best wireless router ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ralph Mowery
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Ralph Mowery

What is the best/worse wireless router for a home network in the under $ 150
price range ? This is to hook up 2 or 3 computers in a home system to the
cable internet box.

I was looking at a Link but the salesman said they had lots of problems with
them and recommended another type.
 
What is the best/worse wireless router for a home network in the under $ 150
price range ? This is to hook up 2 or 3 computers in a home system to the
cable internet box.

I was looking at a Link but the salesman said they had lots of problems with
them and recommended another type.
Click to expand...

Be wary of salesmen, often they recommend profit leaders.

I'm sure there's some generic routers out there that are horrible, but as
for name-brand I've had more trouble from Belkin than Linksys, Netgear, or
D-Link. Mostly the Belkins had an odd lockup problem, needed
periodically rebooted, which is a major issue for a device you'd like to
set-and-forget, IMHO.

I'm partial to D-Link because the last time I upgraded the LAN I took
advantage of their proprietary 2X mode, and (theoretically) doubled
througput is always nice and the range of their cards seems decent
compared to some junk cards I've had, tried in same environment Other
people like Netgear, it may be the most recommended name in the home-user
segment... don't know who's best these days in industrial gear.
 
Dave.. funny you should say that... I got a Belkin wireless that, per
Belkin, 'should replace my Linksys'.. The Linksys (BEFSR41) has been
flawless for years... as a router/firewall/cablemodem sharing...

The Belkin is supposed to be all that and more - plus adding wireless- I
have not been able to get it to recognize more than one computer at a time-
and it has 4 ports on back! And, I'm running XP...

After 1/2 hour wait (technician was passing me off to his supervisor)... I
hung up...
 
Ralph Mowery said:
What is the best/worse wireless router for a home network in the under $ 150
price range ? This is to hook up 2 or 3 computers in a home system to the
cable internet box.

I was looking at a Link but the salesman said they had lots of problems with
them and recommended another type.
Click to expand...

I have a Linksys BEFW11S4 (make sure you get version 4) wireless router and
it works great. The main thing is, stay within one product line for easiest
setup. So if you get a Linksys router it may work best to get LinkSys PCI
card, etc. I didn't do that and experience setup problems.

Belkin is junk, I would not buy their products again. If you're having
problems getting a signal from a LinkSys card try a D-Link 120A as it was
very sensitive. Just don't use it with Windows 98.

Hope this helps.
 
Dave.. funny you should say that... I got a Belkin wireless that, per
Belkin, 'should replace my Linksys'.. The Linksys (BEFSR41) has been
flawless for years... as a router/firewall/cablemodem sharing...

The Belkin is supposed to be all that and more - plus adding wireless- I
have not been able to get it to recognize more than one computer at a time-
and it has 4 ports on back! And, I'm running XP...

After 1/2 hour wait (technician was passing me off to his supervisor)... I
hung up...
Click to expand...

The last belkin I tried (forget the model number, maybe because they seem
to make it cryptic) would partially keep working, the switch would work.
The DHCP, I don't remember if it worked or not, but it wouldn't respond to
pings or route anything, till rebooted. I cracked 'er open and decided to
try putting a heatsink on the processor and leaving the case top off,
which had no effect, still crashed a few times per week.

Fortunately it seems that the Belkin, with it's default factory settings,
will function as a repeater, though I have no idea if it'd crash doing
that or not, someday if I need a repeater I'll try it in that role.
 
Actually, the Belkin was free after rebate.. Friday after Thanksgiving..
I am leaving all alone- it seems that the Belkin cannot transmit from the
basement to the first floor, about 15 feet in total.. but then again, it may
be due to the wire lathe layer udner the first floor's porcelain tile..

I can use it, instead of as a router- by plugging it into any available cat
5 coming off my Linksys (BEFSR41), and then working my laptop off of it...
that worked- again, not as I would like it to, where the modem/router is...

I guess I am using it as a transmitter!
 
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