Looking for a good wireless router...

I recently purchased a laptop and I'm looking for a good wireless router. Since I've never owned a laptop before, I'm kind of new to knowing which routers are better than others.
Also, I don't want to spend too much on it.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

If you are willing to spend $50, go straight for the classic Linksys Wireless router. Look around in the wireless section of this forum as to which versions of default firmware are good models.

If you want to buy my Trendnet TEW-432BRP, you can PM me. To be honest, it works just as well as my USR8054, but I have 2 routers so I prefer the dual antennae.

 

After going through "Nickspohn's What Wireless Router is Right for Me Guide?" and looking at prices on the internet, I'm currently leaning towards a Netgear model either WGR614 or WGT624.

Anybody currently using one of these and would like to comment on it?

Thanks

 

I got the Netgear WGR614 and I think it's a good router. I do sometimes have some problems with it (i have to "restart" the router for it to work again...) but I believe it can be fixed but I never had the time to try. But I also have problem with my Intel wireless card so I'm not sure if that could also affect it. Hope this helps...

 

One of my buddies has one of the standard Netgear wireless routers and cannot find any way to get more than one person on his network for gaming at a time. Just something to keep in mind. I have no clue how the performance is though.

 

That won't be a problem, there's only one person gaming in my house....me...

 

I HIGHLY recommend Linksys WRT54G router version 4 or earlier (Very IMP). Most of the WRT54G routers being sold now are version 5, do you may have to dig thru a store to find the right one (the version # s can be identified by the serial #s on the outside of the box - info is there in one of the amazon reviews.
Recommend as:
Firmware is ungradeable (for version 4 or earlier), The latest "tofu" firmware comes with many nice features, includig one to boost/decrease signal strengtth.
Also, many routers have problems with bittorent, not this one (wiht the tofu firmware). Mine has been running non-stop, no problems for about 4 months now.
The router is alsow very well supported in that there are *forums* dedicatd to this router - so if u ever hae a problem, chances are someone would have solved it.

 

Belkin N1 - a "pre-N" or "draft-N" router has been getting rave reviews. Long range, MIMO, etc...

Buffalo seems to make affordable routers as well. Routers are actually pretty much the same technologically, what you pay for ( a lot of the time) is the range you get from it. So if you are really close to your router, don't worry about it and get a cheap one.

 

Well, I'll be moving the desktop to the basement and the laptop will mostly be on the 2nd floor. So I don't know if that would play an important factor. The laptop will be directly 2 floors above. Walls and floors won't cause any problems for the cheaper versions, will it?

 

I have a D-link WBR-1310b (Basic Wireless-G ) and even going through two floors, it works perfectely. If you need more power in the signal, you can replace the stock antenna with a high gain antenna.

 

wearetheborg: If you want to pay a bit of a premium, the WRT54GL runs Linux as it's firmware and has a bit beefier hardware than the WRT54G and so on. That being said, I have a WRT54G, it works from the basement up two floors to the bedroom on the other side of the house, and it plays nicely with Linux and WPA (had up to 4 clients on it wirelessly at the same time, as well as a major file-copy operation, over 70GB total, running on it.)

 

Ok I will be the first to comment on the Belkin N1. Has to be the best router I have ever worked with. Easy setup ( I did mine manually but it comes with an easy install disk too), excellent coverage ( I can actually get coverage all over my house and property), cool blue status lights, awsome throughput even though I am not using a compatible N1 card (average about 6.5mbps on and my desktop gets 8.9ish on comcast). Best Buy currently has on sale for 120.00

 

I was under the impression that WRT54GLs are basically WRT54Gs version 4 and earlier. They switched the OS version 5 and later and also cut down memory. Apparently version 4 and earlier were too powerful for the price they were charging them for

 

Well, yes. That's pretty much it. But we don't need to confuse the poor lad, who probably won't be dealing with custom firmwares and the like, especially on his initial router ever

 

im happy with my netgear MR814v2 i bought it over a year ago from ebay for £15GBP refurbished and i can't fault it, it works throughout my house, and in my garden, and its only dropped connection 3 times and that just took a restart and it was sorted ^_^,

its only 802.11b wifi though so your connection will only be 11mbps if you buy one, im thinking of upgrading to a better one now i have a decent laptop to use it with

 

But if I had a connection of 11 Mbps consistently, I would be extremely satisfied to say that least. I don't think our routers are the limiting reagents. If you think practically, having a connection at 11 Mbps is sweet!