Buying new wireless N router - feedback request

I'm shopping around for a new router for my laptop. Every wireless N router on the market right now seems to have mixed reviews.

The one I'm leaning towards is the linksys WRT600N. I liked the dual band frequency along with NAS capabilities. Even though the NAS only operates at 5mbps, that's still sufficient for my household applictions.

The other one I'm eying up is the D-link DLG-4500. Single band, no nas, but other thent that it seems rock solid. Love the special display as well.

Could others give me some feedback on what router your using, which ones you've had bad experiences with? i've personally been a linksys fan for 7-8 years now and I've had very few issues with there routers. Overheating in a warm apartment seems to be the only problem I've ever had.

Thoughts?

 

Netgear 3500 is a nice router too, although they have some new products as well. All depends what is your budget.

 

not bad, no NAS and single band. I'm really hooked on this built in NAS, I just don't see a wide variety of wireless N routers that have that kind of support.

Price really isn't an object. Any other feedback/recommendations?

 

Are you talking of the Netgear?

 

The Netgear WNDR3300 seems to be pretty good - certainly much better than the old G+ Belkin I had before. I've had the Netgear for about 3 months now with no problems (the only annoying bit is the blue lights that flash in sync with the antennas, but that can be turned off quite easily).

 

If Shyster recommend Netgear WNDR3300, you should listen to him, he is a network guru.

 

Thanks wirelessman!

BTW, here ya go

 

Thanks, now I can buy myself a good router

 

:laugh:

Good luck; you think they'll take some more as bail money to bail you out?

Hard to believe I managed to knock that together in about 10 minutes using MS Paint.

 

Another talent, beside a network matter expert you are also an artist

 

Spent an hour or so reading reviews on the WNDR3300. It's priced right and the close range datarate is good, but it suffers from poor long range transfer rates. Also, does not have NAS.

Still think the WRT600N and DGL-4500 are superior routers based on what I've read so far. Granted, more expensive.

Is NAS such a rarity amongst wireless routers? I'd really hate to have to buy a separate NAS unit for file/printer sharing.

 

Yup, was talking about the netgear router you referenced.

 

I have had Netgears and never had issues with it. Most of the savvy guys in this thread (e.g. Shyster, makaveli) have Netgear as well.

 

USB NAS capability on wireless routers is unfortunately quite rare - for the most part you need a NAS unit that can connect to the subnetwork via ethernet. There is one general-purpose solution; however, when I tried it I had some issues with it, and ultimately I went to a home server by converting a _Dell desktop I bought for $50 (incl. a legit copy of XP-Pro ).

The solution I have in mind is the Belkin F5L009 Network USB Hub, which can be used to connect USB-based devices to your subnetwork so that they can be accessed directly by any computer on that subnetwork (provided the client app is installed), as illustrated by this graphic from Belkin:


Using that will allow you, for example, to attach an external USB drive to the hub, and thence to your network, so that it can be used as an NAS device. It can also be used to connect printers, and etc, so it does have its uses. However, it's priced at $99 (although some retailers may have dropped it to $89), which is almost the cost of a standard NAS enclosure (not including disks) or more, such as the Netgear SC101 Storage Central NAS enclosure, which can be had for as little as $50 from some stores (technically, it's the SC101NA, which is just the product number that's specific to North America).

When I tried using that hub, it did work as advertised and allowed me to set up an NAS using an external USB drive; however, the version of the client app that installs on each computer that will access the hub that I used seems to have suffered from a memory leak that would eventually bring my computers to a grinding halt if the attached USB drive or the hub itself was not turned on, mainly from what I could tell due to the fact that the client app would constantly be polling for the hub and/or the drive(s) that were supposed to be attached to it. For example, one morning I turned the attached USB drive off and went to work. Later that morning, my wife turned her computer on and just left it on all day. By the time I got home at 6 that evening, she complained that the computer was frozen. I looked at it, and the client executable "connect.exe" was basically consuming 99% of the CPU's time, and all of the available RAM.

I don't know if that's subsequently been fixed, but it's something to keep in mind if you decide to try the hub.

 

Thanks for the heads up Shyster.

 

Another good router would be the D-Link. D-Link is the one that I personally have and it works great for everything that I need to get done. I am a heavy gamer, so I need something good. Also D-Link is up to date with their drivers where Linksys hasn't really done it for a while. Netgear is also very good.