Wireless advice? (airport/router)

[dopey220]

Would I be better off getting an AirPort base station or a different type of wireless router? If the latter, what should I get that's reliable and inexpensive?

 

[jsw]

Unless you need the USB printer sharing capability or the iTunes audio port, a Linksys WRT54G is a great buy for under US$60... half the price of an AirPort Express. And it has four wired ports as well. It's less attractive, but in many ways a much better router.

Edit: apparently, you want a WRT54GL, not the WRT54G, because the WRT54G of old is now the WRT54GL, and the new WRT54G is a slightly gutted version. Just FYI....

 

[Lau]

Also, some of the Netgear routers, although not as beautiful and shiny as an Airport, are fairly attractive and Mac–looking, and both Linksys and Netgear are pretty reliable.

 

[drummerbooker14]

other router most definitely

 

[truz]

I have two netgears and both drop connections. neatgear is trash on my list. My linksys works just fine, but.. they give weak signals. I'm trying belkin next.

 

[dopey220]

Well, I'm at my uncle's house right now. He has Linksys, and it's not been especially reliable. He told me to go for Netgear, but since I'm hearing now that they're not much better, maybe I'll look at something else (possibly Belkin).

Thanks for your help so far, guys.

 

[truz]

If you want to spend the money and have a longer wireless range I would go with belkin. They have a new wireless router out that runs $150. They also have there old router which also has very good reviews (Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router), if you got the cash tho go with the new one Belkin N1 Wireless Router. They both have a lifetime warranty (not sure how good it is tho)

http://www.buy.com/prod/Belkin_N1_Wireless_Router/q/loc/101/202715979.html

http://www.buy.com/prod/Belkin_Wireless_Pre_N_Router/q/loc/101/10385729.html

 

[thewhitehart]

I loved my D-Link 524. The router configuration interface was delightfully nerd orientated, and the options were cleary visible for all configuration changes I wanted to make.

One particular nuance, if not a problem at all, is Apple's lack of a web interface for configuring their airports. But... I shall reccommend the airport express. It is simple, elegant, and streams music. Sure it's costly, but it has that refined mac-quality look to it, and it's super-compact. Your macs will work seamlessly with it.

 

[Lollypop]

Unless you need the USB printer sharing capability or the iTunes audio port, a Linksys WRT54G is a great buy for under US$60... half the price of an AirPort Express. And it has four wired ports as well. It's less attractive, but in many ways a much better router.

Edit: apparently, you want a WRT54GL, not the WRT54G, because the WRT54G of old is now the WRT54GL, and the new WRT54G is a slightly gutted version. Just FYI....

I actually have a linksys WRT54g, and I love it, havnt tried any other brand but for me the fact that the WRT54G's firmware can be hacked to give a few more features was what won me over.

 

[i0Nic]

Why does noone recommend the Airport Express?
Does it have as good range as the linksys wrt54g?

 

[Lollypop]

The airport express is nice, but its a bit light on the features when considering its competitors and the price of the competition! If apple released a more feature rich access point at the same price I would look at it, but at this stage the AE doesnt really do hectic security and it doesnt offer ethernet ports for all the wired items in the house.

 

[cr2sh]

My Netgear WGR614 died this weekend and I'm in the market for a new router. I doubt I'll go with Linksys but I know I won't be buying another netgear.

I guess apple is out of the question also.. dLink it is!

 

[echeck]

My Airport Express worked wonderfully, and I loved the AirTunes feature! But, unfortunately it was no match against mother nature (see sig) so I was in the market for a new one. But because a new AE is sure to be in the pipeline soon (hopefully!) I decided to go with a different router instead. I ended up getting this Belkin router because it was cheap, only $35. It's actually turned out to be a pretty good router, has four wired ports (which I don't use, but is nice in case I did!) and the range does just fine in my house.

If you have the money to spend then I would get the Airport Express, especially if you could make a use for AirTunes. If you just want a reliable router at a reasonable price then I would go with the aforementioned Belkin.