Wireless N Router

[Holmes89]

I'm looking into a new wireless n router that has really good range, and sub $100. I've seen the Belkin routers and I really like them but I've heard they can be flaky. And I have an old D-Link router now and I had a few problems with it but for the most part it's worked fine. Any suggestions?

 

[stukdog]

Will they be all wireless clients? If so, take a look at the Airport Express. It's the Airport Utility that makes it worth using an Apple router.

 

[Salgonza]

I have this one. Its a DSL modem built in. It also allows WDS connection. So you can get an Airport Extreme if you need a print server speakers or to extend your wireless signal. costs 99.99

http://www.netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/WirelessNRoutersandGateways/DGN2000.aspx

 

[Holmes89]

No, I need some wired connections as well and unfortunately the base station is out of my price range. I have the modem as well, any more ideas? Thanks for all of the help.

 

[whooleytoo]

I posted a thread of problems here with a Belkin N router I bought recently.

Now that I (finally) have it set up, it's working fine; bar one major glitch I can't resolve: if you set a password on the router, you're locked out from administering it. It won't recognise the password again, so if you need to make changes you have to reset the router to factory settings. (Not a bad security feature! But, a bit of a pain). Other users have experienced the same.

 

[weckart]

With regard to the Belkin router, have you tried setting it up via a web browser?

Back up your current configuration to disk, just in case. Link up via ethernet and type 192.168.2.1 (which should be the default address) and try configuring it from there. I find it has no problems retaining any setting, including the administrator password.

I have found this router not to play nicely with Apple. Constant dropouts and connection problems. Plenty of similar posts on Amazon confirm this to be the case and Belkin's support does not get much in the way of compliments, either. I have the FD8233 revision, updated to the latest firmware. The auto update function does not work, you have to look for this on Belkin's site yourself.

One thing I did find, is that you cannot reimport your configuration settings after updating the firmware, so make a note of them first.

 

[whooleytoo]

With regard to the Belkin router, have you tried setting it up via a web browser?

Back up your current configuration to disk, just in case. Link up via ethernet and type 192.168.2.1 (which should be the default address) and try configuring it from there. I find it has no problems retaining any setting, including the administrator password.<snip>

Yup, the setup assistant was flaky, so I hooked it up via Ethernet and set it up manually. Setting a Belkin router up as an access point is quite easy, just tick that box, enter the network settings for your home network and you're pretty much done. But there's no way around the password issue for me.

I haven't tried upgrading the firmware (afraid to touch the thing after spending hours getting it working). Might try tonight to see if that fixes things. Thanks (and sorry for the mini thread-hijack).

 

[Silencio]

Do you have both 802.11g and 802.11n clients on your wireless network?

Then I'd recommend getting a dual band wireless router. Actually, I think it's a good idea no matter what. They're more expensive but much less problematic with mixed clients.

I set up a client with Linksys' dual band wireless router, the WRT400. I haven't been terribly impressed with Linksys gear over the years, but that router seemed pretty nice. Still comes in at over $100, though.

For most of my clients, I've been recommending they don't futz around and just get a dual band Airport Extreme Base Station.