Switching DSL ISP to Verizon, Long Apartment, difficult walls - Laptops, Tablets & Cell phone that needs Network Extender in Home

So after 15 years with Earthlink and its predecessors, the DSL service is so poor I am switching to Verizon Enhanced DSL to be routed through my landline phone. (Yes, I still have one of those )

So now I want to update my router. Verizon provides a free modem router combo -- but it is a G router. The tech person said he can reconfigure the Verizon combo to act just as a modem so I can use my N router.

I have a Linksys WRT400N.

But I am hoping to improve on all the things below with a better router.

I am hoping for suggestions for what to do.

These are the concerns:

1. A long apartment in a 50 year old building. Going from one end to the other is probably over 70 ft It is on the 30th floor which is the top floor. The walls are somewhat disruptive to transmission but the Linksys N Router has worked fine to provide wireless throughout.

2. A Samsung Network Extender -- For some reason, in the last 5 years my Verizon Wireless cell phone service has been having problems in my apartment. I've had the service for over 15 years. A Network Extender was first provided that solved the situation (it runs off my internet service) but then in the last year or so things kept degrading. It may be due in part to surround changes in the area -- Verizon says the area is now known for its problems (it is downtown in a major metropolitan area) with no expectations for remedies to be put in place. (All service providers have problems up here.) Now I can't even make calls most of the time -- even when on the Network extender.

My cell phone works when I am down on the ground floor and outside but my Garmin GPS can't work for a 6 block radius.

The hope is that part of the problem is my old ISP DSL service, which seems to have been getting worse over time. It goes in and out for a few seconds intermittently so it hasn't been noticable on the internet but it has on the Network Extender. This past week, however, the DSL service would drop for minutes at a time, then turn on and a few minutes later drop off..

That was the last straw for me and am hoping that using Verizon's ISP service will improve the situation. Verizon's tech people can also come in through the building and the apartment to find out what is wrong with the ISP transmission, something my current ISP refused to do. ​

3. 2 very high end laptops that are less than 3 years old:

a. HP Elitebook 8540w fully loaded
and
b. a Sony Vaio Z 1290X fully loaded.
​

4. A Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet (32 MB) WiFi

5. An old (6 years) low end HP Pavilion DV 1000 ​

Hopefully people can recommend a router that will meet the above needs, work well and reliably and is not too hard to configure.

TIA :hi2: Justitia

 

While I can't guarantee that it will work wonders in your particular set of circumstances, I've had good experiences with higher-end Engenius routers in old buildings. NewEgg carries them and I believe (please verify before purchase should you choose to take this route) that they can be returned within 30 days, which is an ample amount of time for any on-site testing.

On another note, 30th floor in an old apartment building sounds like a disaster for any type of DSL service. I truly and wholeheartedly wish you the best of luck.

 

Thanks so much. Internet service certainly has been a problem since 2004 (I started having it in 1995) and now in the last year, so has my cell phone service been a problem.

Thanks for your suggestion. I have to admit it makes me a little nervous to use a brand I have never heard of but I will check into it.

I guess I was hoping for some feedback re: Linksys and other more widely known brands.

I was wondering wha tpeople's thoughts are about the Asus RT-AC66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC1750-Gigabit-Router?

I don't even know if it works with DSL (I don't know enough about the technology of routers and cable vs DSL)

I've been reading about Asus' router products though I am very nervous to purchase one of the theirs.

Asus' customer service sucks and I was quite burned with a top of the line, fully loaded laptop I bought from them 6 years ago that proved to be a lemon.

One of the worst parts of my experience with them (apart form having the reseller go out of business within months of my purchase rendering my 3 year warranty that I paid for useless) is having the laptop go into ASUS directly for repair and the repair person replaced a brand new keyboard with a used banged up worn-out one (there was no keyboard problem to begin with) -- and left the OS not properly re-installed. I am not even sure I got my own laptop back (other than the shell) but there was no way to prove it as the Hard drive had been completely wiped. ASUS insisted I pay for the fix up claiming there was no evidence that the problem was at their end.

If you want to know more of my experience with ASUS -- just search for my name on this website -- you will find the posts from several years ago.

 

Engenius is actually a pretty well-known brand on enterprise (non-consumer) level. That being said, I avoid their lower-end products like the plague.

FWIW, I'm sitting on a rather slooooooow Verizon ADSL (3.0/0.768, as good as it gets in the wilderness and over a remote DSlam), and the 750H covers my entire house pretty well, including the yard.

That being said, the walls on my house are likely nowhere near as thick as they would be in a 70-year-old apartment building, so YMMV and then some.

Yes, it will work with DSL. The "source" of broadband (cable vs. DSL vs. FiOS vs. Uverse etc.) doesn't make a difference in that respect.

 

Would you recommend the Asus?

 

I've never owned it personally.

The people that I do know who own newer ASUS routers are generally very happy with them, but none of them lives in anything that resembles the structure of your apartment even remotely.

 

Also recommendations can be made as to a particular router not a brand. ASUS is pretty good at routers but you can still buy one that is either bad or does not compare favorably to different routers with similar price-tags.

BTW- recommendation can be made against a brand- it works the other way around

What's the budget here?