Which wireless router for my setup?...

[EATTHERICH]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to buy a new wireless router as the one I got from my ISP is pretty awful (D-Link DIR600). I've seen the Apple AirPort Extreme and it looks great but it's quite expensive at £139 and I wonder if it's really worth the extra. Either way, the two I've narrowed it down to are as follows. I live in Cologne so ideally I'd like to order from somewhere like Amazon.de so I make sure I have the right plug.

- Apple AirPort Extreme (£139 UK or €159 here)
- NETGEAR WNDR3700 (£102.82 UK or €91.89 here)

I've noticed a few different model names with the NETGEAR router and I'm not sure what they mean. On Amazon.de I see two models for the same price. Once is called the WNDR3700-100PES and the other is the WNDR3700-100GRS. They're both €91.89 delivered which is quite a bit cheaper than £102.82 on Amazon.co.uk.

I have a MacBook Pro which can utilise the 5Ghz "N" band but my girlfriend's MacBook is a bit older so she'd use the 2.4GHz "G" band - this is the reason why I'd like a dual-band router. Am I right to think that with a 'non dual-band' N router that it will work at the slowest speed for both of us?

Ideally, I'd prefer to spend less and get the NETGEAR so if you guys don't think there's that much in it then I'd go for that one. I know that Apple products are great but I also know they're expensive. On paper, both routers look to be a similar and very good spec.

With regard to my setup, I'm on a 64 Mbps cable connection and live in a fairly small apartment so I'll never be working more than 5-10 metres from the router.

Thanks in advance

edit: I've been reading lots of reviews about the NETGEAR and people mention that the 5GHz performance is quite poor. Can anyone give their opinions on this.

 

[EATTHERICH]

Here's a little more information about my setup. I signed up with my ISP about 5 weeks ago and I'm on a 64 Mbps cable package with 5 Mbps upload speed. Whilst I understand that 'real world' speeds can differ hugely and that speed test sites aren't that accurate, I did some tests whilst waiting for them to send me my wireless router. I hardwired my MacBook Pro to the cable modem and ran speedtest.net - I got 66 Mbps and 5.5 Mbps. I repeated a few times that day/night and typically got around 60 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up, I was impressed and it really did feel like a great connection.

After a long wait, my wireless router came. It was a D-Link DIR300 - a "G" router which, as far as I know, can only do up to 54 Mbps (right?). Either way, the wireless speed wasn't great (around 15-20 Mbps) and when hardwired to it I was getting less than half of what I got when hardwired directly to the cable modem. I complained and they sent me another. It was the D-Link DIR600 "N" 150 (it looked just as old). Anyway, I set it up and the speeds are barely any faster. I've seen around 30 Mbps wireless and, for some strange reason, less than that hardwired.

I asked around on a few forums (I've only just found this one!) and the general idea was that the router was just pretty bad. I understand that if you have multiple devices that the router will use the slowest so maybe, with an older MacBook here, that's part of the issue. As a result of this, I did some reading and a dual-band router seems like an option for me.

Anyway, this is huge. Thanks in advance for your help. I really appreciate your time

 

[EATTHERICH]

bump...

anyone?

 

[stevech]

In any WiFi product, the indicated "air link" speed, such as 54Mbps, has to be reduced by the overhead in WiFi's protocols. So factor the air link speed by 60% to get the net yield. With an ideal signal strength, no interference from neighbors' WiFi or other RF sources, you'll see about 20-25Mbps net with 11g. Most often, the air link rate will be 1/3 or 1/2 or less, depending on the distance and obstructions.

With 11n, you "may" get a bit more, in its 20MHz mode. In the 11n optional 40MHz mode, you will on rare occasions see air link speeds of 150Mbps or more with short range, if both client and access device support 11n/40MHz.

IMO, that's more than you'll see sustained from the vast majority of internet host providers.

So not to worry, unless you are moving GByte files PC to PC in your home. And if you're doing that, use wired connections.

 

[EATTHERICH]

Ok, great. Thanks for your advice. So do you recommend buying the NETGEAR as opposed to the AirPort Extreme? I'm getting my money back for the D-Link DIR600 from my ISP and the NETGEAR is €91 delivered, that's £25 cheaper than in the UK...

 

[stevech]

To choose a product, make sure you have your needs well considered. Then select products that fully comply. Then read critiques posted here, and read owners' reviews on newegg.com - where you find products with many tens of reviews and you ignore the bozos.

The average residential user needs no more than USD$50 class WiFi router.

If you are Apple-centric, then pay the hefty premium for Apple's Aiport stuff. It's easier. If you have any Windows computers used with WiFi, I suggest not using Apple's WiFi access devices.

Myself, I work in wireless so my criteria is more stringent, i.e., I don't buy D-Link or Netgear because they are random spot-market buys done in Asia's OEM market - leading to inconsistent quality, especially in firmware. I have usually done OK with Linksys, though they've declined in recent years. Buffalo and Belkin usually employ the same reference designs from Broadcom and are most often OK. I myself am using Cradlepoint at work and at home though it may be a feature-overkill for most users, at a little bit more expensive unless you find it on sale or on eBay. I use them because of their option for a 3G/4G cellular modem fall-back for service continuity (if that's important).

 

[EATTHERICH]

Thanks for your advice