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Which router are you using exactly with your ATV?

WizardHunt

WizardHunt

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 11, 2007
1,695
38
Las Vegas, Nevada USA
Which router are you using with your ATV? Brand, Model , and type.
Which works best with Mac? Any problems with brands or models would be interesting to hear your storys.

Thanks
 
Just to let everyone know, presently I am using the Linksys WRT54GS which is a G wireless with speed booster. But I am in the market to get a upgrade to a n-wireless router like the WRT300N from linksys which is suppose to be 12 times faster than the G version.

Do any of you out there use the WRT300N router from Linksys?
How does it perform for you? Any problems at all?
 
I've cabled both the appletv and the itunes library to a trendnet wireless G router (generally crappy - cheap sale at Futureshop). Since I'm hardwired, I have seen transfer rates up at around 90 Mbps between the two, which is good.

I'm planning on getting a wireless N router that also has multiple gig lan ports to help with streaming inside the home. There is an apple router that does both N and gig, so that may be the one for me (but it only has 3 lan ports instead of a more conventional 4???)
 
WizardHunt said:
Just to let everyone know, presently I am using the Linksys WRT54GS which is a G wireless with speed booster. But I am in the market to get a upgrade to a n-wireless router like the WRT300N from linksys which is suppose to be 12 times faster than the G version.

Do any of you out there use the WRT300N router from Linksys?
How does it perform for you? Any problems at all?
Click to expand...
Don't bother with the WRT300N. The signal strength is not very good and it is buggy.

Go with the WRT330N. It's a gaming router. The range is fantastic and it works great with my ATV, iMac and iPhone.
 
camarobh said:
AirPort Extreme. Best router I have ever owned (previously was a Linksys guy).
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that it is only 5 times faster than G-wireless. Is this true?
The N-wireless WRT330N or WRT300N are saying they are 12 times faster than g-wireless. What do you say since you own a Airport Extreme?
 
WizardHunt said:
I read somewhere that it is only 5 times faster than G-wireless. Is this true?
The N-wireless WRT330N or WRT300N are saying they are 12 times faster than g-wireless. What do you say since you own a Airport Extreme?
Click to expand...

The 12x and 10x bull **** is all just marketing. So don't purely judge on how good a router is just on a single number
 
WizardHunt said:
I read somewhere that it is only 5 times faster than G-wireless. Is this true?
The N-wireless WRT330N or WRT300N are saying they are 12 times faster than g-wireless. What do you say since you own a Airport Extreme?
Click to expand...

My understanding is in order for the full N speed to be realized the router must only be supporting N clients. I have a few PCs, X-Boxes, PS-3, and Nintendo DS' (kids) that only use B/G so I don't think I am getting the max speed out of the router.

My comment is more about ease of use, rock solid stability, wireless range, etc. I have a wifi signal in places I never used to, the router never freezes, it is quick (even with the explanation above) and the wireless printing from it works great from both Mac's and PC's. And it was very easy to setup.

With the linksys I had issues along the way (bad range, lockups, freezes while accessing the Internet from my iPHone, and one time it just stopped working and had to be replaced).
 
camarobh said:
AirPort Extreme. Best router I have ever owned (previously was a Linksys guy).
Click to expand...

I second this. I own an Airport Extreme and absolutely love it. I've always had problems with my computers dropping the signal that the linksys routers broadcast, then have trouble reconnecting and end up having to restart the router on a regular basis. Since I've had the Airport Extreme, I've NEVER had a computer lose signal with the base station. I've had it 8 months. In fact, I've been so happy, I'm upgrading to the Time Capsule. Already ordered it.
 
DJAKO said:
The 12x and 10x bull **** is all just marketing. So don't purely judge on how good a router is just on a single number
Click to expand...

I second this. Total crap. I'm not sure where they get these numbers but would imagine they are based on some idealized tests that monitor broadcast speeds only, not real world situations that involve computers interpreting the signal, writing to a hard drive, etc. As far as I know, the n standard provides a "theoretical" increase in speeds of 5x. The g routers had a theoretical maximum of about 50mbps, while the n routers have a theoretical maximum of about 250mbps.
 
student101 said:
As far as I know, the n standard provides a "theoretical" increase in speeds of 5x. The g routers had a theoretical maximum of about 50mbps, while the n routers have a theoretical maximum of about 250mbps.
Click to expand...

Cool that is just what I wanted to know. I think I will be buying the Apple Extreme Router as it seems more friendly to the mac. :D Thanks for all the input.
 
router

I have had Linksys and Dlink routers.

I bought the Airport Extreme when the new version came out. It has been great. I have never had to reset it, and the signal strength is a ton better even though I do not have any N enabled devices.

I highly recommend it. I am going to give it to my in-laws and buy a Time Capsule when it comes out.
 
WizardHunt said:
Which one do you have? Apple MA073LL/A AirPort Extreme Base Station
or the Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (Gigabit) MB053LL/A ?

Is one better than the other?
Click to expand...

MB053LL/A Gigabit. Couldn't tell you about the other but I have no reason to believe it wouldn't work as well.

I wanted N and Gigabit capability even though I am not using the full N speed now due to B/G wireless devices on my network. I am using the Gigabit for a wired Dell.
 
camarobh said:
MB053LL/A Gigabit. Couldn't tell you about the other but I have no reason to believe it wouldn't work as well.
Click to expand...

Cool. That is the model I will buy. I can get it from Amazon.com for about $174.00 and have it shipped overnight for $3.99 so that is the way I will go.
Thanks for the feedback. I will have it by Tuesday up and running.
 
WizardHunt said:
Cool. That is the model I will buy. I can get it from Amazon.com for about $174.00 and have it shipped overnight for $3.99 so that is the way I will go.
Thanks for the feedback. I will have it by Tuesday up and running.
Click to expand...

Glad to help. You won't regret it, it's a great router. Enjoy.
 
WizardHunt said:
Just to let everyone know, presently I am using the Linksys WRT54GS which is a G wireless with speed booster. But I am in the market to get a upgrade to a n-wireless router like the WRT300N from linksys which is suppose to be 12 times faster than the G version.

Do any of you out there use the WRT300N router from Linksys?
How does it perform for you? Any problems at all?
Click to expand...

I have never had anything "N" (until I got an Apple TV a week ago) so I just stuck with the same router (I have WRT54GS v2 i got off ebay for $40 with the extended antennas since my house got hit by lightning this past summer my old one got hit).

However, I flashed it with 3rd party firmware and it is extremely solid with many advanced features (Antenna power adjustment, advanced QoS, etc. you need to check to see what version you have. It will say "Vx" where x is a number between 1-8. Only certain versions will work. go here for more info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRT54G

There are a few different 3rd part firmwares for these routers all of which are very good. There is DD-WRT, Tomato, HyperWRT, Sveasoft (pay for this one). I use hyperWRT to keep it simple as I didn't need some of the features DD-WRT has. The interfaces looks identical except more features and tabs as well as the upper right hand corner says "hyperWRT 4.7.1". Here is the site for the download (free). http://www.linksysinfo.co.uk/thibor/

My router is in my finished basement and the :apple:TV is upstairs and I can stream anything with no issues (non HD as I don't have any HD content yet).

if you don't want to spend $180+ on a router, try this. It also works very well with the WRT54GL you can buy from newegg. I have installed nearly a dozen of these and they work great and have everything 99% of the users need except for "N". ;)

Just throwing that out there. I have 2 friends who have the new apple router and they love theirs so I don't think you can go wrong with that either. :D
 
I have used the DLink 4300 GamerLounge and it worked wonderfully for streaming, not problems.

I am currently using a AEBS, planned to have it work with TimeMachine (but that is a different story all-together). I have continued to stream all my content and have not see problems with laggy or gitters via wireless streaming to the AppleTv.

I do notice, on occasion that the video will get laggy, but that is because my streaming machine is downloading new podcasts/TV schedule for my BeyondTV TV recording.
 
WizardHunt said:
Cool. That is the model I will buy. I can get it from Amazon.com for about $174.00 and have it shipped overnight for $3.99 so that is the way I will go.
Thanks for the feedback. I will have it by Tuesday up and running.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a plan!

Playing devil's advocate but you did read some of the bad reviews on Amazon correct? There are a few things in the bad reviews that should be noted like no built-in web interface and external drives must be formatted to FAT32. Stuff like that is good know for future reference.

I personally will be sticking with my Linksys WRT-330N. It functions great with all my Apple stuff. If it should break however, I will probably move to the Airport.
 
camarobh said:
AirPort Extreme. Best router I have ever owned (previously was a Linksys guy).
Click to expand...

Maybe the GBit version is better than the original 100MBit one. My AEBS is OK, but nothing exceptional. It has a solid signal and is reasonably stable (no more or less than any other router) and I think that the interface is nice.

That said, while I like the GUI interface, the lack of a web interface is disappointing particularly in mixed OS environments. The biggest beef is with the touted Airdisk, which is completely useless. The feature is very slow and unstable.

To bring this back on topic, my ATV stream great over my AEBS, when it works; however, every few days the ATV disconnects and I have to manually reconnect it. This involves using that awful on screen kbd to re-enter my password a few times a week. I may just disable the encryption until Take2 comes out.

I find that the 802.11N 10x claim is reasonable. At the far end of my place, my old G router was week, but stable. N is a stringer signal and really is more then 10x faster. Even close to the router, it easily 5x+ for large file transfers.
(This is compared to a Linksys WGRT54).
 
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