Wireless G + N Routers?

knight0334 · Posted: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 01:02:52 Post Subject: Wireless G + N Routers?

I think my Linksys WRT54GS v1.1 is starting to give up the ghost. I've been using it since 2004 or 2005 with flawless performance. But lately it has been resetting itself to factory default settings, which from what I've read it is quite possibly the ram/memory degrading.

One thing I like about the WRT54GS is that it has 32MB of RAM and 8MB of flash memory to play with 3rd party firmware if I wanted. And that the router had plenty of OEM options if I wanted to use the factory firmware.

Is there anything on the market today that is as user friendly and reliable as the WRT54G/GS? Also, inexpensive and has the Wireless-G range or better? I've seen alot of Wireless-G routers that simply couldn't cover the area that mine does. Two of my devices are N capable, but 4 or 5 of my others are B/G only. They are either too expensive to upgrade or have the B/G built-in making it impossible to upgrade.

I'm not wanting a professional router that it's going to take hours to properly config. But I do want MAC filtering on the LAN side. (I F'n hate encryption key code crap in my mixed network).

**Doctor Feelgood** · Posted: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 08:05:49 Post Subject:

I bought this ASUS router about a year ago...

ASUS RT-N16

Don't remember what I paid - but Newegg's $80 price (after rebate) seems about what I would have been willing to spend.

It works very well for me - with coverage on a house with a small foot print, but three stories to cover. Router is in the basement, and I get a full strength signal on the 2nd floor. Good enough to stream HD up there too (over wireless N). It plays nicely with G and N devices.

It has a fairly simple interface for getting up and running, but does offer tons of advanced controls. Plus, it does support the 3rd party firmwares. I tried one once, but couldn't get myself on to the Internet - didn't spend more than 5 minutes trying - and I went back to the stock firmware.

The one thing that never worked well for me was the built-in print server feature - but it could have been my printer, too.

BeerCheeze · Posted: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:41:02 Post Subject:

A couple of months ago I bought a LINKSYS E3000, and so far it's working well and I was able to but DD-WRT on it.

I did replace another linksys that I bought that only lasted about a year though... wasn't happy about that.

That (or maybe a similar) Asus would be I think the other best choice.

skarydrunkguy · Posted: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:24:26 Post Subject:

I have used a bunch of FAR and cheapass ones over the years and never had a problem with any of them assuming you know how to set them up properly and flash to better firmware if necessary. Zyxel and TrendNet are the 2 FAR names I can remember atm... basically, pretty much anything will work well these days. (I personally avoid Linksys like the plague).