Home network setup

[ZhenyaF]

I am moving to a new apartment and trying to decide which router to get.

The things that will be in a network:

Macbook Pro 13"'
HP Mini
Linksys Wireless Camera (m# WVC54GCA)
Xbox 360 (wired or wireless)
External Hard Drive (Seagate FreeAgent 1.5TB) - currently 2 partitions (1 for time machine, 1 formatted as NTFS)
Samsung TV (UN40B7000) (wired or wireless)
2 iPhones
Brother Network printer

Router choice:
Airport Extreme MC340LL/A $173 or
Linksys WRT160NL $105

I currently access the external hard drive via NTFS-3G and Macfuse

My goal - to have the external hard drive plugged into the router, so that I can access its content via the laptops, the xbox and the tv. As well as plug the printer directly into the router. The camera will also be connected to the router via wireless so that I can access it from a remote location.

I always prefer Apple products, but if Linksys can fit my needs then I rather save a little $.

So - which router will suit me best?

Thanks in Advance

 

[Transporteur]

Good question!
I too am currently searching for a new router (these UK O2 things just suck!), and I almost bought the Airport Extreme but then I heard that the throughput is not the best on the market, especially in concerns of the in-build gigabit switch.

 

[ZhenyaF]

Anyone? Bueller?

 

[talmy]

All I can say is I bought an Airport Extreme and it solved all the funkiness (dropped connections and inability to see other systems on the LAN) I was having in a home that competes with about a dozen other WAPs within range from the extremes of the property line.

We've got 4 Macs running wirelessly on "N", two iPod Touches and a Roku on "G", and occasional guests. Never had a single problem after purchase. I've been using it 11 months now.

 

[DavieBoy]

Like most people on here I have to recommend the extreme. Mine is a workhorse wired and wireless. Not to forget the ease of use. It changes to orange to tell you that your cable modem is out, saved me a bunch of time one day, also nothing is easier than airport utility for port mapping and other advanced features.

Edit: the green indicator light changes to orange, not the entire unit. But I heard next year...lol

 

[tomllama]

I currently use a Time Capsule/Apple Extreme as a simple integrated solution. It does not cover the whole house and so I'm looking to re-do my home network this summer. The wireless router I'm looking at using to supplement the Time Capsule is the Linksys WRT610N or a Cisco equivalent (with more power/greater range).

 

[velocityg4]

If you want a dual band router I would get the Netgear WNDR3300. If you just have 802.11n devices I would get the Netgear WNR2000.

The Airport is a fine device. However, I do not like the lack of a web browser interface and custom network settings are not very intuitive in my opinion.

As for Linksys I would never choose one as I have yet to see a model that allows for setting up Static IP Addresses to the devices on a network.

The Netgears on the other hand have a wide range of custom settings you can apply and I find the interface to be quite intuitive. I also like DLink products but they always require a firmware update before providing stable connections.

 

[GroundLoop]

Looks like you have N and G devices in your list. The WNDR3300 is not a simultaneous dual band router (for that there is the WNDR3700). I had that router and hated it since it kept dropping the 5GHz connections

I then got the newest AEBS and it works like a charm.

Hickman

 

[techound1]

As nearly everyone has said, the AP is a winner hands-down for ease of use for basic situations.

 

[ZhenyaF]

Fist off, thanks again for all of your advise

My biggest need is to connect the hard drive to the network so that its accessible by all the other devices (the tv, the xbox and the laptops)

I ordered the linksys today as well as an Asus WL-520G http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1881946

I'll see how they work and then sell/return the weaker one.


The dual band N is not as high on the priority list as the compatibility with the external hard drive

 

[ZhenyaF]

Update

the linksys hard drive has difficulty "seeing" my Hard drive, even though it's plugged into it. I have a feeling it's because it's formatted to ntfs and not fat. I really don't want to format a harddrive that has 1tb of info on it; but I Kay have to do that.

The asus on the other hand needs to have custom software installed on it, which I started doing today and had to stop, hopefully will resume tomorrow and give you more updates

 

[AV8TOR]

I recently switched from a Netgear to the AirPort Extreme and am so glad I did. Network speed is so much snappier and when the machine comes out of sleep mode the internet is responsive unlike with my Netgear. Besides our iMac home desktop we both have PC laptops and the network USB printer to the AirPort Extreme works perfect.
The setup was very easy but my CD did not come with the Bonjour software like the manual said to set up the wireless printing for the PC's. I had to download that online.
It is worth every penny.