Need a new -good quality- router...

[hookem12387]

I've been thinking about getting an airport extreme, and since amazon sent me this nice $50 credit for buying an hd-dvd awhile back, I figure it's a good time. I've read tons of threads on here but of course, want to hear more opinions still!

I'm open to suggestions for other routers as well. I don't mind the money, but cheaper isn't an awful thing. I'll eventually use the usb port, and want the future capability that comes with wireless n. I'll have a macbook(to replace my dell lappy, I also have a mini now) sometime in the not-distant future and just like the idea of having something so simple for things like connect360 and telekinesis. I have a wrt54 right now with open dd-wrt but it's failing more and more. Thanks for the advice yall

 

[mkrishnan]

The AEBS family are great routers. But how do you have your WRT powered? If it's not going through a power strip with a good surge suppression rating, spare some money to get one. It'll make your router last longer.

 

[psingh01]

I have a wrt54g and recently replaced it with an airport extreme. I have no problems with it. I got it primarily for the airdisk feature which works great. 1TB available on my MBP anywhere in the house. The time machine backups work great too (just do the first one while wired!)

I take lots of digital pictures and have to copy them over the external disk. It became a hassle having to plug it into my laptop near a power outlet everytime I wanted get pictures off of my SD card.

Now it's simple, airdisk is always available. I can open the files from photoshop directly from the wireless disk with no problems. I can even play ripped dvd's directly from the disc with no stuttering.

 

[dprorok]

I had a WRT54g and replaced it with an AEBS with dreams of using the AirDisk with Time Machine and for general storage. After suffering through numerous firmware updates and AEBS crashes, I never did get it to work before I finally decided to just mount drives in my Mac Pro on the network instead. (When I stopped trying to use the AirDisk feature, the AEBS stability has been rock solid.)

The biggest loss for me by moving from the WRT54g to the AEBS was the loss of QoS. With QoS, I was able to prioritize my Verizon Voicewing VOIP traffic on the network and it worked great. The AEBS has no QoS, so when I am doing uploads or downloads from any of my Macs on the network, my phone call quality is greatly reduced and often becomes unusable.

I am currently investigating replacements for the AEBS that include QoS so the phones in my house work again. I am currently leaning towards the D-Link DIR-655. I haven't personally used it yet, but it seems to have everything I will need.

How Apple can sell such an expensive router without even the most simplistic support for QoS for VOIP is surprising to me. I've got plenty of HW in my house with Apple logos on it, but the AEBS is the first piece I plan to retire prematurely.

 

[AutumnSkyline]

While I have never used the AEBS, I have used a Netgear router (a white one, matches my iMac, will also match your Macbook) VERY nice, no problems, not a hiccup, although it does have a minor delay after waking up from sleep, I have no problems waiting a few seconds for it to get back up. It's sleek/low-profile, light, cost effective, functional, and overall a nice looking product, A+ in my book.

P.S. It doesn't have a drivers CD for OS X or anything but the CD has an .rtf on it that tells you what to do with a unix based Machine. It's a short process, and you will guaranteed to be up and running within a few minutes.

I would say really this is really the only competition in my book, after the way that I was treated by the people at Linksys *shudders*. Let me tell you, I have never had to call tech support for my Netgear, when it felt as if it were once a month with my Linksys.

In the end, its a matter of preference & what meets more of your needs. I hope you enjoy your product, whatever you chose ^_^

 

[hookem12387]

Thanks for all the advice yall. QoS is rather a non-issue for me as I'll be living by myself and can thus easily control downloads and the like. So far, I'm definitely still leaning AEBS; I will definitely not buy linksys again

 

[numbersyx]

Thanks for all the advice yall. QoS is rather a non-issue for me as I'll be living by myself and can thus easily control downloads and the like. So far, I'm definitely still leaning AEBS; I will definitely not buy linksys again

Definitely AEBS for me. I had a Linksys and then two D-Link routers. The Airport Extreme trumps those three by miles. Great distance and reliability and the ability (finally and after several failed attempts) to do networked printing. I now have two Airport Express n routers extending the network across three floors and providing Airtunes capability. Wonderful....

 

[hookem12387]

anyone running connect360 with an AEBS, it'd be nice to know it works without issue. What about xbmc on the org xbox?

 

[DoFoT9]

anything cisco!!