Info on Wireless Routers?

Question

My Linksys WRT54GS Wireless-G broadband router crapped out on me and I went to Best Buy and asked them about wireless routers. I live in a three room condo and have neighbors real close by which could pick my signal up easily. I have three computers, one main computer ( a Gateway GT5014 which gets the internet directly from DSL) and two other computers (two eMachines T6412s) which get the internet through my wireless network. Well anyways, when my router crapped out I went to Best Buy and talked to the guys there about wireless routers. They recommended I'd get a Netgear WPN824 RangeMax wireless router which was quite a bargain for $79 with 10x Speed and Coverage as opposed to my old one which had 1x. What do you people think I should get and why (price or quality)? Please spare no details. I would appreciate any help and would like to thank you for reading this.

I used to always get a weak signal with the linksys and many times the computers would disconnect from the router and not be able to connect for a while. or would connect to the router but not the internet. could this have been because it was already starting to break a while back?

Answer 1

personally i like linksys .. i would get the WAP, put it on a ups so it doesnt get damaged, and set up security ...

Answer 2

I like Netgear as well as Linksys. Both are good devices and both work well in most cases. The rangemax is a good router and it does have good features. You will need RangeMax cards to get the most out of it (I suspect the store didn't mention that?) But even with your exisiting cards it is a better router than those that have been out awhile.

Your ranges for either router brand are more limited by interferance and antennas than most people think. If there are several wireless routers in your building they will all be fighting each other and thus range gets limited. So which ever way you go, check the area and use a channel that is not in use. You will get better coverage. (I use networkstumbler to see what is near by and what channels are in use. http://netstumbler.com ) Once you know which channels are in use you can change to a channel which is not shown as being in use you will find you have better range whichever router you get!

Answer 3

I would get a Linksys WRT45GL and flash the firmware with DD-WRT. You'll have much more options with DD-WRT and you can configure transmission power and QoS (prioritize connection types e.g. VOIP). The extra speed won't be realized unless you upgrade all the wifi adapters to work along with the Netgear. You probably don't need the extra speed, unless you share files with your other computers regularly.

Think about buying bigger antennas if your two computers are getting weak signal.