Help me pick a new router plz!

Lately, ive been getting weak signal and wireless interruption because all of the wireless interference around the house/neighbor. After 5 years of using the linksys wrt54g, it's time for me to pick up a new router.

We mostly using wireless in the house and can you guys recommend me a router that have good wireless signal/range/eliminate interference technology etc, for around 50-70$.

 

This Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH- reputable company, DD-WRT support, high power radio capable of 300mbps, good Atheros CPU, 64MB RAM and 32MB flash. It costs some $80.
Word of warning- it has to end with H because WZR-HP-G300N is a completely different router and not half as good.

TP-Link TL-WR1043ND is a bit cheaper- some $60 and coincidentally uses the same Atheros AR9132 400MHz CPU but has half the RAM and probably less powerful radio but still offers good quality and DD-WRT support on top of a good standard firmware.

 

Downloads' recommendations are good, I would aim for the Buffalo if you can.

 

bought the buffalo H one, but some of the negative comment on newegg worried me a little, like it doesn't work well with 360&PS3?

 

lately upgrade(or downgrade depending how you look at it) to a TP-LINK N version (single antenna, bgn running in the 2.4Ghz range) from a WRT54G(with openwrt).

What I have found that is today's home oriented router are more or less the same. it is how you configure it that determines the performance. An N-only setup gives me at least 50% gain in throughput. Though being a 2.4Ghz one, it seems that it is very difficult for it to use 40Mhz channel so the max speed is only around 65Mbps giving me an effective 30Mbps when doing speedtest.

Only paid for 15 USD for it.

 

That's not true. Today’s routers have CPUs ranging from 200 to 700MHz, from 16MB to 64MB RAM (there's one with 128MB too), from 4 to 32MB flash memory, single band, dual band, simultaneous dual band, 150mbps (so called N-lite) 300mbps and (so far only)two units capable of 450mbps. Routers also use 100mbps Ethernet or gigabit one and do or don't have USB ports etc.
Saying it's all the same is simply misleading.

 

configuration is just to max out the performance of the router itself .
specs does matter , try open 100+ connections in WPA2 mode and see if your router can handle that

@downloads
it is actually
WHR - G300N < the less expensive ones
WZR - G300NH < buffalo's top of the line

theres no product called WZR - G300N

 

Yeah you are right. Couldn't they come up with a name even longer than that?
I think I've copied the name from DD-WRT website to avoid typing it in and the typo is on their site.

 

don't mean to hijack, but is this buffalo really worth the cost... it's a Cyber mondya deal and It has my interest... as my rosewill could use a place in the dump... I'm also trying to set up a home server would thing be a good investment? (I do tones of downloading, network transferres etc. )

right now I get 4MB/s transferes between PCs (N-to-N wireless) do you think this will improve?

 

Buffalo is cheap actually- so yes it is worth it. It's also a reputable company although not as widely known as Linksys or Netgear.
4MB/s N-to-N seems slow indeed- 150mbps type of speed.
You should be in 10-12MB/s range when transferring LAN-Wi-Fi (or the other way) on a 300mbps connection.
The reason why your connection may be slower is that Wi-Fi cards often have two spatial streams for download and one for upload. That would result in your "uploading" Wi-Fi device working at half the pace your downloading Wi-Fi device could handle. So wireless cards are equally important to routers if you want to improve overall experience.

 

well my current is '300Mbps' but I know I don't get it...

 

And your wireless cards are?

 

1xD-link 651? wireless 300Mbps (PCI 3 antenna) I don't have the exact number but It as 45$
1xRosewill Ralink 2870 300Mbps, USB 2 antenna
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166027
1xEncore 300Mbps USB just a dongle was very cheap.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833180053
2xintel Wifi 5300 (not very impressed with these - steaming is choppy on them)
the routers is:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166039
I have a 60$ Berklin that will replace the last one.

the first two are both about 10-15feet from the router and are by far the fastest. (they can sometimes hit 5MB/s).
the Encore is two floors down in the basement and it gets 2-3MB/s on a good day.

still not sure if it's worth upgrading the router.

 

All of my wireless cards are G and cheap but speed is not really a factor, but dropping signal and wireless interference annoy the heck out of me.