Best wireless router out there?

Hi guys, I finally got my laptop (has a N6300) and I now want to get my hands on a wireless router. I would like a usb on it for sharing a printer, and at least two cable plugs in it for my two desktops. It also needs to be powerful enough to go through 2 floors (router will be on the top floor, i'll probably be using my laptop in the basement). Also, I'll be playing online games with it, so its gotta be fast. Cash isint an issue. A linksys 4200 was suggested, but I'd like to see what our community thinks first! Thanks guys!

 

i love my Netgear WNDR3700. by far, the best, and fastest, router i've ever owned. there's supposed to be an updated version of it as well, but i'm not sure if it's any better/worst.

 

Cisco E4200

Cisco Linksys E4200 Maximum Performance Wireless-N Router Reviewed - Wireless Performance 5GHz, Competitive, Closing Thoughts - SmallNetBuilder

 

When wireless range is concerned I have to second Linksys E4200 as it's 2.4GHz is better than Netgear's although personally I'd buy Netgear WNDR3700- better performance to price ratio.

 

Yeah, the Linksys routers are expensive and netgear still offers very good performance. I would say there is no best router, but there are quite a few good ones in the $120+ bracket.

Linksys E4200
Netgear WNDR3700
Asus RT-N56U
I'm told the Airport extreme is also very good.

On a side note, i'm not certain the E4200 supports printers via USB on stock firmware. It does however support wireless printers without a hitch.

 

If i were to go with the WNDR3700, which would be better?

Netgear Wireless Router (WNDR3700-100NAS) ($134)

or

Netgear RangeMax Dual Band Wireless N Router (WNDR3700-100PAS) ($110)

 

Apparently it's the same router hardware-wise. Nobody found any difference between them as far as I know.

 

NAS: support for HDD via USB and PAS, support for printer maybe? Just guessing though.

 

I have kind of figured that out- NAS is for North America (probably US only) which makes sense, PAS- I have no idea (probably Canada with 12 channels), Europe gets PES (13 channels).
So it's all the same router with the possible exception of some more wireless channels being available in say European or Japanese version than in US version.

 

I have a E4200 also so recommending that even though the WNDR3700 wasn't bad also. It worked great while I had it, just wanted the E4200 for whatever reason. LOL

As for your placement, routers don't work well in vertical, especially below vertical signal. The signal generally goes UP and out, so try putting the router on the lower floors and the signal will work it's way up as much as it can. Depending on your house construction you might need a second router on the top floor to repeat (boost) the signal. Either that or run some cable out the window to the first floor and then connect it to the router up there to get nice full bandwidth as well.

 

I believe the E4200 supports a printer with the usb, but only with the latest firmware installed.

 

Good point- it actually does support USB printer and native IPv6 as of September.
USB printing seems to require additional software installed on every PC so it's not an ideal solution but it's a new feature for Linksys which is very nice.

 

Indeed, very nice. I don't think i'll see that on my E3000 unfortunately. At least it's not too bad, the E3000 is more than capable of handling another device if i want to add a wireless printer . One less reason not to recommend the E4200, the main one remaining price.

 

To be fair E3000 can run a print-server on USB with third party firmware and it would be a better print-server as it doesn't require any additional software on any client machine.
But still most people stay with stock firmware and the fact that Linksys adds featured having already released the device is a good thing.

 

I know dd-wrt supports a printer, but considering i'm getting in the 6MB/s wireless-wireless and 16MB/s wired-wireless average throughput, i'm not tweaking the settings anymore. That throughput is very good and the usb printer isn't a necessity.

 

Erm I am getting the same throughput on a Single Band Router...it is not very good IMO.

 

Dual band doesn't double the throughput and what tijo achieved is actually very good- 16MB/s is 128mbps which is way more than an average 300mbps connection has to offer.

 

That, in my wireless environment, i'd get crap throughput on 2.4GHZ, too many networks in range of my gear. I'm the only one with a 5GHz network though so i get no interference from other routers. As downloads, not everyone gets the kind of throughput we get, you need a relatively interference free network and a decent router.

EDIT: Well, when i say crap throughput, i don't mean that the network is too slow for internet or streaming videos to my PS3 (not sure about FHD though), only that i tend to transfer files between computers on the wireless network often enough so throughput is important for me.

 

No problems with my Asus RT-N56U. Has two usb ports and decent software, no DD-WRT though.

 

I just got some info,thanks to Downloads & Tijo! I have the newest netgear 3700 rev2 with new netgear firmware,and I have about 15 devices all running off of it with no problems,and 5ghz is not close to the saturated 2.4ghz so I get great throughput.And I was going to get the 4200 but with a little tweak I have amazing speed no lag,and server and printer through usb support.I will wait untill next gen before I switch to another router.Thanks again tijo for the link.