New Router Recommendations

[thon]

Hey all,

I have an extremely old 802.11b wireless access point on my router currently. I also live in a large, non wired house, so range is important.

We've got 5-6 wireless boxes of some sort (mac, linux, xp) at any given point.

I'd like to bump up to at least G if not N, but would like some of the functions that the airport extreme base station has, i.e. the ability to share an external HD and printer via usb, and, besides the airport, I've not seen any that can do this.

Normally i'd just bite the bullet and get the apple router, however, CNET didn't exactly give it shining reviews on throughput.

So i'm open to suggestions, anyone have any good experience with a 802.11n router w/usb print/HD capaibility in a mixed OS environment?

thanks

 

[BillyBobBongo]

I use it (Airport Extreme Base Station) for both my Windows and OS X operating systems. All my computers link up to it with no trouble at all. I'm able to print and access the USB hard drive without issue. Wireless link up to the USB drive isn't superfast....but you shouldn't be expecting that. All in all I'm quite satisfied with it....much better than my last Sitecom router that could only be described as temperamental at best.

I live in a relatively small house so I have no trouble getting a wireless signal. Perhaps someone else can help you out with how it is over range. My router lives in the corner of my lounge and I can access it all over my house and have no problems getting a signal in the garden (8 metres away from the router).

Be advised that people will have different experiences. Predominantly though I think you'll find those to be good.

 

[yadmonkey]

If the price isn't a big deal, then I suggest going with an Airport Basestation and adding Airport Express units as range extenders where needed. It's relatively easy to set up and works quite will - at least the several networks I've set up do.

 

[taeclee99]

Get the airport xtreme. I got one and I absolutely love it. It has awesome range and none of the connection issues of my previous netgear range max router. Hard drive sharing was a snap to set up and works as advertised. Now that it was been upgraded to gigabit ethernet, the airport extreme is more attractive than ever.