Which Wireless Dual-Band N-Router to get?

[m85476585]

I currently have a Dlink DIR-655, but it's single band. I'm thinking of upgrading it to DIR-825 for a stable dual band router.

As far as your current router goes, I would advise that you look into DD-WRT to see if it's compatible with your Linksys. Linksys tends to make decent hardware, but absolutely terrible firmware. DD-WRT will make it much more stable and give you a bunch of new features without having to pay a dime.

I have the DIR-655, and I like it, but I didn't realize it was single band until after I bought it.

The DIR-825 sounds good, but it gets bad reviews on Newegg for some reason.

 

[mmdc]

So by that logic, you're posting this from a Broadcom computer, right?

I would look at one of the Linksys' or 3COMs

In that user's defence, the newer Airport Extreme Base Station does use Broadcom hardware. My uMBP also uses Broadcom hardware for its wireless network adapter. However, I do agree with you that mixing between brands usually should not be an issue.

 

[parajba]

I bought a Belkin N+ wireless router and I'm really happy with it, have been using it for 1 week with an i5 MBP without issues whatsover. Very good range!

 

[trondah]

I just swapped out my Airport Extreme for a [URL="http://www.linksysbycisco.com/UK/en/products/WRT610N]WRT610N[/URL] and I'm very happy with it.

- Two internal antenna's for simultaneous 2.4GHz and 5GHz
- Gigabit
- USB storage
- Fast hardware (500MHz, 64MB RAM, 8MB flash)
- Support by DD-WRT and OpenWRT on the way

 

[vant]

This is utter garbage. Did you make that up or were you simply spoon fed by an Apple employee? It's 100% inaccurate.

Nope. Tom's Hardware. Check out their router reviews. They don't like Apple over there, but their information for builders is great

 

[coolbreeze]

I just swapped out my Airport Extreme for a [URL="http://www.linksysbycisco.com/UK/en/products/WRT610N]WRT610N[/URL] and I'm very happy with it.

- Two internal antenna's for simultaneous 2.4GHz and 5GHz
- Gigabit
- USB storage
- Fast hardware (500MHz, 64MB RAM, 8MB flash)
- Support by DD-WRT and OpenWRT on the way

This.

 

[robanga]

I just swapped out my Airport Extreme for a [URL="http://www.linksysbycisco.com/UK/en/products/WRT610N]WRT610N[/URL] and I'm very happy with it.

- Two internal antenna's for simultaneous 2.4GHz and 5GHz
- Gigabit
- USB storage
- Fast hardware (500MHz, 64MB RAM, 8MB flash)
- Support by DD-WRT and OpenWRT on the way

Reviving this old thread. Does anyone have a WRT610N V2 and have trouble with the separate 5GHz network? I have that band set up as its own network and nothing will connect to it. I have messed around with a few settings to no avail.

Other than that the WRT610N has worked flawlessly under 2.4GHz, and we have a lot of devices using it at our house.

 

[trondah]

Reviving this old thread. Does anyone have a WRT610N V2 and have trouble with the separate 5GHz network? I have that band set up as its own network and nothing will connect to it. I have messed around with a few settings to no avail.

Other than that the WRT610N has worked flawlessly under 2.4GHz, and we have a lot of devices using it at our house.

Yes, I have a V2 and also had problems with the 5GHz network.

After some investigation I found that when the channel width is set to "auto" (default), it might try 40MHz and use channel 38 or 46. Now check your Airport in system profiler, most likely they will not be listed in the supported channels. You shouldn't be using 40MHz channel width anyways.

The fix is to select "20MHz only" under channel width. It will then select from 36, 40, 44 and 48 which should be supported. After that it worked smooth as butter for me, great speeds too

 

[ironsidephoto]

I'm looking to buy a Wireless N router. In our house, we have an aluminum iMac, 2 13" MBPs, an iPad, two iPod touches, and two windows desktop machines that are hooked up via Ethernet. Am I correct in thinking that when a non Wireless-N device is accessing the network, it slows down to B/G speeds?

 

[robanga]

I'm looking to buy a Wireless N router. In our house, we have an aluminum iMac, 2 13" MBPs, an iPad, two iPod touches, and two windows desktop machines that are hooked up via Ethernet. Am I correct in thinking that when a non Wireless-N device is accessing the network, it slows down to B/G speeds?

I do not believe that having the lower speed devices causes the router to slow to the slowest speed. Everything I have read is that it does cause a slowdown but not that much of a slowdown. The best solution is to have dual bands, one for the slower devices and one for the faster.

 

[robanga]

Yes, I have a V2 and also had problems with the 5GHz network.

After some investigation I found that when the channel width is set to "auto" (default), it might try 40MHz and use channel 38 or 46. Now check your Airport in system profiler, most likely they will not be listed in the supported channels. You shouldn't be using 40MHz channel width anyways.

The fix is to select "20MHz only" under channel width. It will then select from 36, 40, 44 and 48 which should be supported. After that it worked smooth as butter for me, great speeds too

Thank you! I will give those settings a try.

 

[trondah]

I'm looking to buy a Wireless N router. In our house, we have an aluminum iMac, 2 13" MBPs, an iPad, two iPod touches, and two windows desktop machines that are hooked up via Ethernet. Am I correct in thinking that when a non Wireless-N device is accessing the network, it slows down to B/G speeds?

It will slow down when a non-N device transfer data. Not sure how much but it's definitely better to have dual antennas.