D-Link vs. Netgear vs. Linksys

Hey everyone!

Well let me start off by explaining my situation..

I'm about to move into a house with a friend and get highspeed DSL internet (from Telus btw).

I'm going to be living in a room downstairs, and he will be in a room upstairs about... 20 feet away I believe. We will separated by a couple walls and the floor. (I'm not sure but do houses usally have concrete floors/walls?)

Anyways we're looking for a cheap (but decent quality) router that will be able to give both of us a good steady connection.
I've found 3 possible choices (all $30 Canadian off, so $50 Canadian)

At my house I currently have a Linksys WRT54G 2.4ghz 54mbps and it is excellent! I have the main computer connected by cable, and the computer downstairs connected by wireless and it works out well. Haven't really had problems with it

1. Linksys Compact Wireless-G 4-Port Router (WRT54GC)

This one's cute just kidding. Well I'm not sure we need it to be this portable but... how does it compare to my WRT54G? I'm mainly concerned about Signal Strength.

Also, what's the difference between this router and the WRT54GC-CA Seen HERE

2. D-Link AirPlus G 2.4GHz Wireless Router (DI-524)

This one seems decent... will it have better signal than the portable linksys? How will it compare to my WRT54G?

3. Netgear Wireless Super-G Router (WGT624NAR) - Refurbished - Web Only

The fact that this one is "Web Only" makes it less desirable, as I would much rather not wait for delivery. Add to that the fact that it is refurbished. But if it's a MUCH better router for my needs then... tell me!
This one is 108mbps so... I was wondering if I'm just using Telus Highspeed internet DSL will I really benefit from this over 54mbps???

THANKS guys for reading over my post... hope you can help me make the right decision!

 

Well, I can't spectulate as to which is better because I've only used D-Link myself. I have the DI-624 rev. C and it's decent. The D-Link network card for my desktop gave me problems, however, so I got a Linksys one. My notebook has a Broadcom and it works fine with the router. It seems to me that the Broadcom picks up a stronger signal than my Linksys, but that may just be because my desktop's in a "dead spot" in the room or something. The D-Link router has good range. I can separate my notebook and the router by at least 2 levels of the house with great signal until it starts to die down a bit. Why not try one and if it doesn't work, see if you can exchange it for a different brand?

 

stay away from the DLink.

I'd say get a Linksys WRT54G, I know they have sales on them all over the place.

you'r DSL will only be like maybe 3meg so 54g is totally fine. the only improvement in going to a 108 network is file transfers between computers and you have to have the matching wireless card in your computer for that to work anyway.

houses normally have dyrall and plywood walls and floors.

 

I've use a Linksys WRT54G and love it. Performance so far has been flawless. The setup wizard through their website was seamless. I'm sitting here in my family room sending this out on my notebook. Directly between here and the router is a distance of about 50' are two walls, a metal filing cabinet, and a 4' x 10' free-standing stone fireplace. I get the same internet speed here as on my desktop in the same room as the router. I paid $50 US at Staples.

 

Thanks for your replies guys!

Any particular reason why for my purposes? Does it disconnect often?


Anyone else have opinions on the Linksys Compact WRT54GC compared to WRT54G? Thanks

 

I've pulled more D-Links out of residential and commercial sites than any other router brand. Mostly because of cr@ppy(didn't know that was a bad word) range, some dead, some frequent connection loss. More often than not dropping signals is a computer issue, not a router, but it does happen.

Ease of use, consistency, and range for the price, the linksys is tops. Linksys and Cisco are all I use in installs except maybe a netgear switch from time to time.

I do not have any experience with that particular linksys model, I've always used the SRX models(out of your price range) or WRT54Gs and they have all been great.

 

I 100% agree on this one.
I had to do with one D-Link- often disconects or hangs, not enough settings, switching-on some functions will hang the router (had to go through almost all combinations to get to know wich ones). Not too fast. Problems with firmware upgrades- you have to go through a lot of D-Link servers to find a firmware and than a lot of forums to know that it's problematic and it's better not to use it. There are also no 3rd party firmwares.

The D-Link i wrote about isn't mine so I probably don't even know about all problems. Personally I use Linksys WRT54GS -great gear.

Regards

 

Hmm that's 2 more against D-Link.. thanks guys

How is the range on the WRT54GS? Does anyone know if it's better or worse than the WRT54GC?

 

I have a netgear that I like, but I got it almost two years ago, and people have been complaining about them recently. So, I would wonder about the netgear anymore. Fact that it's a refurb definitely makes me say no to the netgear. That leaves you with the linksys.

 

I have a linksys WRT54G...great router, and it has available 3rd party firmware that is great, and adds a ton of functionality to it, like the ability to boost the output power of it beyond legal levels set it up in bridge mode, ect...
It's also one of the most supported routers out there by the hacking/wardriving/wifi modding community in case you'd even like to get into that.
I've also heard that this router has the ability to run some form of linux. I haven't tried, but plan on messing w/ it more in the summer when I have more time...

 

I have a netgear router (mr814v2) and it does it's job. But I'm not happy with the overall performance of it. The linksys wrt54g (v1-v4) works great with third party firmware such as dd-wrt.

 

i too have had problems with the d-link
nothing wrong with my linksys, although i'd have to reset it when i was doing tons of DL'ing
now that i don't, it's fine

 

I have the WRT54GC.... unfortunately I've never used the normal WRT54G, so I can't compare the two. And in terms of range, I'm never more than 25 feet, clear-line-of-sight away from where my router is set up, so I can't tell you it'll have the range you're looking for.

Setup was fairly painless though, and I've had no problems since installation. Plus, it's such a cute little thing, awww......

 

Funny, I have the D-Link 524 and it has been great...I live in an appartment and the router is two rooms away from my laptop that uses an internal Broadcomm card...

It's worked perfect so far...oh, and BTW I got it for free (after MIR) from tigerdirect.com...can't beat a router for free!

 

Yea, if the 3rd party firmware is a reason to buy the WRT54G for you, then make sure you get one either ver. 1 to ver. 4; there are more internal limitations of ver. 5 that either make it impossible to install 3rd party firmware or at least limit your options. Bottom line: if you want to be able to install linux or cool 3rd party firmware, stay away from ver. 5 and up.