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Best wireless router

R

rleepremier

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 26, 2010
76
0
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So I'm looking into purchasing a new wireless router for our home. Basically used for basic Internet and video streaming. We are an apple family, No PC. Looked into the airport extreme but seems kinda pricey for what we need it for. Since we won't ever be gaming or running a server. Which wireless router do you use and how do you like it?
 
Netgear WNR3500. I have always been a Netgear fan and have never had compatibility issues with anything. This Wireless-N router also comes with 5 Giga-bit therenet hard cables for very fast connectivity should you ever need it.
 
I highly recommend any router running DD-WRT firmware. It is rock solid, very stable and tons of features. I personally use an Asus GL-520GU and Linksys WRT-54G. One is the main router and the other is a wifi access point for additional range. Both were purchased for under $50 total.
 
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I was looking at the asus. They have a pretty good deal at tigerdirect. Reviews were kinda iffy. So I went to walmart and picked up the wnr2000 but it disconnects every day and needs to be reset. I guess I'll just end up getting the asus. Or the linksys
 
I've had good experiences with D-Link and Apple.

Worst experiences with Linksys and Netgear.
 
sbddude said:
I highly recommend any router running DD-WRT firmware. It is rock solid, very stable and tons of features. I personally use an Asus GL-520GU and Linksys WRT-54G. One is the main router and the other is a wifi access point for additional range. Both were purchased for under $50 total.
Click to expand...

+1.

Get a WRT-54G and put DD-WRT on it. Rock solid performance, no dropouts.

EDIT: I worked for NETGEAR for about a year and some of their more expensive routers are great, but stay away from the cheap ones.
 
airport extreme for a few years with no probs but I do agree its pricey.
 
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nomar383 said:
sbddude said:
I highly recommend any router running DD-WRT firmware. It is rock solid, very stable and tons of features. I personally use an Asus GL-520GU and Linksys WRT-54G. One is the main router and the other is a wifi access point for additional range. Both were purchased for under $50 total.
Click to expand...

+1.

Get a WRT-54G and put DD-WRT on it. Rock solid performance, no dropouts.

EDIT: I worked for NETGEAR for about a year and some of their more expensive routers are great, but stay away from the cheap ones.
Click to expand...

Might be the best cost effective route.
 
mac8867 said:
Netgear WNR3500. I have always been a Netgear fan and have never had compatibility issues with anything. This Wireless-N router also comes with 5 Giga-bit therenet hard cables for very fast connectivity should you ever need it.
Click to expand...

Gizmodo recently reviewed a bunch and this one won.

I own a Buffalo which has been great.
 
Another vote for the Netgear. If your like me and live in larger sized house, it'll cover your whole house. A buddy of mine uses it and he says its worth the price.

Airport Extreme Base Station and Time Capsule might be alright, but coverage in larger homes is piss poor. (~2500sq ft, three+ floors)

I use a DIR-628 and while it covers my house, speeds very far from the router are around 5mbps which isn't very impressive (and starting to piss me off to be honest)
 
I would be more concerned about the easiest way to get a new one when yours breaks.

Ask Best Buy, ask any return specialist what the number one item for returns are.

Routers are the least durable electronic products known to mankind, and with that in mind you should buy Apple simply for the easy exchange process.

Example: My friends Netgear N150 has lost it's wireless capability last month and Netgear requires him to pay shipping. He'll be without a router for a week.

My advice to you is to get an Airport Express or Extreme. Tack on AppleCare and you should be set.
 
rleepremier said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

So I'm looking into purchasing a new wireless router for our home. Basically used for basic Internet and video streaming. We are an apple family, No PC. Looked into the airport extreme but seems kinda pricey for what we need it for. Since we won't ever be gaming or running a server. Which wireless router do you use and how do you like it?
Click to expand...

Netgears are good, easy set up, no problems. Customer service is also okay and extensive Website.

Linksys with set up manager easy too, no problems.

Both of these do have to be reset sometimes after power outages or so.

Had both. Also had some of these die, they can't take power spikes.

So protect them accordingly.

Apple gets my vote:)
---------------------
Set it and forget it (for many years now)

If you have extra change buy the one with 2TB back up from the refurb store.
Buy the warranty and you have a great router/back up in one package.

You can also get them on ebay
 
nomar383 said:
+1.

Get a WRT-54G and put DD-WRT on it. Rock solid performance, no dropouts.

EDIT: I worked for NETGEAR for about a year and some of their more expensive routers are great, but stay away from the cheap ones.
Click to expand...

I absolutely agree, we put DD-WRT on our latest router and it's absolutely fantastic.
 
Airport Extreme Base Station.

Haven't touched ours in about 2 years. The extra cost is well worth the lack of hassle.
 
mstrze said:
Airport Extreme Base Station.

Haven't touched ours in about 2 years. The extra cost is well worth the lack of hassle.
Click to expand...

I would agree 100% with this.

I have only had my Airport Extreme for a few months so far, but I have had no problems whatsoever. Also, I live in a house with 5 other college students, so it is under heavy use pretty much 24/7.

I have had both Linksys and Belkin before. I was TERRIBLY unsatisfied with the Linksys, it seems I had a problem at least once a month for the entire time owning it. The customer service, horrible. Try getting a rep. you can actually understand, if you ever get off hold.

The Belkin seemed to work ok, but under heavy load, this router seemed to be reeaally slow.
Needless to say, the Airport Extreme is 10 times better than any router I have yet owned.

Hope this helps.
 
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