Wireless router buyers guide 2014

Hmm, didn't know that one, thanks. So no trolling the neighbors with 40MHz.

Ok, i'm just kidding, there isn't a 2.4GHz network in range of me that can stay on 40MHz anyways.

Also, it's funny how with the same SSID and password most of my devices are totally unaware that a router change occurred. Only windows saw it and added a 2 to the network connection name.

 

So, I need a router for my apartment and I was thinking about the E4200v2, is it really bad? Because the V1 is nowhere to be found now..
What are other high-end alternative? The Western Digital router just arrived in store where I work and they look pretty good. Any thoughts on them?

 

E4200v2 is not bad but it doesn't support 3rd party firmware, it id based on Marvell chip which Linksys has no experience.
Overall it may well work fine but if it won't- there's nothing you can do- no alternative firmware and quite possibly no real support from Linksys.

As for WD- newcomers are almost always rubbish. What WD offers is almost identical to D-Link DIR-857 and that D-Link offers poor wireless.

You could also consider Asus RT-N66U. I've been looking at it foe a while now and I'm pretty close to adding it to the recommended list. I'm gonna make one more sweep looking for any serious issues and if I don't find any it ends up on the list.

 

Here: Canada Computers | Networking | Linksys E4200-RM (re-certified by Linksys), Maximum Performance Dual-Band N Router. That's a v1 and it is rather cheap right now too, you'll have to order online though, i took the last one at their Laval location a week ago.

 

I am not too fond of refurb/recertified units and I was hoping to find a router where I work (we do not sell Asus).
I heard great things about the netgear WDNR4500/3700? I love how network genie works with those routers!

 

Well, a WNDR3700v2 would be a great choice as well.

 

Thanks for the guide

 

No one mentioned this?

 

Finally went with the Linksys E4500, apparently there was an EPP for this model and the Netgear R6300.
Weirdly enough, it is not that much better than the Belkin N750 that I had been using for a couple of month (since I received it for free a couple ofmonths ago).

 

well it's their newest model, so will have to wait a bit to see some feedback. It looks promising though, and the price is great as usual.

I can say I'm happy with the WNDR3700v2 that I bought a week or two ago. Besides that it didn't want to recognize internet IP configuration easy /from my motorola cable modem/ (had to spend like an hour on that part only), it does work well ever since.

I think the auto uplink speed measuring feature is showing incorrect numbers though, in my case some 200kbps where I'm pretty sure I have over 4mbps uplink :|

 

Nothing beats actual testing to determine speeds. I personally use speedtest for Internet and a large file for network throughput.

 

@ download which router you are using with which card

 

TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND running the most recent stock firmware that adds print-server support (with additional app installed on a client machine).

And on the other end stock card which is Atheros AR5B93 (2T2R 300mbps).

I'm pleased with this setup- living proof that you can build a balanced fast and stable setup without spending hundreds of dollars (it's also supplemented by a ZyXEL NSA310 NAS)

 

Im having trouble with deciding which router to purchase. If anyone would like to help me the models and details of my current network can be found here.

 

if I can find a e4200v1 refurb for $70, will that hold me over (on heavy use with dd-wrt) until 802.11ac routers and NICs become more readily available? also, does dd-wrt hurt throughput on the unit or do you have any other recommendations?

 

Yes- it'll be fine for a while. I would skip DD-WRT unless you really need a specific setting or feature that it offers. It's by no means faster than stock Linksys firmware.

 

Do D-Link and Netgear spy on you like LinkSys (Cisco) does?

I was actually looking to buy a LinkSys after it was recommended to me by my ISP and the reviews I've read about 'em have been mostly positive.
Plus people around here seem to have good things to say... But I was really turned off by the fact that Cisco spies on you and can terminate the use of your router at It's discretion. I didn't want to have to upgrade to a 3rd party FW to use a device I JUST BOUGHT. Plus there's always a chance you could brick your device, granted I could just return it....

I was hoping to buy locally, but only D-Link, LinkSys and Netgear are available.

Are either of these routers any good?

Netgear N900 Dual Band Wireless N Router WNDR4500-100PAS
D-Link Amplifi Dual Band Wireless N600 HD Media Router 2000 (DIR-827)

I'm way out of date on my router knowledge and I'm going to try and do as much research as I can over the coming days. There's a huge sale on at a local retailer on the 23rd.

Oh yeah, one other question - Is the USB port on a router any good?
I noticed some have USB 3.0

I have 3 3TB WD external HD's. I'm wondering how likely it is that they will work and how well they will work on the routers USB port. Or are there limitations of sorts?

 

No router is fast enough to make any use of USB 3- the best ones are still not limited bu USB 2 so there's no benefit speed-wise.

I would skip D-Link due to the quality of their firmware or lack thereof.

As for Cisco/Linksys. They can't "terminate the use of your router"- just the use of their cloud. Other services including Dropbox use similar clauses.
There were other worrying thing about that though- I wrote something about it here.

 

Ok, but with regards to the USB ports on routers that you can connect HD's to - If I have media (Movies/TV shows) on the external HD and I connect it to the routers USB port - will the router be able to stream the content (720p/1080p) to my TV's wifi dongle well? Or will there be delay/pixelation or other unwanted issues?

Do the USB ports on routers accept all sizes of external HD's?

As for Cisco/Linksys from what I read in some other posts you NEED to access their cloud to use your router, so if they terminate the cloud then you can't use your router? Which would be why people are flashing 3rd party FW? Also, I have been reading that some Linksys have heating issues - What are your thoughts on that?

Thanks for the response!

 

As far as I know you don't have to use their cloud- router is fully functional without it.
Also you can flash an official Linksys firmware that doesn't support the cloud (they did it to minimize damage).
Anyway- I'm not really encouraging you to buy a Linksys cloud-enabled router. I think it's pretty useless and costs you money- E4200v2 is the same as EA4500 just cheaper- I see no reason to pay for this particular cloud.

As for the USB- it won't work the way you expect it to. Using USB connected HDD especially with non-Linux partition on a Linux-based router takes up a lot of resources- especially CPU power.
20MB/s is very good throughput reached by only few routers (E4200v2 included since it uses a NAS-grade Marvell CPU)- going above 30MB/s is more like a dream.

You're talking about streaming via Wi-Fi. You'd be very lucky if your Wi-Fi reached actual transfers of 8-10MB/s let alone 30MB/s or more (which is a limit of USB 2 throughput).
You could stream HD video or not- depending on how it's encoded- MKV files- yes, uncompressed Bluray- no.

Heat issues are mostly hearsay- you shouldn't be bothered by that.

 

As downloads said, compressed HD video is fine, uncompressed isn't. You can barely manage compressed HD content with wireless to wireless transfers using the higher end routers available today like the E4200. 2 streams to 2 streams barely gets the job done, i do it personally and i get no problems with playback, but the moment i try to skip a scene or scroll through the video, there will be a delay and forget doing something else with the wireless network too, either the video or whatever else you're doing will suffer.

 

Darn, hopes and dreams dashed then!
I guess I'll have to wait some years down the road before I think about playing movies via USB/Router to my TV.
They are just MKV files, but I won't be the only person using the router....So that might cause issues..

I guess a wired connect from a router to the TV using either Allshare, or Intel Wireless Display would be a better option?


Right now I'm using this router - D-Link DGL-4300 wireless router Review - Routers - CNET Reviews
Have been for years...
But It's only G, and I notice that when I use the wireless on my notebook (Alienware M11x) I only get about 1.60-1.70 Megabytes DL. When I use a wired connection to the router I max the connection from my ISP of 25MBPS DL. That kind of ticks me off.

So I was thinking on just upgrading to an N router with dual band plus a USB port. But if the USB port won't function the way I'd like it to then there's no point in that. Everyone was talking about how Linksys makes some of the best routers, but then I came across this page on Cisco/Linksys and a comments section on Cnet which scared me away from those companies: http://boingboing.net/2012/07/03/cisco-locks-customers-out-of-t.html When I read something like -

"Cisco locks customers out of their own routers, only lets them back in if they agree to being spied upon and monetized" I have to think as to why I would want to invest in a company that would do that.

Also my roomie can't seem to connect to the wireless with his computer. (Wired is fine) but not wireless. So that was another reason I'm thinking on getting a new router.

These days it seems a lot of ISP's (At least in this area) Give you a modem + wireless router combo. I have 3 different ISP services that I use.
One of them comes with a combo and I max out 25MBPS connect on it wirelessly. I'm not sure what extra bells and whistles I'm going to get out of paying top dollar for a good N over a standard fare modem/wireless router combo from an ISP. Or am I missing something?

Is dual band 5 GHz worth it? It still seems like 2.4 GHz is more widely used...

Also what's up with AC? It's 5 GHz only from what I read... Why create a router with that frequency only if 2.4 Ghz is still the mainstream?

 

That's exactly the point of 5GHz range- the fact that it's not being used by so many people.

2.4GHz is overcrowded and suffers from interference between networks which results in lower throughput with some devices refusing to work at 40MHz channel width due to "n neighbor-friendly policy.

 

So care to comment on the other questions or statements?
You seem like you know a lot! And I'm trying to figure this all out.

 

What do you mean by "2 streams to 2 streams" ?

Are you streaming your .MKV HD content via the 5 GHz band?
And what device are you streaming from the router to?

Can the router see/use any size HD?

 

I'm streaming my HD content from my desktop to my laptops both of which are connected to the 5GHz wireless network. Anyways, the desktop is till on a 2 stream USB adapter and one laptop is on 2 streams as well (Intel 6200). The videos go desktop -> router -> laptop. If i go LAN to WAN, i get better throughput so i can do some minor stuff on the network along with streaming.

 

As of now there's no good 801.11ac router so you can ignore this part for a time being.

Upgrading to 802.11n will allow you to achieve 25mbps quite easily even if you're quite far from the router.

As for cloud-enabled Linksys- I'd ignore it.

 

Thanks for the very helpful thread. I am one of the clueless ones!

Now for an extemely basic question - Do these routers have ports for a non-wireless pc? If so, do they come with ethernet and USB cables, or do I need to purchase those separately?

I have a Netgear WGR614 v6 and an old DSL modem. The modem urgently needs to be replaced. (It quit working all day the other day, then starting working again.) From reading elsewhere on the forum, I saw that a modem/router combo is not advised, so I will be shopping for one of the routers recommended here, and a separate modem.

Do you have any DSL modem recommendations?

 

Yeah, downloads knows a lot.

Assuming that whatever device is connected to the tv is capable of good wireless throughput, you should be able to achieve streaming mkvs and mp4s to your tv with from USB hard drive while still having enough bandwidth remaining for someone to use the internet. As long as you don't stream content from one wireless device to another, you should be ok for mkvs and mp4s. 720p content will be fine for certain, for 1080p it might depend on how compressed it is.

You will need a good router though. Like it's said at the beginning of the guide, a good router needs a good amount of RAM as well as a decent processor to be able to handle higher throughput.

There is another alternative and it is having the content on a computer that is connected through a wire to the router or in a NAS. The problem with that is that you need said computer close to the router and a NAS isn't exactly cheap.

Personally, if i were in your situation, i'd have one computer hooked via ethernet through the router and the laptop hooked via HDMI to the tv. The laptop connected on a 5GHz network to be sure to get enough throughput.

All wireless routers also have ethernet ports, it's usually 4 ethernet ports + 1 port where you connect the router. USB ports may or may not be present. As for modem/router combos being bad, it isn't entirely true. They won't beat a separate modem + a good router, but they might be enough to get the job done depending on your needs. That said if you're going to be purchasing your own gear, i'd go for two separate devices.

Most routers come with one ethernet cable included, you can purchase more separately and they are usually pretty cheap online. I can't really recommend a modem though. The one i'm using right now is the 2wire gateway that came from my ISP. That one is an example of a combo with craptastic router functions. It was prone to interference, had limited range, couldn't handle a lot of devices simultaneously and was wireless G.

 

Appreciate the advice!

I have a refurbished WNDR3700 v2 on the way. It may be more than I need currently, but I don't want to have to shop again in a year or two. These days, you never know when additional family or friends will need to move in for a while....

Still researching the DSL modems. My current one is a Westell, on lease from Centurylink, but I'd rather just get my own.

 

Best ADSL modems are the ones based on a Broadcom main chip. I would look at current TP-Link lineup and check which ones are based on Broadcom.
This one should be OK.

 

Glad you linked to the TD-8616. I couldn't find a reference to Broadcom for that modem.

 

Wow, I've been looking at consumer reviews of routers on Amazon and even the best of the best have so many 1 star votes.
That's kind of insane! Lots of 5 stars but also plenty of 1 stars.

It just doesn't seem like reliability + performance go hand-in-hand with routers these days? It's so hard to know what router to buy off reviews!

Also, I got a dumb question that I've been wondering for some time now....

I'm not quite sure how to word it being that I had little sleep!

If you are looking to stream HD movie content to your TV how do I know If I'm using ISP bandwidth(DL/UP) or not?

This I just find confusing.

Say I have a Netflix account on my TV - That DOES take up ISP bandwidth/DL per month?
But if I want to stream an HD movie from my notebook to my TV, or an HD movie via router/usb/external to my TV wirelessly and wired then what takes bandwidth? Also NAS...


Also what do you guys think of NetGear R6300 Wifi Router? Compared to these two -

-Linksys E4200 models
-Asus RT-N66U

You mentioned the NetGear has good stock firmware, so that might be more up my alley than flashing a 3rd party firmware. But you also mentioned there's no good AC routers on the market yet. These AC routers also do 2.4 GHz, right?

I suppose I could live with flashing a 3rd party firmware if the the quality of the router itself is top notch - E.G. Hardware/throughput/usb ports/Solid DB.

 

Anyone?

 

Sorry for the delayed response (and typos)- I'm on holiday trying to type on a crappy phone.

You won't be using any ISP bandwidth while streaming movie from a laptop or a NAS that's within your LAN.

As for 802.11ac- I haven't seen any good routers so far. Can't say anything about the Netgear at this point though.
Oh and 802.11ac does support 2.4GHz band but the whole point of it is to use 5GHz.

 

What do you think of the Netgear WNDR4500?
Is the ASUS RT-N65U and ASUS RT-N66U better?

I guess in a router I'm looking for these things: 1.) Solid 2.4/5GHz throughput (Don't care about range nearly as much as throughput.)
2.) GOOD router USB port(s) (For connecting external HD's so I can stream 1080p without issue OR at the very least via WIRED.) I'd prefer 2 ports...
3.) Good default FW, and an ability to flash 3rd party FW.
4.) Guest Access
5.) NO DROPPING CONNECTIONS

I think that's all I really care about in a router for now or am I asking for too much?

 

I don't know about guest access, but the RT-N66U fits the rest of the bill, especially for the two USB ports and throughput is good too. As long as the router can do ~6-7MB/s on USB, you'll be fine for 1080p content. I suggest you reserve the 5GHz band for streaming and the 2.4GHz for the rest or if you prefer, limit the 5GHz to your own devices and put the others on 2.4GHz.

 

Don't bother with the N65U.
IIRC it comes with a 100Mbps Ethernet, for a Dual Band Router, it is crippling.

 

Hey guys, I'm looking for a router for a laptop that is to arrive soon. I live in a small apartment and will be using a wired desktop along with a wireless signal for my laptop. Occasionally the phone might be plugged into the network but usually only the desktop and the laptop would be used. I will probably watch movies through my wired desktop but I will need a strong and reliable signal for my laptop. I don't intend to use the laptop for multimedia but will watch the occasional movie. The multimedia stuff will mostly be done on the desktop. I have a cable modem.

I am looking for a decent router in the $20-$50 range but can be somewhat flexible. I saw a refurbished Netgear WNR2000 for $20 at a store today but passed on it. I am also looking at a refurbished Linsys E2500 for $34.99.

Thanks.

 

I've had poor experience with the E2500. It's nice that it is dual-band, easy to set up, and has good range, but for some reason my signal drops once in a while for both the 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz. It does have dd-wrt support, but I think the current build only supports 2.4 ghz.

 

I'm confused. My internet provider only provides up to 20 Mbps download speed in my area . I don't share files between my devices (one laptop and one ipod) though I might use these devices simultaneously, I live in a tiny apartment where range isn't an issue. But I do stream HD tv shows online (i.e. from fox.com) all the time which I wouldn't want to be buffering constantly and would want the highest resolution available to me. I do on the very rare occasion play online games with my playstation 3.

So if wifi is limited to 20 Mbps, is there really going to be a noticable difference if I go with the cheapest 802.11n router? I'm not sure how a 300 Mbps router would help me at all. The router boxes don't seem to tell me anything about the amount of RAM or the CPU.

If you guys think i should go with a better router, what do you recommend in my case? Thanks.

 

Its not about how fast it communicates, its about how reliable it is under load. I have a linksys e3200 and a e4200v1 that work fantastically, but then again I came from a wrt54gs on ddwrt so YMMV. Id strongly recommend the e4200 if you can find it under 90 refurbed

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

20Mbps is slow for Wifi and good for ISP.
54Mbps wifi routers are extinct dinosaurs.
150Mbps are a dying breed.
300Mbps are becoming the standard.

Get at least 150Mbps. I suggest a DD-WRT capable router (Buffalo, LinkSys, TPLink, etc). DDWRT is far better alt-firmware..
Though Wifi routers can handle the speed, you can never tell the random bottlenecks (aka latencies) here and there to be experienced from Internet. Therefore, no-one can guarantee you the quality of WAN network to have flawless Online HD streaming...

 

Have any updates for this list downloads? Christmas is coming up and I might need to buy myself a new toy

 

Nothing wort buying as far as 802.11 ac is concerned especially that there are still no Wi-Fi cards to use with those so as of now 802.11n still stand and routers included on the list too (especially Asus).

Although if you are after faster WLAN transfers I would advise to wait a while and buy 802.11 ac routers once they mature a bit and there are some internal cards to actually use them with.

 

Not exactly. I'm currently using an E1000 which needs to be placed in a back bedroom of the house with a 25/5 connection and I'm getting 5/1 wirelessly from my bedroom. I'd like to get a dual band with much better range, then put the E1000 in my bedroom (the house is wired for Ethernet) as another access point for the wireless

 

I would recommend a Linksys E4200v1 (preferably refurbished for some $70-80) as best value for money (although value for money suggests low end device while E4100v1 is a high end).
Non-refurb will set you back $110

If you don't understand the concept of money you can also buy an Asus RT-N66U for $150. It's a lot cheaper than it used to be but $180 premium price-tag now belongs to Asus RT-AC66U.

 

Goal was under $100, and I was kinda eyeing the 4200 already. V1 is $80 refurbed on the Cisco site too.. Added to my list.

Thanks! +rep

 

hello i am considering changing my wireless router but i just want to make sure is there any point in doing so, ie. will it make a difference.

the set up i have is:

my isp is virgin media and the ethernet cable is hooked up into a netbook and the router is connected to the netbook. the router is called the virgin media box.

in the adjacent room there is a laptop with 6300 pro wireless card (b,g and n) and in the same room is a hp desktop with basic wireless card (b and g).

i phoned up virgin yesterday looking to upgrade my 10mb speed wireless plan and they upgraded it to 60mb.

i was messing about with the router settings and i changed from 2.4 to 5 hz. the laptop works at 5hz while the desktop only works on 2.4.

i was thinking of going for the wndr3700. which costs about £100. but i dont need if i really need it, will i see an improvement or not?

i have tested via speedtest and i am getting the full download speeds of 60mb on my laptop on both 2.4 and 5 hz. while on the desktop im getting about 40 at 2.4hz. i got these numbers at non peak times with about a 10 mb reduction at peak times.

so a few questions i have are;

1- if i buy the 3700 am i correct in thinking that i am not going to get any higher speed than the 60mb as that is what my plan is capped at?

2- will the 3700 improve the speed of the desktop and bring it more in line with the laptop.

3- with the 3700 i can set up simultaneous modes so the laptop is using 5gh and the desktop 2.4? but considering i am getting the full 60 mb on my laptop at 2.4 do i even need to get a router for simultaneous mode use?

so basically is ther any advantage in changing my router?

thanks

 

So the answers are:

1. You will still be capped at 60

2. No it probably won't- 2.4GHz band is overcrowded so transfer speeds are limited

3. You would be able to use both bands simultaneously. 5GHz band would benefit you where LAN transfers are concerned- that's about it.

On top of that £100 for WNDR3700 is rather expensive.