Router Recommendations

Netgear with DD-WRT software on it. Fast, robust, and hasnt dropped once in over a year.

 

Agreed. Stay far away from another Linksys. They have been the worst on the vulnerability that unfortunately affects all current routers by default. On other ones, you can disable the feature that's affected, that doesn't work on most Linksys units unless they have dd-wrt or a similar third party firmware.

I'd look at the wndr4500.

 

I'm not sure of the beef with Linksys. I'm very pleased with the dozen or so dual band units I have around family, friends and small business. The first thing I do is put dd-wrt on them.

 

I have a 3x3 Asus RTN16. love it.

 

I am happy with my E4200. I don't see the problem either. It's no big thing to install dd-wrt and I'm not sure I'd worry much about a home installation such as mine without it.

 

Installing dd-wrt on them negates my issue with them. The problem with Linksys was that Wireless Protected Setup PIN mode is insecure. It may be an 8 digit pin, but in reality, it's a 4 digit number that is denied or confirmed, then a three digit number (the 8th will always be right). This is much easier to crack than one 8 digit number. The number also is generally static (many are on a sticker on the bottom). Now, almost all wireless routers current have this vulnerability (except Apple Airport, which uses a dynamic pin, some buffaloes etc.) The real problem is, turning off WPS on Linksys units didn't actually work. It stayed on, even though it said it was off in the GUI. Linksys has fixed this in some models, but not enough.

http://www6.nohold.net/Cisco2/ukp.aspx?vw=1&articleid=25154
Admittedly, the E4200 is one Linksys fixed, but how many people update their firmware?

With DDWRT it's a moot point as that firmware doesn't do WPS, they don't have Wifi alliance certification. WPS must be usable and on by default to use the wifi logo on packaging.

I also don't like that Cisco updated some models of routers without the user knowing it, moving them to their cloud interface. One thing I don't want is my router being accessible from the Internet, particularly without knowing about it, not to mention the fact that one day it couldn't be done, then the next day it could without my knowing about it.

To be clear, the WPS issue is irregardless of the network security. It doesn't matter if its a randomly generated long WPA2 passcode.

 

I have a couple of recent Netgear routers--WNDR4000 and WNR3500L (sam knows version)--and neither will do port forwarding (I can set it up on the browser interface but it doesn't work). I put dd-wrt on the 4000 but that didn't help. Otherwise, both appear to be excellent routers but no port forwarding is a deal-breaker for me. I also tried a D-Link which won't port forward either.

I'm still using my Linksys WRT160N, but I need to reboot it every few days because DHCP stops working. It seems that I have dumped a lot of bucks into useless hardware.

 

Seems odd to me. I'd think port forwarding would be software, not part of the WNDR4000 hardware.

 

Seriously - I'd get the cheapest 802.11N router you can find. I really doubt you'd see much a difference between the base model and the fancy one.

 

You can depending on the issues.

The only real choice you need to make is do you want a dual channel or single channel. If you have G rated devices and N rated devices then segmenting it can cause you to gain significant perofmrance on your N devices as they will not be capped at G speeds.

Price does not dictate good qualities in routers but generally speaking higher price routers do have better processors and memory which can translate to better performance.

 

http://usa.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/RTN66U/

One of my network admins swears this is the best and recently obtained one for himself. Not cheap but consider if you make a proper investment it is likely a technogly shift down the road will drive its replacement and not its failure.

We all have our way we percieve things.

Don"this would be my pick" Bolton

 

I have 2 WRT160N routers with DD-WRT firmware on them and they work fine. You can usually find them refurbished on Amazon for about $30.

- Merg

 

Another vote here for the Asus RT-N16.

I love the old Linksys WRT54G's, but the newer versions can be problematic. If you want to play around with dd-wrt or tomato, you can still buy a WRT54GL brand new. They were built specifically as a "hobby" router with the Linux based firmware. But the hardware on those is getting rather outdated, especially for use with today's faster connections. I doubt the WAN port could handle throughput much higher than 20Mbps or so.

 

I have a Netgear WNDR3700 router that I swear by. I'm sure there are later incantations of this router, but at the time I bought it, it was the most highly recommended dual band wireless-N router on the market. Certainly, the Asus router mentioned above and Buffalo routers also rate very highly. Cisco/Linksys routers don't come as highly recommended.

 

Linksys E4200 (with updated firmware) has been a great buy. I once swore off Linksys, but like their newest models.

 

I've never seen a consumer class router not do this. You would have to look at the specifications but the chances are very slim it won't. There are routers out there that will but they're not consumer, or even entry business, level that will do this because it's costly.

 

Maybe this isn't a good idea, but buying a second router(cheaper one) to host your G devices. That way you get the N speeds out of your nicer router? Is there something im missing?