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Xander562

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Hey, looking for a good, cheap, wireless router. It doesn't have to be anything fancy like 802.11n (unless its REALLY CHEAP). So yeah. Show me what you recommend. I'm leaving it pretty open here.
 
Go with a standard like Linksys WRT-54G or Netgear WGR614? They both have their detractors but they have a good history.
 
The Buffalo WHR-G54S is really well reviewed, highly recommended, and uses open source firmware (something the later versions of the most popular Linksys no longer do, I believe). I only linked to newegg because I find the customer reviews there helpful; it's not the best price you can find. In fact, that particular router was just $39.99 a couple weeks ago, not sure how it's $59.99 now. So ya, anyway, you can get a better deal on it.

Hope that helps.
 
I've been using a Netgear WGR614v6 for a while now, and can't complain.
Had to fiddle with the frequencies for a while, but found the right one now, and ever since i haven't had any problems with it.
 
Linksys WRT54G

I've owned several routers over the last 7-8 years with different results.

My experience:
Linksys products always work.
Netgear products work when they want (and usually stop working completely after a few months).
D-Link products are utter trash and should be avoided like the plague.

I found a DI-524 D-Link g router at Target for $24 and thought I won the lottery. Too bad the thing rebooted every 5 minutes and (after some google work) I found out D-Links are notorious for this. Luckily I was able to return the POS (and I then bought my WRT54G).

My first and only Netgear router worked fine for the first month or so, then it'd drop the connection for no reason every 10 minutes.

I've owned 2 Linksys routers and never had a single problem with either.
 
I had a WRT54G at my parents house and at my house at college. The one at my parents house lasted about a year before we had to reboot it every few hours because it was dropping connections, the one at college lasted about 2 months. Replaced both of them with WGR614s and have had no problems on either.


Cheap routers are hit or miss though. Some have better luck than others. If I had 600 bucks, I'd get a Cisco 871W 😀
 
$10 router

Futureshop/Bestbuy have the $10 router sale every once in awhile.

You get a Trendnet wireless G router and a USB wireless adapter for $10!

if it's not needed immediately, i'd wait for that deal again. I use it and it works fine. It will cut out on me maybe once a day or something for a millisecond, but thats not much to complain about for a $10 router.
 
I like the netgear routers, and they're always onsale at radioshack. They sometimes say web only on their site but i've been able to get them for $30 at my radioshack.
 
Yes, I would recommend any Linksys router as well. They are the best in my opinion when it comes to wireless connections. Good luck!
 
Thinking of replacing an old router that doesn't play well with my ISP. I notice that the Linksys WRT-54G seems to be well recommended, question: various places I've seen it for sale list its "requirements" as being various windows flavours. Since I've only got a powerbook, will I have any issues getting it configured and working?
 
hi

you could go to this website here: http://www.fon.com and get a wireless router for almost nothing. in return you join a community of people willing to keep their wi-fi hotspots open for the public to share.
 
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