Routers

Dakota · Rated R Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 67

My Linksys WRK54G just went capute, actually it has never been right, kept dropping my wireless laptop and the laptop wouldn't even work when I went to the next room. That should not be too far away from it. But now it has been dropping my connection to DSL once a day on the main wired rig and the laptop. So my Question is, what is a real good wireless router that doesn't cost an arm and leg? I am on a fixed income and can't afford too much. Thanks guys and gals.

**JimBowy** · Moderator Joined: 02 Aug 2003 Posts: 1627

for home use any of the other "home brands" (netgear, dlink, etc.) will have just about the same cost and features

i've used linksys, dlink, and netgear stuff in the past

my last router (linksys) died too

acruxksa · Posted: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 15:25:23 Post Subject:

I don't think you can beat the wrt54g <=V4.0 for options and support (though the support is from 3rd party firmware sites and not Linksys itself). They are relatively inexpensive and have a huge amount of 3rd. party firmware available on the internet. As JimBowy said though, they are designed for home use and can be a little dodgy expecially if you are using some of the 3rd. party software/features.

If you want something that just works and is inexpensive, I've had good luck with a Belkin 54g wireless router. I've seen them go for $35 or less so that's pretty low cost.

BeerCheeze · Posted: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 16:27:18 Post Subject:

Go with linksys and a 3rd party firmware.

HackaX0rus · Posted: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 20:24:13 Post Subject:

Dakota · Rated R Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 67

I always thought Linksys too, but this one has not been the greatest experience.. Not sure of which one to go with in the Linksys line either, as I have heard a couple bad reports on some of them.

BeerCheeze · Posted: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 20:54:51 Post Subject:

Most SOHO routers are 100% crap. The only two things Linksys has in it's court is:

1) It's owned by Cisco (so hopefully the QC has improved)
2) It's Linux based and people have been writing 3rd party firmware for it. And it's some pretty amazing stuff. Takes a $50 router and makes it do what a $2000 Cisco router can do. Just slower, but fast enough for any broadband connection.

Dakota · Rated R Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 67

Thanks Dr. EvilCheeze, now it seems that I have to go shopping to see which mdl is the best for the money.

acruxksa · Posted: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 22:42:44 Post Subject:

You might want to check out the following pages to be sure you get the right WRT54G/GS router. Basically avoid anything that says V5.0 and the first link shows the internals of the different models. More importantly it shows the first 4 digits of the serial number which you will need to find on the box to make sure you get the right version since version numbers aren't on the boxes.

LinksysInfo

LinksysInfo

Dakota · Rated R Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 67