What wireless router ?

Sput2001

I look after 4 wireless networks, all of which use Netgear DG834G routers.

I've never had a second's problem with any of them.

Leopard

neiljc wrote: »

Thanks Leopard for the summary

you said the WNR854T was good, some reviews I have read raise questions about reliability and a short product life, do you know of any other similar products I should consider?

Neiljc,

You are welcome.

I can't really help you with other than the Netgear because I use Mac kit - with my own Netgear device performing only the modem function. Which it has done faultlessly for several years.

I looked at Netgears again recently before eventually buying an Apple Airport Extreme wireless N router, opened but unused, at a knockdown price in my local PC World because it had been returned by a buyer who had not realised that it contains no modem. :money:

It was because I researched the Netgears that I spotted how coy Netgear is being about the Gigabit WNR854T until they've managed to unload their stock of the 10/100 Ethernet DG834N. The LAN port speed of the DG834N is carefully omitted from the specification of the device posted on its website and you have to do a specific search for the WRN854T in order to find it.

It's worth getting a wireless N modem router, if it's being made freely available to you and even if your existing kit cannot yet take advantage of the higher speed. Always think forward; your next generation of home computers and laptops may have it, so you don't want to be deprived of it because your wireless router hasn't.

If, in addition, you buy wireless N kit that can use the 5 GHz radio band as well as the conventional 2.4 Ghz band there are two advantages. The first is speed but the second is that using the 5 GHz band lifts it out of the 2.4 GHz band in which which all manner of other wireless devices are operating (including, probably, your neighbours' wireless routers). So it is not interfered with by them and they are not interfered with by it.

Lastly, I think you would be wise to get your existing Netgear device properly configured and working. You can then keep it as a spare, ready for deployment at a moment's notice (which may be essential for your wife) and secondly because you may have to give the new one back if she decides to go and work for a different employer.

There's also the more esoteric point that if you get a new wireless router and restrict it to the 5 GHz band only (which makes it fastest) you would then be able to create a second wireless network with the Netgear you already have and which works in the 2.4 GHz band only.

That gives you a useful additional facility. You could, to give just one example, use the old one to create a wireless network that your children can use and have a separate wireless network for yourself and your wife. This would enable you to switch off theirs when it's bedtime or they are in disgrace while still enabling you to use the Internet on yours. .

A lot of advice offered on here is well-intentioned but is limited to the posters' own experiences and is not properly thought through before it is urged on others whose circumstances may be different.

Conor_3

Leopard wrote: »

If, in addition, you buy wireless N kit that can use the 5 GHz radio band as well as the conventional 2.4 Ghz band there are two advantages. The first is speed but the second is that using the 5 GHz band lifts it out of the 2.4 GHz band in which which all manner of other wireless devices are operating (including, probably, your neighbours' wireless routers). So it is not interfered with by them and they are not interfered with by it.

A lot of advice offered on here is well-intentioned but is limited to the posters' own experiences and is not properly thought through before it is urged on others whose circumstances may be different.

You should take your own advice. There's no point having 5GHz if the existing lappy doesn 't support 802.11n and he wants to use a PSP and Xbox360 wirelessly which definitley don't.

Leopard

Conor wrote: »

You should take your own advice. There's no point having 5GHz if the existing lappy doesn 't support 802.11n and he wants to use a PSP and Xbox360 wirelessly which definitley don't.

You haven't thought this one through.

Buying (the right, 5 GHz) 802.11n adapters for (some of?) the computer kit would enable two networks to be set up and run simultaneously by using the existing Netgear as well as the new device.

The OP's wife would be able to use the Internet, undisturbed, on 5 GHz while others could use the games machines on the 2.4 GHz network.

The games machines' network could, moreover be switched off at childrens' bedtime while the OP's wife worked on into the night on her 5 GHz network.

This isn't a p1ssing contest; I am simply trying to help the OP.

[Deleted User]

You could achieve the same results by setting the ports required for XBL and PSN to be blocked between certain times, a way which would save money and not over complicate things for the sake of doing so.

espresso

Leopard wrote: »

Buying (the right, 5 GHz) 802.11n adapters for (some of?) the computer kit would enable two networks to be set up and run simultaneously by using the existing Netgear as well as the new device.

But the OP has already foolishly said "no I dont want to get the netgear to work again"

Leopard

anewhope wrote: »

You could achieve the same results by setting the ports required for XBL and PSN to be blocked between certain times, a way which would save money and not over complicate things for the sake of doing so.

You wouldn't achieve the same results because to accommodate the games machines you'd have to run the Wireless N router at "5 GHz / 2.4 HGz" instead of "5 GHz only" and this would slow down (considerably) the networking speed of the OP's wife. (Not withstanding the fact that they are unlikely to have a broadband connection that operates at more than 20 Mb/sec.)

I know this because I've been all through it myself. We operate both a 5 GHz network and (sometimes) a 2.4 GHz network off one (non-wireless) Netgear modem router with two Apple Airports Extreme. Ironically, this is because I don't want to slow down my 5 GHz 802.11n Apple network by switching it down to accommodate my companion's office Dell laptop which only runs at 802.11b on 2.4 GHz.

To address your other point it's possible to use time-contolled MAC filtering to control the access of specific devices to a network but then you lose the ability to simply switch them on and off at will without having to fire up a computer and go into the router's menu system to do it.

It's far easier to have a second wireless network that you can just disable with the turn of a switch and without affecting those using the other wireless network.

I've been there, done that and found out by experience.

It is, in fact, you who is overcomplicating it by introducing a fixed-time access filtering system which has to be controlled inflexibly by computer instead of just using a switch to turn the second wireless router on and off. (Which has the second advantage of leaving the access-deprived person with no way of hacking into the wireless router and regaining access.)

Feel free to continue debating this if you wish but I've posted my own views and experience now and I simply hope it will assist the OP without any further input from me.


Espresso, :A

I was pointing out to the OP why it would be wise to change his mind.

espresso

Leopard wrote: »

Espresso, :A

I was pointing out to the OP why it would be wise to change his mind.

Well this:

neiljc wrote:

we have had a netgear G wireless router (gift) that does not recognise our connection to our ISP correctly and consequently cant set up a wireless network.

makes no sense and until this is sorted anything new is a waste of time and someone else's money!

[Deleted User]

Leopard wrote: »

It is, in fact, you who is over complicating it by introducing a fixed-time access filtering system which has to be controlled inflexibly by computer instead of just using a switch to turn the second wireless router on and off. (Which has the second advantage of leaving the access-deprived person with no way of hacking into the wireless router and regaining access.)

Feel free to continue debating this if you wish but I've posted my own views and experience now and I simply hope it will assist the OP without any further input from me.

Looking back at the original post the OP does not mention children. You're finding a solution to a problem that does not exist, also I did to a lesser extent although my method would be less harsh on the wallet than yours, but considering money from what you post isn't a problem to you it probably didn't occur to you.

What I will say about your proposed method is that if the OP is having difficulty in getting their Netgear router to work correctly, how would turning a router off and causing it to lose it's settings and thus requiring to be reconfigured every day be a benefit to anyone?

Personally, if going to N is a priority for the OP then I would recommend the D-Link DIR-615 coming in at a shade under £40. Certified XBL compatible, an 11 year guarantee, easy to configure and a reliable router all make it my pick of the crop. If I had a Wireless Network then I would probably consider this router for myself.

kevsan

anewhope wrote: »

... how would turning a router off and causing it to lose it's settings and thus requiring to be reconfigured every day be a benefit to anyone?

Turning off the router does not cause the settings to be lost, they're stored in EEPROM in the router. However, note that if you turn off the router and leave machine on, you may have IP conflicts when you turn the router back on. I also run two wireless routers (both netgear) - due to dead zones around the house, and have never had any problems.