Simple design ADSL modem/router rant

unbelievable

Can anyone recommend a simple looking ADSL modem/router?

!!!!!! is it with IT company product designers think we *really* want to feature their plastic box as a centre piece in our minimalist, interior designed lounge, like it was some kind of art work or had beamed down from a Star Trek movie?

I just want a !!!!in' box. I nice little square, preferably metal box I can fit neatly between or stack on top of things without it become a gig for a Chinese plate spinning acrobat.

Why is it when they give us a box it's got to have some crappy pointless curve in, or stand on its wobbliest side where it's going to get knock over most?

Does any company do anything like one of the Netgear business switches? Something like, this ...



And what about some matching modem/routers and switches.

I mean, it seems beyond them to give us anything more than a 4 port hub ... so why not at least give us matching 4 port modem/routers and 4 port or 8 port switches?

That stack well.

(I lost count of the number of times what I really need is a 5 ports but I could live with an 8 port ... as it would free up an electrical socket or lose yet another power supply).

Oh, and which ever company that does not plaster its logos all over its products gets my money first.

</rant>

debitcardmayhem

Put the router somewhere else perhaps and use the netgear switch in the lounge. Having said that how much kit(at least 5) have you got in the minimalist lounge that said extra box cannot hide behind ? Lay some Cat 6 cable through the wall and away you go

unbelievable

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

... the minimalist lounge ...

Not my "minimalist lounge" ... I was thinking of the one typically used for publicity photos of the latest hi-tech gizmo. You know the kind ... walls of glass, acres of white, Tokyo backdrop, Asian model holding glass.

I have the CAT6 cabling through the house, I need one for a small office.

Same requests still stand.

a) plain and simple shaped ADSL modem/router
b) matching stackable switch

The problem with "designer" doo-dahs ... unless you, say, commit to buying all Apple products ... few to none of them match with every other companies "designer" models.

Is there no one who just produces 'plain jane', utilitarian, easy to stack square boxes any more?

I_have_spoken

Has the wee wifey been moaning about the amount of cables in 'her' home?

kwikbreaks

TP- Link do some plain boring adsl router/modems and switches. Simplest answer is to hide the things although WiFi kit benefits from being on view.

50Twuncle

unbelievable wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a simple looking ADSL modem/router?

!!!!!! is it with IT company product designers think we *really* want to feature their plastic box as a centre piece in our minimalist, interior designed lounge, like it was some kind of art work or had beamed down from a Star Trek movie?

I just want a !!!!in' box. I nice little square, preferably metal box I can fit neatly between or stack on top of things without it become a gig for a Chinese plate spinning acrobat.

Why is it when they give us a box it's got to have some crappy pointless curve in, or stand on its wobbliest side where it's going to get knock over most?

Does any company do anything like one of the Netgear business switches? Something like, this ...



And what about some matching modem/routers and switches.

I mean, it seems beyond them to give us anything more than a 4 port hub ... so why not at least give us matching 4 port modem/routers and 4 port or 8 port switches?

That stack well.

(I lost count of the number of times what I really need is a 5 ports but I could live with an 8 port ... as it would free up an electrical socket or lose yet another power supply).

Oh, and which ever company that does not plaster its logos all over its products gets my money first.

</rant>

I feel the same - with all of the bells and whistles - they now take a ridiculous time to "boot up"
I mean - my old Netgear 834GT used to come on line/boot up in the time that I took to climb a single flight of stairs (YES I DO SWITCH OFF WHEN NOT ON-LINE) - But my latest Router a Belkin, takes 4 minutes to boot up - hardly any point in having a fast booting PC ?

Oblivion

I certainly sympathise with the OP. I have this TP-Link ADSL wireless router. It works brilliantly but looks like a Salvador Dali nightmare. I have finally got used to it, but it took some doing.

Geep

Try a Thomson router, they seem to be plainer than most.

Also. there are 5 and 6 port routers available, but you do pay a fair bit more.

somersethillbilly

Why not go down the "bespoke" path and make your own....maybe out of Lego?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE7BV80ia8k

unbelievable

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Has the wee wifey been moaning about the amount of cables in 'her' home?

The "wee wifey" in this equation is an architect who has just built her own home and wired it. Budget did not reach to dreamsville but fairly close to it, so there is an aesthetic appreciation element to it. But the driver is really the husband who like to K(eep) I(t) S(imple) S(stupid) in a big way.

Someone mentioned Dali. Have you see Draytek's latest? They make a good router but from simple business like boxes they seem to have gone Gaudi.



The problems are,

a) they are all, mostly, awful looking b) they take up a hell of a lot of space c) they are not easily stackable or hideable d) aesthetically, they clash with anything and everything else

A modem is not a centrepiece in a room.

Yup, it's amazing how many wires a wireless set up requires ... and the EU, or whoever, really ought to squeeze manufacturers into some kind of uniformity when it comes to power supplies.

I think there's a conspiracy amongst wall wart suppliers ... do we really need quite so many?

I've found Netgear and D-Link, at least, do fairly simple 8 port switches with wireless attached. 4 ports these days is fairly easy to overload; printer, TV, family 'puters.

Wireless just isn't good enough for good, large data backups.