Which wireless router?

pandora205

Can anyone advise on buying an easy-to-install wireless router please? I want to use this with my work laptop and a new laptop I've ordered (both Dell). I also have a PC which is connected by USB cable. I'm currently not using wireless as my BT Voyager strangely died when I changed ISPs to Talktalk.
In the past I've found customer service helplines not very helpful (for all IT stuff not just the router problem) so this is a factor as I'm not a techie.
Thanks

si1965

I bought a Netgear 834GT last year and had no problems setting it up. In fact I migrated broadband suppliers earlier this month and managed to move across with no help.

I am not very technical either.

kgarcia

I highly recommend Linksys ones. Always worked extremely well for me and not too hard to set up. You can get really good deals on the web.

cundall

As i work for an ISP on tech support i would say go for a Netgear DG834 range of routers...

Belkin are good when they work but have very little information for faults plus the MIMO routers go "funky" all the time and need resetting around once every 3 months.

Linksys made by cisco (great) though if you don't know what you are doing they can be frustrating to setup though generally not too bad.

BT Voyager - Basic good routers

2wire - great routers if you can find one! Very limited support as these are only sold direct to ISPs but information, sync rate, features are great (but only if you know what you are doing).

D-Link - I used to install these in all the connections that i look after and these are not bad at all, from personally experience you get one bad in every 6.

Cisco - If you have a few hundred pounds for a second hand router you cannnot go wrong, as they now have a webpage to set them up too they are great. No problems and these do not really go wrong.

Zoom - Stay away from, not really that good as very little information though they are very stable and cheap.

Zyxel - hit and miss, great or bad mainly bad

Please note there are my personal views and the Netgear's if your line is stable 100% of the time (not normally the case) then the net gears may need a hard re-set once a month. I hope you have a good time with Talk Talk as all we get is complaints about them - we had a customer who went to Talk Talk for 8 hours and then came back

pandora205

Thanks for all the advice. I'll do some research on prices and availability. This Netgear one looks good and free delivery from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000TZ8Z8/3000013-21/?m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE


I swopped to Talktalk from BT expecting a quicker connection and lower bills. It is cheaper but not any faster (due in part to the distance we are from the exchange I believe) which is disappointing. I didn't have much success at first setting it up, as I was using the old BT Voyager router and Talktalk wouldn't help me set it up. The Voyager people were helpful but couldn't sort the problem! It was all very exhausting and I ended up using the cheap Talktalk cable router which is fine for the PC but no good for the laptops.
Incidentally I find I have problems with lots of helplines not just for routers, including Dell's. I had a glitch trying to order my laptop online: Insructions advised not to have it delivered to an address other than one registered for my debit card so I phoned my bank who wouldn't register my work address. I phoned the Dell helpline who wouldn't advise on an internet order... so I'm just waiting for this order to bounce back from Dell! Ahhh... sometimes it's easier (but not cheaper!) just to walk into a shop!

pandora205

Just rereading the info about that Netgear router, it includes a firewall, which I don't think I need as have a subscription to Norton plus Spynomore...

espresso

The Netgear is available for £45 at Maplin if you have one near by to walk into. here The firewall is a hardware firewall and is in addition to any software firewall that you may have.

Are you sure that your Voyager is actually dead? Unless it is locked to BT, it should work fine with TalkTalk.

albertross_2

All routers have NAT (which acts as a firewall), a good layer of protection to have.

cundall

espresso wrote: »

The Netgear is available for £45 at Maplin if you have one near by to walk into. here The firewall is a hardware firewall and is in addition to any software firewall that you may have.

Are you sure that your Voyager is actually dead? Unless it is locked to BT, it should work fine with TalkTalk.

Yes and even if the voyager is locked you update the firmware to an unlocked one

---

Regarding moving ISP's to have lower prices and faster speeds, unless your moving from an ADSL provider to cable or an ADSL2+ provider this would unlikely solve your problem.

There are many factors regarding speed and unless there is a ISP issue moving does nothing apart from moving the problem to another ISP. Sorry i could not be much help though we see that often, an Internet connection is an Internet connection though its the support when you have a fault that's what you are paying for!

Talk Talk should help you though it all depends on what problem you have? Regarding the Netgear the settings you will need are:

Go to http://192.168.0.1 (username is Admin, password is password).
Don't do the auto setup just go to basic settings and put in the following:
1 Yes
2 PPPoA
3 Enter your username
4 Enter your password
5 At the bottom press apply

Under ADSL settings:
1 VCBASED
2 O
3 38
4 At the bottom press apply.

This should get you connected...

pandora205

Thanks for clarifying and yes, sadly my Voyager had died according to the Voyager helpline guy anyway. He said it sometimes happens with the changeover... it did seem a strange cooincidence at the time though.

I do have a Maplin very close by so I'll have a look.

cundall

It's a bit strange your voyager just died... but the voyager do know what they are doing.