New Router Advice

[TonyBaloney]

hey kids, my old router crapped out and looking for a new one. Price not being an issue, what's the best N router youve used so far. Usage wise I have an iPad, a couple of notebooks, desktop, video game consoles; some these are regularly used at the same time. thanks

 

[MCRunning]

Love my airport extreme. I actually have 3, one dual band. With the dual band it is able to handle both g and n connections without slowing down the network. You can attach a printer or a hard drive and share it. Also you are able to create your home network and a guest network. You can get one for about $167 on amazon:

Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (Simultaneous Dual-Band) (MC340LL/A)

 

[fineaddme]

get a netgear wndr3700 dual band
i just got it and love it
it also has a usb port for a network hdd

 

[miles01110]

Get something with QoS like the Netgear WNDR3700 mentioned above.

 

[pastrychef]

I've had very good experiences with the D-Link DIR-655 and the Netgear WNDR3700.

 

[aarond12]

I just got a Buffalo Wireless-N router for $40. It is very good, with good wireless throughput and decent firmware. What's more, if you're serious into routing, you can update the router with DD-WRT firmware!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833162026

Note: This is a recently-discontinued model, but there are newer models from Buffalo.

-Aaron-

 

[raj21]

Before i got my new E3000 cisco router, my internet was very slow and downloads were incredibly slow and only around 50-90 kb/s. When i got my new router earlier today, my internet was faster, and i could play games online wich i couldnt before because it would freeze and disconnect me. my downloads were around 1.5 -1.8 mb/s. now, only about 2-3 hours since it was fast, it is being very slow. my downloads are at around 50-55 kb/s. i cant play games online without freezing. Why is it being slow? I just got this router a few hours ago, and it was fine up until now.

_______________

Health Aid | Jason Natural Products

 

[CTrav86]

I'm using the Airport Extreme, along with 2 Airport Express access points for extending the network and AirTunes. It works EXTREMEly well. 😀

 

[talmy]

I replaced a trouble-prone Actiontec (supplied by Verizon) with an Airport Extreme which has been working perfectly. It is capable of waking Snow Leopard computers so I can sleep everything but the server and wake them all remotely if needed. Other than that feature I only use it as my wireless access point as I still use the Actiontec as my gateway and my server for DNS/DHCP.

Connecting wirelessly: an iMac G5, two Mac minis, two MacBooks, a Roku (at one time), two iPod Touches, and a Thinkpad when my son visits.

 

[willieva]

If you're not that savvy with setting up routers, the airport extreme is very nice. The airport utility makes it a snap to do things like setup a WDS network, let people access your network from the WAN, and attaching a printer is as easy as plugging it in. Plus having dual band can be very nice depending on your local environment. $129 refurb from the apple store.

If you like mucking with routers then get something else.

 

[Zortrium]

If price isn't an issue and you don't want to have to screw around with the router very much, definitely go for an Airport Extreme. It's pricier than it needs to be, but it definitely just works.

 

[Soordhin]

Or if you still need some additional diskspace or a nice integrated backup solution get a timecapsule, loving mine to bits and use it as backup drive for all my MacOS and Windows computers, works like a charm.

 

[splashnader]

I once had a bad experience with a Netgear router. It caused my netwrok settings and Internet profile to be reset and I spent hours having to re setupd my network. Because of that I decided to just go with Aiport Extreme, since all of my home computers are Mac's. It was much faster to setup my wireless network using the Airport Extreme. I still like the value of the Netgear routers and they are very powerful, but for me the learning curve was too steep. For others this might not be an issue.

 

[MonkeyET]

Used Netgear G router until I won a N router. Used it for 2 years until it died. Recently upgraded to Airport Extreme for signature listed computers plus PS3, Wii, and iPod touch. Best router I have had so far. I really like setting up a guest network as I didn't like giving up my network password to guests. Dual-band seems to work wonderfully with great reception.

 

[ste0x]

I settled on an Airport Extreme in 2008 or so and have used it with my macs/iPhone/iPad on wifi, a PC and Xbox 360 wired and a Playstation 3 with wifi. All fine and with minimal configuration when I first opened it.

It has truly been a "set it and forget it" device and I'm extremely pleased with it.

 

[sochet]

+1 For the airport extreme,

I have owned Netgear and Belkin routers in the past and all were problematic, with the Airport it's very easy to setup and maintain (Hell, if you need to reset it for any reason, you can do it from your mac!)

In my house we have a LOT of bandwidth downloads (7 Students in a HUGE house, we don't have a TV so we all stream/download TV, in addition to all our Uni work we've gotten through almost 30gb's in one day! 😱) and it never gives us a problem (In fact the airport extreme is significantly faster on throughput than the old Belkin (both are N standard)