmetrical NAT will not work with any VOIP adapters). To top it, v5 will not accept 3rd part firmware because of a new OS. Earlier versions of the WRT54G were rated great, however stay away from v5.
An big NO to DLink. I almost got fired because of Dlink AP2000+. They are loosing connection all the time. I had my CEO on one of them. I have Linksys at home, never got a problem. Have 2 Xbox running as Media Center (one on wless), have 2 laptops, my Qtek 9090 , plus 2 desktops on cable connected to Linksys WRT56G. My family members(4) are using Internet connection for WebRadio(Shoutcast), online gaming, "Testing " of P2P software from time to time, email,surfing, they watch/listen media from media server (SAMBA server with RAID 5) and no problem. So Linksys YES, DLink NO !
Netgear belkin are the most better. I dont have nothing to say about D-link. Linksys its just popular and cute. But Its not a professional or home router. The support its plenty bad. Own opinion
My vote goes to D-Link
I've built a private LAN in a building in Iraq housing roughly 300 soldiers. I started out using nothing but Linksys WRT54G's, but they needed to be rebooted daily, if not more frequently, and when you have a bunch of them strewn all over a building, that get's kind of annoying. I tried a few D-Link DI-524's and haven't had to reboot them yet. I even picked up one of the D-Link gameing wireless routers (the ones with the gig-ports on them), and I was very impressed with it. Fantastic range, router options out the yang, and extremely reliable. D-link's definitely got my vote.
I am using a ParkerVision wireless router. It boasts 1 mile range. I like it it definately had more range than either of my previous linksys and Dlink routers. However, I don't have 1 mile of open line of site from where I live. But, I am not sure it gets that. The company had their own method of long-range wireless technology which they merged into their wireless router. At the same time they maintained the G and B compatability. Unfortunately, I can no longer find anything about it on their website anymore (www.parkervision.com). However, I have seen them on ebay.
Hi, I live in south florida and i am now using the latest westell "wireless modem 4 port router and find it to be the best solution of all. Not only do you have to configure only one devce ( thats right an all in one solution. I have four devices connected and it
works great
D-Link g's, 524 and up, had Linksys Wrt54g, crashed, constant trouble, nothing but a name. D-link no trouble easy complte setup, and still running flawless.
D-link Xtreme N gigabit gaming router is the best for sure
Ever noticed the pc activity icon on the right corner of your windows? If you arer running TCPIP, u should not see any activity other than each time you hit the return key.
And to this I think its the Buffalo HPG54 that blows the competition. I never had a problem after the first config. In fact I almost forgot the password cuz I wanted to tinkle with the settings again a year later..
So I got a Linksys WRT160N cuz I needed to have gigabit connection for my cable service.
But like I was saying, the IP is generating a lot a traffic noise with the Linksys.
I'd buy the Buffalo dual-band draft N router without a blink, if not for the hefty price tag "BLINK, BLINK".
I like Buffalo.
I have Comcast cable high speed Internet service to my upstairs PC and need to purchase a wireless router device for my wife's laptop and for our guest room down stairs. We will not be gaming or file sharing more just for the Internet and email capabilities (basic stuff). Now the more I read people comments on this post the more I am confused as i was all set to purchase the WRT54GS then I started reading about the Belkin and my wife currently is using the 2Wire which is part of her Qwest package and it works fine perfectly fine anywhere in the house she uses her laptop. Any recommendations out there?
I say a definite no to Netgear. Terrible support and you can't understand them at all. No supervisory staff available. I was told I would have to pay for support (beyond 90 days) and when I said that I could buy another router for what Iwould have to pay for support, the response was that that might be better. When I said it wouldn't be a Netgear product they said "Thanks, and have a good day"
I have yet to find a router that works without dropping its signal at regular intervals.
I just bought the dlink di-784. It was defective, tried updating the firmware, but that didnt do much. Got it replaced and the second one was also defective. Wont waste my time on a third.
I would think that any router by linksys should be good, considering they are run by cisco, but ...
Anyone try the new Belkin N1 Vision yet? It looks sleek and sexy but I wonder if it's any good functionally...
http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/belkin-n1-wireless-router/4505-3319_7-31864345.html
Oops, I posted a link to the old version, here is the new one: http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=377018
I've been using a Buffalo router (WHR-HP-G54) for over 3 years, it's the best router I've ever owned. We do torrents, play WoW (raiding 5 nights a week), do online demos for my customers (when our office demo environment goes down) and it's just rock solid. It never crashes.
I tried out the Apple Airport Express (bought in May 08) and that also was fine. I was trying out the Wireless-N bridge functionality with 2 routers so I wouldn't have to drag ethernet cables across rooms, but it wasn't too stable across 3 concrete walls. Ended up using the LevelOne PowerLine AV 200mbps adapters instead, a very good solution.
Anyways, Buffalo and Apple Airport Express are both rock solid, never had any issues with either. The only thing negative about the Apple router is that you gotta install the configuration tool on your computer, which is an annoyance whereas the Buffalo has a standard web interface.
Stay away from Linksys, Netgear and D-Link. You are definitely rolling the dice on whether or not you're getting a lemon
DLink DIR 655 is my personal fave. I have used Netgear (utter crap), Linksys (died in 3 months) and have had the D-Link solid for a year and a half. Best interface, IMO.
Also use DWA 556 Desktop adapter.
Linksys WRT54G, best router ever and many open source firmware projects available! D-Link and US Robotics stink!
I just ordered a Linksys WRT54GL today, after giving up on years of using Netgear.
I had good luck with a Netgear MR314 for several years, so when it was time to upgrade, I went with the Netgear WGR614, figuring I'd stick with them until I had a reason not to. Well, this router IS that reason not to. ;)
Unlike the MR314, this gets much hotter, drops connections very frequently and doesn't offer anything that's worth suffering with the problems. Sometimes it reconnects itself, other times it waits to be rebooted.
I tried any tweaks & adjustments I could find, posted by people that had similar experiences--but no luck.
Hopfully the Linksys will do the trick!
LINKSYS WRT310N ALL THE WAY.
sleek, black desgn
durable, long lasting, cool looking and non cheapskate. XD
Well I have the D-Link 624m and the Mimo wireless card as well..It freeking screams speed from my home Cable/Dsl network..The MRouter and Mcard are NOT cheap but my router has been returned twice in 8 months to D-link for repairs. That pisses me off.. Not Cheap, but cheaply made perhaps.. I need to try another brand I think.. Good luck all .
mo
I own SMC, Netgear, Linksys, and D-Link routers. Hands down, the D-Link 4300 GamerLounge is hands down the best. I have several other D-Link products, they are not of the same quality or performance. The SMC is OK, but locks up once in a while, and it's not fast. The Netgear what-ever 614 worked fine as long as I was just surfing the web. Playing Halo would kills it every time. It has an overheating problem. Someday I will drill holes in the case and install some heatsinks and it might be usable. Tech support from netgear was from India and SUCKED. I get so tired of companies being sucked into the Indian government's marketing schemes. I haven't used the linksys much, I'm not impressed with my linksys phone adapter (vonage). When I have the time to load an alternate firmware, I'll play with the WRT54Gv3
I purchased a Linksys WRT54GS with SpeedBoost a few weeks ago and have had nothing but problems.
It's constantly dropping the net and refuses repeatedly! to install the upgrade - I've tried LinSys' suggested fixes, right down to har setting the IP addresses. Nothing. I get the lovel "Upgrade is failed" - not my writing error, there's.
Our tech guys say go LinkSys and go NetGear. I'm thinking seriously about giving the Belkin Pre-N router a shot.
Have you tried the Bountiful Router? I have! it out performs the WRT54G by a long shot. I am talking range and speed. I can walk over 1200 feet away from the router and get no packet loss, and great bandwidth. It has great security options with wpa-psk,radius, and more. I wish these guys could get their secret out. The price was originally very pricey at $625, but you can now get it for under $500. A great value for a router of its kind. Network world even did a test on it in it's infancy and found it much better than the Lynksys. Check it out.http://www.bountifulwifi.com/newsroom/articles/NetWorkworld-review-2005-bountifulwifi.html#distance . Has anybody else tried it out there?
D-Link SUCKS! They introduced this whole AirPlus Extreme-G (DI-624) thing, talked it up so much, then screwed the consumer in the end! I have had nothing but major problems with this piece of S#!% since I bought it, and it only gets worse with every firmware upgrade! The damn thing keeps rebooting itself, knocking everyone connected to it offline! I will definitely not purchase another D-Link router even if it's the only one left on the shelf! Multiple reviews have placed D-Link on the BAD end of the consumer spectrum, and now I will add myself to that list! To top it all off, D-Link charges the customer to send the (so-called) defective router back to them, then sends another out, but the new one continues to do the same crap, REBOOT, REBOOT, REBOOT for no reason at all! My next purchase is definitely going to be:
Belkin Pre-N! I should have purchased this one in the first place! Bye-bye D-Link!
P.S. I used to own a Linksys prior to the D-Link. The Linksys was not wireless, but had 5 good years out of it, then it started it's crap too! I would have to reset the router every 10 minutes then re-configure it only to have it stall again in ten minutes. BELKIN is the way to go!
im so glad at least a few people think that netgear sucks. im so damn frustrated with this peice of junk. i cant keep a connection for more than 5 min. as soon as i find my linksys router im throwing that netgear junk out.
Netgear has great features on all there routers (great for file sharing, lots of ports, good range) but theres only a 90 warranty, the customer support is awful (you have one free call, and usually someone who doesnt even speak english answers). also the damn thing has to be updated frequently and has to be reset often because they crash. I've had 2. I would look else where. I've also had d-link and belkin which have worked fine, but d-link adds extra processes that are kind of annoying but dont effect much.
I just purchased a Linksys WRT55AG and I have noticed that it hasn't been mentioned in any of these posts. I am presuming it is a new model? It is also a fairly expensive model. The first one I received didn't work and they sent me a new one. That one doesn't work either. I can receive email but not send it. I am returning this one as well.
Problem is - now I don't know what to buy. I fear I will have the same problem. Anyone have any comments about this model?
Definately the most popular router is the Linksys WRT54G. I am currently using v6, and no problems so far. It is hackable, and I have loaded the linux firmware and love its added features. Any of you looking to hack your router, go to www.dd-wrt.com. Be CAREFUL, or you will brick your router. Make sure you follow the directions, which are very thorough.
Many router hackers prefer the Buffalo routers, as they seem to have the most power in transmit range.
I would also recommend a directional, high-gain wireless adapter. I have one that looks like a satellite dish.
Good luck!
The best wireless router is a solar powered one - http://www.yourgreendream.com/yp_solar_wireless.php
I know this is an old post, but it deserves a new comment - BECAUSE IT'S STILL A PROBLEM!
I have a Linksys, and I've used a few different models, and their great for your average plug-n-pray user - they just work out of the box. But, the BEST wireless router I've come across: WESTELL
Most of you haven't heard of them - because you can't get them direct-to-consumer, they only sell to ISPs (like Verizon DSL). Great router, highly configurable, great features including one I've never found on consumer routers: DNS management. YES, you can actually setup your own names for things on your local LAN and they route properly. Static DHCP that actually works, and some other goodies, too. You can get some used on eBay or Amazon - try this thing out, and if you find a place I can buy one new, let me know!
I'm voting for Belkin. Their wireless routers have a lifetime warranty. If it gets hosed, they send you a new one. I hosed my first two on firmware updates, and they shipped a replacement right away. For the third one, I talked to someone from Belkin who asked some questions about my system. Turns out Norton Internet Security was blocking scripts from running, which a prevented the firmware update from running completely.
Now my only issue is that my Wii doesn't like it. It will connect and receive some updates, but it's not updating regularly. I found on Nintendo's support site that my model is incompatible. I am going to add an old Linksys 802.11b router to my network to support it.
It has excellent range in my house. I have the same model at my mom's house and the range is very limited, but I think it's a wiring and interference issue. I have also used the same model at a friends' houses and at church with no problems whatsoever.
I know nothing about computers and much less about routers and the such (hence i am using the comment forum to pose a question to all you savy cats!) I just bought my first computer. I am trying to figure out what type of router has the best broadcast signal... i have a large home and would like to be able to use my computer anywhere in it or outside of it... Please advise.
There are many routers out there that can cover a house...it really depends more on how big the house is, where the computers will be situated, how many computers will share the internet connection and if some or all will be using peer-to-peer programs such as bittorrent which taxes heavily on a router.
If it's just surfing the web mostly, than an affordable router from DLink would be my choice.
If it's for more heavy use...say 3 comp sharing the internet and all using bittorrent for example (like me, lol) then I'd get a router in the 75$ to 100$ U.S. range and my choices would be either from DLink, Netgear or Belkin.
Stay away from Wireless-N routers...you're paying more money for nothing. Go for 54G-wireless or the 108G-wireless.
Personally, I had problems with Linksys...2 different models from Linksys gave me frequent disconnections: WRT54G and WRT54GL. I'd stay away from Linksys altogether if you download a lot.
well, i don't know what's best either... i can tell you what *not* to buy though.
i've got a netgear wgr-614, which would be an ok router, save for the fact that it crashes about once a day. i'd also bought a d-link router (wbr-series) as a replacement for the netgear. this, i returned after three days as it turned out to be a certified piece of junk (constant resetting, instable connections, etc.). i'm still on the lookout for a good router and i guess, i'll give the linksys WRT56GL a try. with the firmware being open-source, it stands to reason that it's a reliable platform, as the user community can take things into their own hands when something doesn't work as expected.
Hi, I just want a reliable connection any ideas?
my husband works in advertising, so i have an all-mac household. when it came time to buy a router, i was surprised that the famous mac store tekserve recommended a d-link over the airport. but they did, because it has more ports.
when you buy a router you really need to get the type that fits your situation -- you have to make sure you have enough range, enough ports, etc. the d-link fit the size of our house, our peripheral situation, our usage needs, etc.
so i got the d-link wbr, which was on sale. it was hard to set up and i had to call tech support for my isp once and d-link 3 times; it just wouldn't talk to my hi-speed modem. my isp has terrible support but the d-link support was decent.
the problem was that it needed not 1 but 2 firmware upgrades. once we figured that out, honestly, it took 10 minutes to set it up, and one reboot of the router, modem, and mac.
then it worked immediately and has been no problem. so i'm very happy. lesson: upgrade firmware FIRST.
meanwhile i've chucked the netgear and replaced it with the linksys WRT56GL. this is one of the routers on the market that can run open-source firmware in stead of the often bug ridden firmware that manufacturers ship with their products.
there are many such firmware options available (one of the nice things about open-source is the ability to pick and choose). i settled on "dd-wrt" (http://www.dd-wrt.com) and i couldn't be happier. the firmware is rock-stable and offers a plethora of features and options. the installation and configuration of such a setup does require some geek dna. if you don't have the requisite genes yourself, try to find someone who does to help you out. for me it's definitely worked.
I've been installing routers for 3 years and in general Belkin has been the strongest (greatest distance), Dlink the easiest, and Linksys the over-all best (including cost). Netgear was the worst of the 4.
WRT54GS worked alright for about a week. I have been on the live-chat line with Linksys for three days, re-loading firmware, re-configuring, etc, to no avail. I have one wireless laptop and two wired PCs. Even the wired PCs load web-pages extremely slow. When I switch back to my old wired router I have no problems, except I can't use my laptop wireless.
Linksys...too over rated..weak singnals terrible tech support... People think that since Cisco owns them that it is Cisco now. not even close..Cisco promised a hands off approach. APPLE what a joke. No interface what so ever...but than again its apple users..you have to make it simple for them. Belkin, blows. Belkin has their hands in too many products to do any one just right. Blekin surger protector blew and took my wireless router with it. I bought a Belkin UPS and it was DOA. I admit the Older NETGEAR products were bad...but I will stick to the Netgear WPN834. D-link isnt bad either. Buffalo is suppose to pretty good.
I am a service provider with 75,000 internet users. No doubt about it, there are scores of these devices--however the keyword here is ROUTER. Netopia, for the money, is hands down the best ROUTER out there. Wireless, they are all mostly that same chipset.
By the way, the Netopia will cost you about twice what these others do. I recommend the 3300 series, which is about 3 times what these other guys cost.
Linksys sucks, It doesnt let me stay on-line. Constantly getting kicked off and takes FOREVER to get back on-line. My friend recommended D-link, I think im going to try that b/c this sure as hell aint working
The Linksys WRT54GL for sure. Stable, no power-cycling, it just works and works well.
MJ
www.efxi.net
I bought my Linksys WRT54G when 802.11G first came out, I have v1, and it has run 24/7 for like 5 years straight! D-Link in my opinion is BY FAR the WORST hardware I have EVER come across!