Which New Wireless Router

MrsAtobe

I suspect I may need to buy a new wireless router in the very near future, I currently have a 7 year old NetGear RangeMax. The house has poured concrete walls, so I need a router with a bit of wireless oomph, iykwim.

I've recently had problems with the router dropping the connection to the internet, which I've managed to fix by rebooting it, but last night and this morning I've no link light on it at all. BT are saying that there is no fault on our exchange, and I can confirm this as I'm currently sat in my sister's house just down the road. She's currently on holiday, so I will be 'borrowing' her line filter later to check that that's not the problem.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I've been very happy with the router I currently have, up until a few weeks ago. Also, would it be a good idea to buy a new ADSL filter when/if I buy a new router?

Thanks in advance.

macman

Change the filter for a known good one first-a much cheaper option! The ISP-supplied ones are usually cheap and nasty.
If you are connecting wirelessly, are you sure that it's not just a channel clash issue with a neighbouring network? Try using a different channel to see if that improves things.

SteveJH200

Technology has moved on quite a bit in 7 years and routers have improved no end. The TP-Link TD-W8961ND is a powerful little router and will reach parts that your old router won't reach. I have one myself and have supplied 3 others to customers and all are happy with them. It comes with a new filter too if you need one and all the cables etc. These are about £33 from Amazon or Play.com

GunJack

^^ the problem with the TP-Link is that the firmware is locked down, even on the Broadcom chipset models,so you can't tweak your SNRM or use DMT or Routerstats to monitor your line performance. However, if you're nota sad techie like me (and some others in these parts) that may not be a problem.....


might be better picking up a D-Link 2640B or Netgear DG834GT for about £20 off ebay, then you can tweak and monitor using the above tools. If you need extra wifi clout, a high-gain aerial is only a couple of quid

MrsAtobe

Thanks all. As I said in the original post, I will borrow my sister's filter to see if that makes a difference - I know that it's working as it's the one that I'm using now! It definitely isn't just a wireless channel clash, there is no link light on the front of the router.

I'm lucky in that I use a small independent ISP (Aquiss - I can thoroughly recommend them), so I don't have to rely on anything ISP provided, and can pick my own kit. As for being a sad techie, I'm a SAN administrator for a outsourcing company, and whilst I can obsess for hours about Fibre Channel, directors, disk arrays etc, this is just a little out of my comfort zone!

somersethillbilly

GunJack wrote: »

^^ the problem with the TP-Link is that the firmware is locked down, even on the Broadcom chipset models,so you can't tweak your SNRM or use DMT or Routerstats to monitor your line performance. However, if you're nota sad techie like me (and some others in these parts) that may not be a problem.....


might be better picking up a D-Link 2640B or Netgear DG834GT for about £20 off ebay, then you can tweak and monitor using the above tools. If you need extra wifi clout, a high-gain aerial is only a couple of quid

+1 for the Netgear, I use a "tweaked" Netgear dg834g v4, IP profile raised from 3500kbps to 6000kbps using this method....
http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/dg834GT_targetsnr.htm, also have a dg834pn similarly tweaked as a spare for the future if the dg834g dies. Bought both at bootsales for a few quid each.

It may also be worth checking for any firmware updates for your rangemax router too.
http://support.netgear.com/app/products/list/p3/161/eol/1

tibbyuk

In terms of power, your best bet is to get a Wireless-N router that supports custom firmware like DDWRT, allowing you to up the transmission power.

You could additionally, buy a cheap wireless router and have it act as a wireless extender by using the above mentioned firmware. This will extend your coverage but your old router may not support wireless N so it depends what you are looking for in terms of broadcast channel.

I mentioned this in another thread, but google "meraki wifi stumbler", it's a wireless scanner tool run online. It will tell you how occupied your wireless channel is, as this can help things if every router around you is on channel 1.

free4440273

avoid the Belkin routers -- by and large, they are awful ime .

GunJack

inSSIDer is the best network discovery tool....

http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/

tibbyuk

Agreed with the above, but in terms of simplicity and not downloading anything Meraki hits the mark.

Give it a try and you'll see what I mean

GunJack

tibbyuk wrote: »

Agreed with the above, but in terms of simplicity and not downloading anything Meraki hits the mark.

Give it a try and you'll see what I mean

might well do that, it's portability may prove useful