Which Router?

albertross_2

You might as well pick one for it's looks.. If you look hard enough you will find horror stories about every router, usually down to misconfiguration, awkward ISP (AOL etc.) issues, or not upgrading the firmware to the latest version.

My twopenneth, Belkin website leaves a lot to be desired imo, some of their kit is harder than it should be to setup. Netgear DG834G (ADSL not cable!) is small, neat, and works in my experience. Latest Linksys kit looks quite snazzy, if you like that type of thing.

Are you on cable?

gunneradt

believe me belkins spell trouble - they also hardly ever release new firmwares. linksys are fine but the wag54g had terrible wireless problems that are still not solved as far as I am aware. Ive tried belkin, d-link, linksys and netgear and netgear are far superior

scorour

gunneradt wrote:

believe me belkins spell trouble - they also hardly ever release new firmwares. linksys are fine but the wag54g had terrible wireless problems that are still not solved as far as I am aware. Ive tried belkin, d-link, linksys and netgear and netgear are far superior

Obviously everyone has had their good and bad experiences, my bad were linksys, Asus were OK, Belkin PreN is the dogs, best router I have had. Appreciate it may be out of price range, but credit were it's due....

wolfman

gunneradt wrote:

believe me belkins spell trouble - they also hardly ever release new firmwares. linksys are fine but the wag54g had terrible wireless problems that are still not solved as far as I am aware. Ive tried belkin, d-link, linksys and netgear and netgear are far superior

That's exactly my point. The recent Netgear range is very poor. The DG834GT is under supported and has numerous issues. Whereas, the Belkin Pre-N as I mentioned earlier, and the poster above has mentioned, really is a great router and has won numerous awards. So you can't really define between manufacturers as they all have their ups and downs.

Given the price range the Linksys WRT54G is a good buy.

However, if you can find it somewhere (maybe on eBay, but probably not as people don't want to sell them!) get hold of a KCorp KLG-575. For £40 it's the best piece of kit I've bought, comparable with my Draytek which costs 4x more. It just works, never has a single problem, never needs sorting. It won a PC Pro labs test drawing with the Belkin Pre-N.

Chuffy

You are right about what you are saying with regards to bad experiences and how that can taint your view of a whole brand, reading product user forums gives that impression.
Deal wise, the Linksys wins hands down, the same deal is available on ebuyer for £86.87. It also ges better reviews from users than the Belkin. The Belkin is better looking. I am currently using a Belkin but will be returning it later and exchanging for one of these units (only 54Mbps and unhappy with deal I got).
With regard to Netgear - it seems like a Marmite product.
The KCorp; I have looked on eBay - it's not pretty is it... There is only one and with list price and postage it's £33 already with no warranty. I appreciate that it should never have a problem, but I like warranties with my electronics - I'm just funny like that. (just checked it's the 54Mbps model not the 108Mbps - there are non for sale at mo)
In view of this I will probably go with the (damn ugly) Linksys.

Thanks for all your input guys.

Chuffy

Oh and by the way, you all win a thanks.

chuckles1066

wolfman wrote:

I wouldn't pigeon hole a whole brand just because of one model. And any products will have a percentage of unhappy users. And even then it can still be user error as opposed to a defective product.

For example the Netgear DG834GT is quite awful, but the DG834Gv1 is very good. Belkin has some very good routers, the Pre-N namely, but that'll be out of your price range. I'd look per model, rather than a manufacturer as a whole.

Of the two I'd go for the Linksys, it's a very good deal. The WRT54G is quite a solid router (had problems with earlier releases but they've all be sorted). You can also install the OpenWrt (http://openwrt.org/) firmware (instead of the official firmware). It's coded by the community, and offers a lot more selectable functionality to the router. For me personally, the ability to use OpenWrt alone sells it.

Yes, couldnt agree more..........my WRT54G has been on 24/7 since August and hasnt blipped once. Add in the three year warranty + free tech support and it's a good choice.

Chuffy

I bought the Linksys router, got it up and running - all of a sudden it won't work. The lights are on but no-body is home!
I have typed in the IP address in the address bar but it can't find it - I have rebooted it, even reset it (I think - if holding reset button in for 5 seconds until front power light flashes is reset) but still no joy. What's happened?? Help.

wonderfullife_2

Chuffy wrote:

I bought the Linksys router, got it up and running - all of a sudden it won't work. The lights are on but no-body is home!
I have typed in the IP address in the address bar but it can't find it - I have rebooted it, even reset it (I think - if holding reset button in for 5 seconds until front power light flashes is reset) but still no joy. What's happened?? Help.

Hi
To reset my linkys, hold reset button for 30sec, then unplug power cord, wait 1minute then reconnect.

Chuffy

Nope, no change sadly - no idea why it's happened. It's bloody annoying!