Help with picking a router

Here is the situation. I have 3 computers. 1 desktop, 2 laptops. My primary laptop has wireless N and the others have G. I have wireless in them all because crapcast is only available at 1 spot in my house. I have a wireless router currently, but it sucks. I would like to buy a new one. I was wondering if there are any routers out there that I can plug my USB external hardrives into and be able to access them from any computer? My primary laptop sometimes we stream internet tv shows to the tv for easier viewing, so would like one of them that will keep up with that kind of data hopefully. Any recommendations would be appreciated. My buddy said to get this on "RangeMax NEXT Wireless-N Router". Im looking to spend about $100, but will consider all so let me know what I should look at. TIA

Walter

 

depends what you want. if you want a great all around g router imo get the buffalo whr-g54 that thing is simply awesome especially with dd-wrt or even better tomato firmware.

if you want a cheap-ish n router i like the linksys wrt-150n or the netgear wnt834b v1 model because they are easily upgraded to aftermarket firmware. both can be found refurbished for like 30-45$ and both are awesome for the price.

if you want to spend more than than that there are a ton of options. i personally always recc to anyone to get one that can be upgraded to aftermarket firmwares. the dd-wrt or others are just SO MUCH BETTER than stock firrmware its ridiculous. right now im actually on a netgear wnr834b with dd-wrt and it is rock solid. and i have some 150n's at my office. the netgear can be found for as i said like 35$ shipped refurbished and are a awesome deal for that. it will give you up to 270mps but only in n mode. with you having other g stuff you will not really benefit from the newest 450mbs stuff out there because you will be forced to run in a mixed mode enviornment

if you want usb ill have to look to see which have that. but if you set up a network right you can access data on all your computers from anyone is the house anyway

 

That Netgear one is the one he was pushing. What can I get from Modding the firmware?

 

pm me for more details and ill tell you where to get a version one model to make sure you can upgrade it

 

And the Buffalo routers are finally for sale again in the US...yeah! Love those routers. Inexpensive and rock solid steady...even with the standard firmware

You can get the wireless N router for the same price as the wireless g router at newegg...

Can't plug your wireless drive into it, but you could plug it into your desktop and just share the drive on your network

 

the buffalo n at newegg though is not the best n router from my experiences so far with it. and i had to physically open it to do a serial flash for wrt to work the pre flash they have did not work as planned, imo for a cheap n router if you can get the wnr834b version1 and put dd-wrt on it it is fantastic for 35$ as a refurb

 

i just bought the linksys wrt610n i love it N on 5 ghz and g on 2.4 and i get 240-270mbps usually with N havent checked the g connection but works on ps#
great now to upgrade my wifi card

 

As far as routers go I'm still suggesting the DLink Dir-655.

The old firmware was (is?) rock solid. There is however an upgrade version that some people like, some people don't, that allows the USB port on the back to be shared by all computers on the network so long as your willing to install a small program on each computer that wants to access it.

Their advertisements about it:
http://webapps.easy2.com/cm2/flash/generic_outline_index.asp?page_id=35878759

A better solution would really be to buy an actually NAS and just move the drives into it, but whatever floats your boat. If you have one computer by your laptop you could set up the OS on that computer to allow access to all the drives, its built into XP and Vista, it can be a pain to set up, but works well.

 

remember he was looking for a cheap router though here ... for 35$ there is NO beating a wnr834b with dd-wrt on it imo period. is it the best out there no. is it the best 35$ router id say it is unless you can get another 100+$ router for that price.