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Recommend me a wireless-N modem/router [UK]

D

dcv

macrumors G3
Original poster
I'm looking to replace my current setup of modem/router + 2 Airport Expresses as recently one of the expresses has been playing up and flashing amber etc so the network's been off or slowing down a lot, grrr.

Was thinking of switching to the Airport Extreme but obviously that means I'd still need a separate modem. So I'm now considering the Netgear DG834N which is an ADSL 2+ modem + wireless-N router all-in-one. Does anyone have good experience of this, or similar?

I need something with a decent range for a split-level flat (hence the need for 2 expresses at the moment). Currently have 4 macs in the flat and looking to maybe buy an Apple TV so will be streaming video over the network.

Any advice much appreciated, cheers 🙂
 
Eraserhead said:
I've heard the Airport Extreme is good, and it'll work well with your other products.

See the conclusions of Arstechnica.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Hmmm... so the Netgear's not looking that great now after reading that article... oh and some good points in there about the ability to attach external hard drives, that's something I forgot about. I only have external firewire disks at the moment but it could be an idea to pick up a USB one to attach to the network... in which case the Airport Extreme does look more favourable again. But the lack of built-in modem means an extra box and I'm trying to do away with all the boxes!

Southernboy said:
I'm madly in love with this
Click to expand...

Oooo, not sure about that, it's kinda funny looking (though not quite as bad as the dodgy Linksys routers!) 😛
 
You could go with one of the 7's. i.e. the Linksys or the D-Link.

But if you already have a modem box switching to the Airport Extreme isn't a big deal.
 
D834n

I have seen this in the past and thought very long + hard about it.

I often walk through the Sloane Square branch of John Lewis, where they have their 'returned' items on discount.

This item is often displayed on discount - but I don't yet have any need for a new ADSL Router. From it's reviews, its a strong contender!

F
 
Eraserhead said:
You could go with one of the 7's. i.e. the Linksys or the D-Link.

But if you already have a modem box switching to the Airport Extreme isn't a big deal.
Click to expand...

Why do Linksys products always look so horrific?! I think D-link are generally a good make but that article did point out that the USB port isn't for attaching storage.

FireArse said:
I have seen this in the past and thought very long + hard about it.

I often walk through the Sloane Square branch of John Lewis, where they have their 'returned' items on discount.

This item is often displayed on discount - but I don't yet have any need for a new ADSL Router. From it's reviews, its a strong contender!

F
Click to expand...
I'm assuming this is the same Netgear one (D834N / DG834N ?) - I thought it sounded good until I read that Arstechnica review; the lack of USB isn't *that* big a deal but it does make the Apple/Linksys look like better all-round options. It still looks nice though 😀

Thanks for the heads-up on the discount - I can easily get to Sloane Sq. But if there are lots of 'returned' ones of these, shouldn't we be asking why?!!



I think I'm torn between the Netgear (but lack of external hard disk) and the Airport Extreme (lack of modem).

I *could* continue to use my existing ADSL modem/router with the Extreme but it seems overkill having 2 boxes, both with 4 port routers on them.

😱

gaaaahhh *head explodes*
 
I bought an Airport Extreme a week or so ago, but all it's currently doing is acting as a gigabit switch at the mo until I get my cabling sorted out in the flat... I don't mind having two boxes because they'll be tucked away when they're set up. The gigabit ports were of more interest to me than the USB port.

Sorry, that wasn't very helpful. 😀
 
Blue Velvet said:
I bought an Airport Extreme a week or so ago, but all it's currently doing is acting as a gigabit switch at the mo until I get my cabling sorted out in the flat... I don't mind having two boxes because they'll be tucked away when they're set up. The gigabit ports were of more interest to me than the USB port.

Sorry, that wasn't very helpful. 😀
Click to expand...

Thanks... hmmm, maybe I don't need the USB port, I haven't needed one up until now anyway.

I do have a lot of EyeTV content on my iMac downstairs and would like to stream this to the TV upstairs (by means of an Apple TV or a mac mini or something to sit under the TV I guess, but I was thinking of waiting til January to see what happens with these products). I could wait a little longer to change the router but my wireless network has been playing up a lot over the past few days. I need something more reliable that has a longer range and is stable enough for media streaming.

Re: the boxes thing. My master BT socket is behind the TV in my lounge and I'm already overloading the wall sockets with all my A/V equipment. I'm trying to minimise my clutter, hence the preference for an all-in-one solution. I am still quite tempted by the Airport Extreme though. If it supported AirTunes like the expresses I'd have bought one long ago.
 
Let's keep this thread going. I'm going to need a similar solution for my 2 level townhouse, if the twunts ever get the damn thing finished.

Why can't the Airport Extreme have AirTunes? 😡
 
hhmmm

My problem is I'm quite far away fromy exchange - I have my ADSL router hooked to the main/first BT point in the house. This allows me the highest speed for my connection - 3.9Mb instead of the 8Mb I'm paying for!

This old 3Com router is only 10/100 so I connect that to the rest of my LAN which is Gb. I don't mind that the the router isn't 801.11n not Gb.

I must admit I am very impressed with the Apple Wireless gear - now if only I can find a 5-port Gb switch with PoE! I'd then get the old PoE dome Airport Extreme 🙂

FireArse
 
rdowns said:
Why can't the Airport Extreme have AirTunes? 😡
Click to expand...

Annoying that, isn't it? 😡

As I've already got two, I guess I'll still keep one of them purely for AirTunes... still means another bloody plug though, grrr!


Or maybe Apple will surprise us in January with an updated Extreme+AirTunes (wishful thinking) or a wireless-N Express? 😱
 
FireArse said:
My problem is I'm quite far away fromy exchange - I have my ADSL router hooked to the main/first BT point in the house. This allows me the highest speed for my connection - 3.9Mb instead of the 8Mb I'm paying for!

This old 3Com router is only 10/100 so I connect that to the rest of my LAN which is Gb. I don't mind that the the router isn't 801.11n not Gb.

I must admit I am very impressed with the Apple Wireless gear - now if only I can find a 5-port Gb switch with PoE! I'd then get the old PoE dome Airport Extreme 🙂

FireArse
Click to expand...

I'm almost a km from the exchange so my up-to-24MB broadband comes in at around 16-17MB if I plug directly into the test/master socket upstairs behind the TV. When I was working from home I had to plug the router into an extension socket downstairs (because was using that room as the 'office' and had to use a wired connection for the work laptop), which was a hell of a lot slower plus serving the wireless from downstairs to upstairs wasn't great! I really don't like having router equipment plugged in upstairs by the TV... so yet again, another reason for trying to minimise the boxes, but unless I "hide" it somehow it's gonna be noticeable (being by the TV) so I need a good-looking solution 😀 Hence my current preference for the Apple or Netgear models!
 
🙂

dcv said:
I'm almost a km from the exchange
Click to expand...

You lucky lucky thing!

I've just bought a place in Central Watford - the exchange is on the other side of the ring road - I'm hoping the line route to the flat goes through rather than around town!

Cheers

F
 
Eraserhead said:
AKA Apple TV, I doubt it.
Click to expand...

I want something like an Apple TV to stream/store my EyeTV content etc.

Apple TV + Extreme seems like a good combination... but why the hell are the footprints different? 😕

Airport Extreme: 16.5cm (same as Mac mini)
Apple TV: 19.7cm

Why, Jobs, why?!! 🙄
 
Amazon + DG834N

Amazon are doing this router for £74.99 delivered. This in my mind is a pretty good price, which should work very nicely with the Apple TV.

I have yet to see a report on how well Apple's hardware works with these units...

F
 
And now the Extreme with Time Capsule is around too.

I'll be buying another backup drive reasonably soon and my old Airport Extreme is coming up for 4 years old and is only g. With all n-Macs in the house, I'm wondering whether to upgrade to the Time Capsule and kill two birds with one stone. Not to mention when I was burgled, they took the hard drive next to the computer but didn't take the router across the room and tucked behind some furniture so it would have the benefit of keeping my most recent back up further away too!
 
I too am looking for an N router. Currently I have a D-Link DI-524 G router and it works fine for the most part but frequently when I'm doing a lot of downloading I get an OS X message that the wireless network has been compromised and will be shut down for one minute. Quite frustrating!
Plus I'm looking for a bit more speed transferring files across the network (I have a TiVo HD and a Windows PC).
I tried the Belkin N router (not the N1) and had problems with it. When I woke my MacBook from sleep I could NOT get a connection at all (happened every time). I had to reboot. I updated the Belkin firmware and had the same problem.

I'm not really that interested in the Airport Extreme because of (1) the price and (2) I'm not sure if I can use my Windows PC to set it up. The PC is wired and if, for some reason, I couldn't connect my MacBook wirelessly it would be a pain to get into the router setup.

By the way, I'm in the States and I have a MacBook 2.0Ghz, 10.5.1. I did the Apple Airport upgrade to N a couple of months ago.
 
I've been trying out the Belkin N1 router, and it's going back.

The two issues with any N router seem to be:
1) Make sure that the router has a 5 MHz radio (and preferably two radios, so both 2.4 and 5 can be supported at the same time).
2) That (if at all possible) all the access points, computers, etc. use the same brand of chip - better if the same one.

So an Apple Airport Extreme wireless router will work faster and better with, say, a Santa Rosa Macbook than something with different components.
Just do a Goggle search for Airport Extreme reviews, and watch when mixed with non-apple products.

I'm also setting up a system for my mom, and I'm waiting for the new Time Capsule.

Hope this helps some.
 
Airport Extreme (N + gigabit ethernet) works well for me.

Many of the other wireless-N routers don't work so well, even certain $300 version. Don't get Netgear.
 
The DG834n has given me nothing but trouble since the day i got it. UPnP rarely works, internet drops out all the time and sometimes I can't even connect to my network. Oh and I almost forgot that they have the most frustrating customer service of all time. I have now concluded that there are NO good routers out there and we will just have to suffer!
 
I've had no problems with my Netgear wireless modem/router and now have an AEBS attached to it. I've tried a Belkin N model recently, but it doesn't allow you to assign static IP reservations which was a bit of an annoying oversight.

I'd like to have one box to do everything, but that's not going to happen as Apple won't put a dsl modem in their AEBS.

Apart from the poor Airdisk feature, I've been very impressed with the AEBS.
 
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