Looking for wireless N router with good range

Hey guys,

I currently have a microsoft wireless router its about 3-4 years old and still works great. However since i got my XPS m1530 laptop i moved the router upstairs. my laptop is the wireless N and the old router of coarse does not go to N.

My problem is the router is on the 2nd story (i am on the first) and its almost directly above me and maybe 5 feet behind me. and i cant get full bars on either my laptop or xbox 360. they are both 1 bar away from being full.

It may not seem like an issue but playing halo 3 online has really seemed to prove the 1 missing bar is causing me lag. I used to be pretty good at halo 2 and 3 and i was always hard wired into the router. since now its wireless and upstairs it seems a lot of weird deaths happen to me and i believe it is due to the lag.

My question is whats a good wireless N router where i will get good range through walls and going down from the 2nd story to the first? the only brand i really know about is linksys. i had a d-link hub some years back and it was junk i am not sure if they are any better these days. And netgear seems to have issues from what friends have told me.

sorry for the long post and any help would be great. even if there was a way to increase the signal to my current router would be great!

 

Have yo checked first if your router is transmitting maximum power?

Also, consider arranging the router antenna's orientation to get more signal downstairs, although the router is an omnidirectional antenna (a basketball radiation like) things around may change its pattern.

I like Netgear, they have one with extra coverage and MIMO for a more reliable reception. But Linksys is also en excellent router.

 

I second linksys, specifically the wrt600N!!!!!!

 

Yes, I've heard good things about the wrt600n.

 

If your NB is down stairs, try orientating one antenna so it horz. That will make one field above and below the router, with the other one covering the 2nd floor.

Just a note if your having problems now you will have them when you upgrade. The 5ghz does not penetrate walls as well as the 2.4ghz (11g/n).

The problem you may be having mow maybe a chipset clash, not the same mfg. Also make sure you have the latest firmware in the router and your NB is up to date.

 

personally if you really dont need n get the bufflao whr-hp-g54. it has AMAZING range. flash it to tomato or dd-wrt and you can go up to 230 transmit power.. and add external antennas to it. i have one for sale also...

for a inexpensive really good n router the wrt150n from linksys is the way to go if you dont need 5ghz range. they run about 50$ refurbed and i buy them all the time that way and they work great. but still my choice is the buffalo.

they cant be bought anymore in the usa though. so ebay or private seller is the only way to get them

 

You could also put a reflector above the antenna to artificially modify the antenna radiation pattern downward.

 

great response blue!!! +1

so many people forget about the orientation of the antennas. You can sometimes also increase the signal strength by placing the router at diff levels, ie., on the computer stand, 3 ft above the stand, mounted on the wall etc. Sometimes the signal penetration can also just be greater in diff locations in a room- experiment to see what works best for you.

and for the best performance, get the wrt600n-- you won't regret it!!

 

sorry to sound dumb but what is the NB?

and it only has 1 antenna.

this is a link to the current router i have.
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-MN-700-Wireless-802-11g-Station/dp/B0000BZO58

i also couldnt find a setting to see the power.

 

NB: NoteBook, or laptop

Did you try to move the router around or put a reflector?

 

do i buy a reflector? i did move it around no change.

that storage link for the wrt600n is it software i have to install on a pc to use it or does my external just show as a shared drive? sounds like a cool feature if i dont need software.

 

You could use any aluminum piece of product and some how put it on top of the antenna, the product could be of the size of an eating plate. This is a Mickey mouse type of thing, but if it works then you have save money, otherwise either you get some coverage range extender equipment (e.g. hawking technologies) or just get yourself another router.

 

it is for an ext hdd, etc.

as far as I know, the airport extreme by apple still has the lead on that- it would be great to be able to plug in a shared hdd...

 

from reading the articles manual you can plug the HDD in but it doesnt say if it just shows up on the network as a shared drive or not.

at work we have a lacie hdd thats a network drive and it shows up as a shared drive and u just have to enter a L/P would be nice to know if anyone has that router.

and what would you guys say is the best N router? is that linksys wrt600n it? seems a bit pricey but if its worth the money i might get it.

also one more thing i was reading people said you cannot open nat or something with it which is a problem because if you dont have nat open then you cannot host games on xbox live.

 

I have a DLink 625 Draft N router that connects well with my xps1530 and its big advantage is excellent range between floors within the house

 

guys guYS GUYS????

ok, sorry

um, the wrt600n is probably the best available in the us if you're looking for a dual band, dual radio N router...... esp if you have the Intel 4965a/g/n nic card in your laptop. That will allow you to connect at 300mbps..but of course throughput wiil be lower.........

 

haha sorry i just figured your avatar was of some random girl most pretty girls dont know much about computers .

and what do you mean the throughput will be lower?

i do have that intel card and i have whatevr wireless card the 360 uses from MS.

also does the wet600n have that crap where u can update the firmware with anything u want? i think its WRT or something.

 

Don't jump into conclusions too fast, she said first 300Mbps and after she says is a lower throughput????? I don't think she has a clue what throughput means.

Yes, you could use another vendor's firmware with wrt600n.

 

You may want to take a look at D-Link and Buffalo, Buffalo makes very good routers and it's a Japanese brand, they also have wide support for 3rd party firmwares.

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/wireless/wireless-n-nfiniti/

$125 @ Amazone.com

http://www.amazon.com/Airstation-N-...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1214494447&sr=1-1

The D-Link DIR-655 is also a good deal now, on sale for $114 only.

http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DIR-65..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0A3SS227A2VZVCYC8Q8J

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear. Throughput measures how fast data flows through the router. There are 3 types usually measured in tests by our friends at smallnetbuilder.net, which most of us use as a reference. There is WAN to LAN, LAN to WAN and simultaneous.

Where it gets confusing and this was my fault, is even if your WIRELESS CONNECTION/adapter in your network shows 300mbps, the actual throughput of any of the 3 types, generally tested and referenced, are going to be less.

Click Here for a very good explanation and diagram of router throughput.

I'll just end by saying that when most of us say we are getting 130 or 300mbps w/ this or that router & adapter, it's actually the network speed reflected by the adapter software or in windows network status on our laptop.

and yes, I do believe the wrt600n can use the other DD-WRT firmware, but I have been wrong b4.

 

hmm this is so confusing lol. last night i decided to try my connection speed with dslreports and with speakeasy.net's speed test it seemed plugged into the router with my laptop or wireless the difference was not much. with the router upstairs it was roughly 30-40k slower but with it plugged in i still barley reached 1mbit per sec after trying it several times.

I am not sure if the router is just old and shot and cant reach faster than 1mb anymore or if my cable connection just got slower over time.

anyway you guys are giving me too many choices blah. im pretty proficient on setting up networks but when it comes to hardware and the numbers i get confused.

although nobscots last post made some sense to me about the throughput.

At this point i really dont know what to do if there is just latency causing issues, my router or my cable modem.

 

hi i have the wrt600n, and its intsalled on my ground floor, i am one floor above it in a bedroom, a few walls and stuff between, but i still only get 3 bars?

 

hmm thats a bit discouraging.

 

Have you checked if your client's adapter is set for maximum transmit power?

 

i dont think i can change the power output on the microsoft router.

 

No, you change that in your wireless adapter on your computer/laptop.

 

oh hmm well according to my laptop its connected at excellent quality and 54mbps i wonder if i can change that on the xbox360 so set it higher.

 

do you have your transmit power on the router set to the high setting?

are you using wpa2

are you transmitting on both bands? how do you have them set up?

what laptop/card do you have?? is it set up to receive 2.4 & 5GHz? max transmit power?

 

so bottom line whats the best router i should be getting?

 

IMO-->

Dual Band N 2.4Ghz & 5.0Ghz

1. linksys wrt600n == Transmits on 2.4 & 5 simultaneously

2. dlink dgl 4500 N == Transmits on 2.4 or 5

3. If you have a lot of money dlink dir 855== 2.4 & 5 simultaneously

also check out the Trendnet N gaming Router

Single Band N 2.4 Ghz

1. Dlink dir 655

2. Linksys wrt350

check out the Router Output charts Link in my sig, for more information

 

so i just tried my cable modem directly into my laptop and i get over 2megs a second. my old router definatly crapped out somewhere because its causing the internet to be a lot slower.

nobscot6 since you seem to know what yer talking about even though its a lot of money i think i might just get that linksys wrt600n.

 

Check the Netgear, they are more reliable than linksys.

 

The Netgear WNDR3300 RangeMax Dual-Band Wireless N Router

SmallnetBuilder.net Review:

Get the Linksys wrt 600n-- you'll be happy you did--> w/ the common intel cards in so many laptops, you can get a 300mbps connection w/ this router

 

The WNR3500 from Netgear is an excellent router with extended range.

 

grab a cheap refurb wrt150n load up dd-wrt firmware and bump the transmit power up.. excellent unit

 

wow

here's a link to the new linksys wrt610n

dual band, dual radio sweet

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Sate...nksys/Common/VisitorWrapper&lid=2847933028B01

 

yeah i saw that new linksys router on engadget this morning. is it better then the wrt600n? and if so why? because ive found both routers for the exact same price so ill order today thanks in advance!

 

Netgear 3500, netgear 3500.......

 

from this thread and i google'd ive seen issues with that model. And with updates ive heard netgear routers get bricked often. I think im going to get one of the two linksys routers. It seems the quality of netgears products from what ive heard from people who owned them recently has gone down in quality.

 

I wasn't aware about the Netgear quality issue, but there is another thread of someone who has a wrt600n and can't make it work.

 

Yeah, I have had 2 friends alone with seperate netgear routers both got bricked by a netgear firmware update and netgear wouldnt even replace the router. there was even class action lawsuit about it. Also ive just read that netgear router didnt have good range and there was better routers noteably a d-link and the linksys 600n.

 

Is this better then the wrt600n?

 

Netgear has a problem with their firmware. In most case the firmware is not any where close as it should be. I did some beta testing for them on the FVS338. Now i have a router that is super, with only few advanced features they are still working on. So I would not buy Netgear unless it has been out for at least a year to get the firmware to a point where is workable. All these problems happen when they Out Sourced to india. They pulled the SMB hardware back in house a 1 1/2 yrs ago. But the residential hardware is outsourced. Netgear hardware is well designed but they fail on firmware to make the hardware shine.

I would recommend Dlink, better warranty and support.

 

well I ordered the Linksys WRT610N last sunday and buy.com has yet to ship it

 

Let us know how well it work. I am looking at the same model. It's time for me to upgrade my WRT54G.

 

will do for sure. hopefully it ships early this week. My microsoft router seems to get worse by the day. i dont know why its so messed up these days it used to work great. Guess father time took over it.

 

if they don't ship it Mon, cancel your order and get the drt600n-- they should still be the same price. Either one is a win-win, but why wait?

 

still has not shipped, and i cant even find the drt600n in stock anywhere. this is really making me upset lol. I tried to email buy.com to get any info however the email ended up bouncing back to me.

 

I had a similar experience, buy.com over sell products, and if they don't have it in stock it will take forever, so I canceled and bought it from another vendor, I think it was a switch or something, I don't remember.

 

hmm was it the same price? i got it from buy.com for 159 after a coupon. I dont like buying things from a vendor who isint big or atleast trusted.