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What Wireless Router Is Best?

AFMRPCUSER

AFMRPCUSER

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 25, 2008
74
0
N. CA
I ma planning to install a wireless router in my new home in a few months. I have used Netgear a 1453 to be exact and it worked fairly well but was easily knocked around by nearby wireless units. Any suggestions for a really good wireless router that can withstand adjacent channel interference in a high density neighborhood?:cool:
 
I would highly recommend an Airport Express or Extreme, I've used a number of brands and these are by far the easiest to setup and connect to, and don't have small quirks like the others.
My Linksys always resets itself, the Belkin generally sucks. The Airport's are well worth the extra cash to avoid the headaches that come with most other routers.
 
Everyone here is a fanboy so you know they're all gonna suggest the AEBS.


That being said, I suggest you go with... the AEBS. :p

It has 802.11n
gigabit ethernet
usb port
an apple logo
and you already have Airport Utility on your Mac!
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

I've just set up time capsule as my wireless router. The wifi speed on my iPhone is now slower than what is was before ?????
 
i've owned linksys, belkin, and the airport extreme has been way superior, but all boils down to personal preference
 
I want to buy a router.

I was thinking of buying the AirPort Extreme base station. It supports a shared hard drive but do you know if I could use Time Machine with this AirPort Disk?

Also, if I went this route, what would be the best hard drive to pair it with the AirPort? I'm thinking around 1TB or so, and I'd have to use USB to connect. Any suggestions?
 
Can the new iMac be used as a wireless router? For instance, does it send out a wifi signal that I can pick up with my ipod touch or G3 imac (once I install an Airport card on it)?
 
MyDesktopBroke said:
What ever you do, don't get 2Wire.
Click to expand...

just curious, but why not 2wire? I recently switched to AT&T Uverse and it comes with a 2wire setup. I'm not sure I have any choice if I want to stay with their service. Having said that, I'm not having any issues other than my old PC would not reliably connect. Since I got the new Mini, I moved the PPC Mini to my sons room and connections have been 100%.

Is there something I should be on the lookout for?
 
AEBS SHREDS... however i think the form factor of the Airport Express is VERY nice - i love airtunes and it is very portable.

like everyone said. preference. however i have had ONLY bad experiences with Linksys.
 
My only recommendation is to get a dual band. I have a netgear that works great.

Dual band has a 2.4 and a 5ghz transmitter. I have mine set for 11N over 5ghz only. Nobody else in my neighborhood uses 5ghz so there is no interference, a big plus. Also 11G or N devices that are not 5ghz can't even see that part of the AP.

You can set them up to do a G network in addition to the N, so older devices can get on your network. The only reason I still have that turned on is for my iphone.
 
If you like tinkering with things, I recommend purchasing a cheaper router (as in cost, not necessarily quality) and installing the free DD-WRT firmware on it. I use the AEBS at home, but decided to go with a Linksys router at work. Using DD-WRT firmware on a pair of Linksys routers, I was able to turn two $60 routers into very stable ~$300-600 routers. The new firmware has many more features than the standard Linksys firmware (junk) and it has many more options for configuration than the AEBS.

You mentioned that your own wireless network was getting knocked around by nearby wireless routers. With DD-WRT on your router of choice, you have the option of cranking up the transmitter to ~3.5x the normal strength. Could prove useful :)

DD-WRT site
Supported Hardware Finder
DD-WRT Wiki for more information
 
mgguy said:
Can the new iMac be used as a wireless router? For instance, does it send out a wifi signal that I can pick up with my ipod touch or G3 imac (once I install an Airport card on it)?
Click to expand...

Yes, the new iMacs can be used this way and in fact so can any Mac with OS X. The feature is called Internet Sharing and it's in the Sharing preference pane. Simply connect Ethernet to the iMac and turn on AirPort to share *from* your Wi-Fi.
 
I had a belkin for a few years. After having to make support calls to them every week, I decided to get the Airport Extreme, even though it was pricey. I haven't had ANY problems with it, until now, but it's just that "G" doesn't reach to my bedroom. "N" does, but I have 4 other WiFi devices that use "G". I need to get one of the new dual-band ones... To answer the other question, yes, a non-Time Capsule HDD works with Time Machine on the AEBS. I've been using it for a while now and haven't had a single problem.
 
Unless I'm missing something, the Airport Extreme does not provide ADSL. Can you just plug the wire coming out of the micro filter into the Airport Extreme and you get internet connection? I'm using a Netgear DG834G and I don't know if its OSX or the router which is playing up but my wireless drops every minute or so, everything is fine with a ethernet cable in though but not practical. However the DG834G provides the ADSL modem and the router. Is there a good recommendation for a UK based modem/router combination?
 
covertsurfer said:
Unless I'm missing something, the Airport Extreme does not provide ADSL. Can you just plug the wire coming out of the micro filter into the Airport Extreme and you get internet connection? I'm using a Netgear DG834G and I don't know if its OSX or the router which is playing up but my wireless drops every minute or so, everything is fine with a ethernet cable in though but not practical. However the DG834G provides the ADSL modem and the router. Is there a good recommendation for a UK based modem/router combination?
Click to expand...

There is no ADSL or cable modem built in to the Airport Extreme. You will need a separate DSL or cable modem depending on which ISP you have.

Cheers,
 
panzer06 said:
There is no ADSL or cable modem built in to the Airport Extreme. You will need a separate DSL or cable modem depending on which ISP you have.
Click to expand...

Why would anyone want to do that if they can buy a DG834G or similar which has it all in?
 
covertsurfer said:
Why would anyone want to do that if they can buy a DG834G or similar which has it all in?
Click to expand...

I think many users feel the Apple device has features and support for Mac users that are advantageous. I personally have never used the Apple routers but in general I don't like combo devices. If the modem or the router fails, there goes both devices.

I have a Cisco ASA 5505 connected to the cable modem and a Netgear N series router acting as an access point. Certainly wouldn't recommend such complexity for most folks.

If you can get that DG834G for about the same cost as a N router that does not include the DSL modem, it's probably a good deal.

Cheers,
 
Airport Extreme, man. :apple: And not because it's Apple per se (though that helps)... I've had the... 'pleasure' of other routers and they just don't come close. The new update makes it even more worth it.
 
jayrobinson said:
Yes, the new iMacs can be used this way and in fact so can any Mac with OS X. The feature is called Internet Sharing and it's in the Sharing preference pane. Simply connect Ethernet to the iMac and turn on AirPort to share *from* your Wi-Fi.
Click to expand...

I love it! Thanks for your response. I plan on getting a new iMac in the next few months and this is just another feature to look forward to. I like the idea of being able to use my ipod touch at home and will be able to use a file transfer application like AirShare (I believe that is what its called).
 
penguy said:
just curious, but why not 2wire? I recently switched to AT&T Uverse and it comes with a 2wire setup. I'm not sure I have any choice if I want to stay with their service. Having said that, I'm not having any issues other than my old PC would not reliably connect. Since I got the new Mini, I moved the PPC Mini to my sons room and connections have been 100%.

Is there something I should be on the lookout for?
Click to expand...

We had AT&T DSL since they first started offering it, and it came with a 2wire wireless gateway. Any of the problems that we ever encountered were with the service itself, not the 2wire equipment. I especially liked the interface; it made it very easy to see what was connected, and to access files on shared devices. Never had any sort of problems with it.

I'm up at school now, and I'm looking into getting an Airport Extreme as well. I've been reading a lot of reviews and everything, and it seems like the right choice for my needs here at school.
 
jayrobinson said:
Yes, the new iMacs can be used this way and in fact so can any Mac with OS X. The feature is called Internet Sharing and it's in the Sharing preference pane. Simply connect Ethernet to the iMac and turn on AirPort to share *from* your Wi-Fi.
Click to expand...

That's too cool for words! Is the signal secured as strongly as it would be on a stand-alone Airport Express or Time Capsule unit?
 
Whackintosh said:
Is the signal secured as strongly as it would be on a stand-alone Airport Express or Time Capsule unit?
Click to expand...

Should be as secure with the full Mac OS X behind it.

It really is a great solution. I used it in college when I had an iMac, a PowerBook 12", one Ethernet cable but no wireless router -- so the iMac acted as a wireless router.
 
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