Need to replace dying B router with G. Dlink, Netgear, others?

[comfortablynumb]

I've been using a Netgear MR814 for about 7 or 8 years, in the last 6 months it's been about daily with the power cycle game to keep it up and running. Straight to my modem I'm fine, also throughput and performance has just steadily gotten worse lately with this router, but it's old and to be expected.

I'm not interested in N, and I don't really care to much about range, I'm usually wired and when I'm not I don't venture outdoors and it's a single floor residence. I want' to stay in the $40 - $60 range preferably.

I know every brand has it's good and bad products and the reviews across the board seem pretty unimpressive. I'm looking now at Dlink and Netgear, Linksys I've seen to many problems in the past with them. About all I'm concerned with is stability, and decent throughput on the wired side. I just want a stable router that don't require constant daily power cycles, I know they all eventually lock up and require a power cycle though.

I've narrowed it down so far to:
- DLINK DIR-601 I know it's faux N I would put it in G only mode, can't find much good nor bad on this router. The WBR-1310 reviews scare me off the G offering.

- NETGEAR WGR614 I've read a few weird things on this, quit a few reviews state that there is a high pitch squeal that emits from the router (I can't see how a solid state router can make noise, but what ever), slow throughput, flaky. Other reviews mainly gamers talk about to many simultaneous connections causes the router to go offline for 30 seconds, I'm guessing this is the DOS protection kicking in. I don't game much so that one isn't huge for me but still something to consider.

- Linksys WRT54G2 I know I've said no Linksys, but I've look at it anyway. In looking online, I've seen lots of complaints of equipment dying after a years time. Also numerous complaints about the routers locking up and needing to be cycled several times a day. This has been my findings in the past with Linksys equipment when I used to do support work.

 

[Osamede]

If you are looking for stability rather than flavour of the money, I would look at a Draytek, they have many models but a simple one like the 2100G would do you great. I have that one and basically the only time it is out of service is if I turn it off eg I go on vacation in the summer, or xmas. Sick levels of uptime on this thing.

Incidentally for this kind of spec, I would not touch a Netgear. The tend to be built cheap and stupid withour proper ventilation and heat dispersal, which is often part of the reason routers conk out.

 

[thiggins]

You can read negative comments about any and every product. Your requirements aren't that exotic.

For basic G routers, there are the WRT54G2, WGR614 and WBR-2310 from Cisco, NETGEAR and D-Link. You can also look at the Belkin Wireless G F5D7230-4. They'll all work about the same.

 

[saturation]

I'm evaluating this unit, now on 3 weeks:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JUECW6/?tag=snbforums-20

It was a trouble free install and it works to its spec. Only issue is it doesn't have external antennas so its range is reduced but works well in an apartment. You'll get a concurrent dual band 5 GHz device for the price of a single band 11n. Its better known by its parent company, Senao.

I am getting fairly sustained throughputs between 40-100 Mbps and an average 60 Mbps which I get transferring 1 GB sized files, so its throughput is akin to the better units reviewed on this forum, but it costs far less.

It uses 3 Ralink chips, RT2880 RT2850 RT3052 and has nearly the identical install screens and specs of the Trendnet 671.

 

[comfortablynumb]

No nothing to exotic, I'm basically on the net 8 - 10 hours a day just general surfing, the most strenuous work out would be streaming media from Hulu here and there. As far as users, I typically have up to 3 active connections to the router: 1 wired, 1 laptop & one other desktop in the other room wireless (Don't feel like crawling in an attic and wall fishing to hardwire it).

I know, like I said in my first post, everything at this price point is going to have it's negative reviews. I guess I'm just looking for the best of the worst so to say, does any of the 3 big box brands have better firmware then the others, better throughput, more stable with several connections etc...

 

[saturation]

Esr 7750

Again in reference to the ESR 7750 here is a typical file transfer. I can't send the large clear image because of file size limits at SNB. However these files show:

upload speed: 90 Mbps with final speed at 10.3 MB/sec or ~ 88 Mbps
download spd: 35 Mbps or 3.84 MB/sec or 31 Mbps effectively.
5GHz band with BW at 40MHz

Also the surrounding AP and are shown in dBm strength to reflect this transfers performance in an environment with other APs about.

As a general use AP + router, its been working nonstop for 3 weeks, 24 h a day, because if it died, I'd still have time to return it!

The graphs of transfers show it relatively sustained, with few huge drops. The AP is 15' from the STA, but through a dry wall enclosed room.

Since it only has a printed antenna, I assume its overall range is lower than one with a whip antenna, but its perfect for a room with a 15' or more radius, since I get such performance already but with a small wall between AP and STA.

I current have the unit sitting atop a PC 2' off the ground. As soon as testing is over, I will position it for best reception. I've already found a spot, here the up and down speeds are as written on the Amazon review, 90+ up, 70+ down, sustained using the 1.5GB file for test transfers.

For privacy, I've deleted the SSID names and MAC addresses on the attachment.

The image shows the Vista Resource Monitor at left, the file transfer dialog, and the Ralink WiFi client at right.

 

[DaveMcLain]

802.11g is a "mature" technology and just about anyones AP would work fine in your application. My own personal experience with the WGR-614 from Netgear have been very positive. I'm using them in several locations and applications similar to yours with fine results. I think they cost all of about $40 retail.

I have a feeling that in the not so distant future all of the 802.11g routers, AP's etc on the market will be a thing of the past and will be replaced with .11n equipment.