Best Wireless Router For My Home

[Infinity22]

This is for all you networking nerds out there (hopefully there's some)! Forgive me for my lack of knowledge but I'm a rookie to this. I'm looking to setup my first personal home network. I've read up a little bit on wireless routers and I'm pretty sold on getting a Dual-N router, much like the Linksys WRT310N, Linksys WRT610N, or Netgear RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router WNDR3300. With this being my first time, are these good options? What about the 5GHz and 2.4GHz frequencies, should I be concerned about my support for both of them? My main concern is my bandwidth speeds and firewall security, so I'm curious if my current path is the correct one, or if I also need to look into getting an additional firewall. Any help would be greatly appreciated! =)

[Helen_S81]

I'm not really an expert, but I've set up two Linksys WRT300N's, and I set up a D-Link wireless router (older technology). I didn't have any trouble with initial setup of the Linksys. After about 11 months of operation the Linksys stopped working and I spent a couple of hours trying to sort it out including an hour on the phone with tech support. It turned out it was not working properly and so I got instructions to return it for a replacement.

 

I also spent a fair amount of time on the phone with tech support for the D-Link router. I would say that the tech support for both companies was pretty good (the problem with the D-Link was my fault - younger daughter moved into a rented house for university and I took my router which was set up for our DSL at home and tried to hook it up in the new place with a different internet provider and the settings all had to be changed manually, which the D-Link tech support talked me through).

 

I used to have the router in the basement and so the wireless connection was poor in the bedrooms. Now I have it on the main level of the house and we regularly have two laptops connected wirelessly and my desktop connected wired. If my daughter is watching streaming TV shows I will notice that my connection is slow, but most of the time we have no problems. She can get a connection anywhere in the house or back yard. The connection is password protected, unlike some of our neighbours My dad who is a techie nerd has checked everything out when he visits and as far as we know everything is ok with the firewall that came with the router, and up to date virus scanners on all computers.

 

Hope that helps but that really is the limit of my knowledge on these things

[YoursTruly]

those are excellent choices. Stay away from Belkin. And remember to disable default passwords!

[Infinity22]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helen_S81 I'm not really an expert, but I've set up two Linksys WRT300N's, and I set up a D-Link wireless router (older technology). I didn't have any trouble with initial setup of the Linksys. After about 11 months of operation the Linksys stopped working and I spent a couple of hours trying to sort it out including an hour on the phone with tech support. It turned out it was not working properly and so I got instructions to return it for a replacement. I also spent a fair amount of time on the phone with tech support for the D-Link router. I would say that the tech support for both companies was pretty good (the problem with the D-Link was my fault - younger daughter moved into a rented house for university and I took my router which was set up for our DSL at home and tried to hook it up in the new place with a different internet provider and the settings all had to be changed manually, which the D-Link tech support talked me through). I used to have the router in the basement and so the wireless connection was poor in the bedrooms. Now I have it on the main level of the house and we regularly have two laptops connected wirelessly and my desktop connected wired. If my daughter is watching streaming TV shows I will notice that my connection is slow, but most of the time we have no problems. She can get a connection anywhere in the house or back yard. The connection is password protected, unlike some of our neighbours My dad who is a techie nerd has checked everything out when he visits and as far as we know everything is ok with the firewall that came with the router, and up to date virus scanners on all computers. Hope that helps but that really is the limit of my knowledge on these things

Hey Helen_S81, yeah your feedback was helpful, so thank you!

Is your current router one of the Linksys routers? If so, which one?

[Helen_S81]

Currently I have the Linksys WRT300N. I'm not sure about availability, but I figured it might be the predecessor to one you are considering. I have two right now, one at home and one at work, both the same

[FutureMrsLewis]

I don't know a GREAT amount, but I know a bit. One thing to remember about a router is that the signal broadcasts up and out, so don't put it on the top floor of your house and expect great signals in the basement. Also, they don't like concrete, it's harder for the signal to travel through. If you're getting an "N" router, I'm assuming you have an "N" wireless card in your laptop? If you only have a G card, then it doesn't matter if your router is an N because you can only accept speeds as fast as your wireless card will allow.

 

When setting up your router, PLEASE secure your network. It's a no-brainer for most people, but you would be surprised at the amount of people who don't know that they need a secure network. Put a password on your network, and not a word or passphrase, use something like a jumble of letters and numbers that would take someone a long time (and a lot of patience lol) to crack. And as for the frequency, the higher the frequency, the better the signal. The higher the frequency, the less likely it is to interfere with cordless phones, baby monitors, etc, just like the frequency on your cordless phone

 

I'm not an expert, my opinion is from my own personal experience and working two years selling electronics Like anyone, I am wrong from time to time lol

[Infinity22]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FutureMrsLewis I don't know a GREAT amount, but I know a bit. One thing to remember about a router is that the signal broadcasts up and out, so don't put it on the top floor of your house and expect great signals in the basement. Also, they don't like concrete, it's harder for the signal to travel through. If you're getting an "N" router, I'm assuming you have an "N" wireless card in your laptop? If you only have a G card, then it doesn't matter if your router is an N because you can only accept speeds as fast as your wireless card will allow. When setting up your router, PLEASE secure your network. It's a no-brainer for most people, but you would be surprised at the amount of people who don't know that they need a secure network. Put a password on your network, and not a word or passphrase, use something like a jumble of letters and numbers that would take someone a long time (and a lot of patience lol) to crack. And as for the frequency, the higher the frequency, the better the signal. The higher the frequency, the less likely it is to interfere with cordless phones, baby monitors, etc, just like the frequency on your cordless phone I'm not an expert, my opinion is from my own personal experience and working two years selling electronics Like anyone, I am wrong from time to time lol

Excellently put! I've done quite a bit of research the past 10 days and I've come to the same conclusion as you. The only question I'm faced with now is Dual Band or Single Band router?

[FutureMrsLewis]

Well, I had no idea how to answer that, so I went to my best friend Google lol I found this site:

 

Advice Needed: Dual Band Router or not?

 

It explains it pretty well, and the guy (I'm assuming it's a guy) giving the answer sounds like he knows a heck of a lot more than I do lol