Gaming Recommend me a router please

[jamesaa]

So the crappy belkin router i'm using for internet access is slowly dying, it frequently crashes when downloading anything that maxes my connection and occasionally crashes during TF2 (usually when my team is winning

)

I'm looking for a wireless cable (not adsl) router, it needs at least two ethernet ports (one for the cable modem, and one standard ethernet) gigabit lan not required, needs to be at least wireless G, 2.4Ghz N would be nice but not required.

Ideally it should be under £20, anymore than that and i'll just steal my old linksys back from my parents house

This router will be connected directly and indirectly to number of devices so should be able to handle that also (simultaneous devices average about 10, but can be upto 20 at once, not including virtual machines)

Only routers i'm finding at the moment are belkin or netgear, both i would prefer to avoid as i have had problems with them in the past, however if a model is praised highly enough i would reconsider this.

Thanks

 

[marcus134]

a wireless cable (not adsl) router

You're talking about a cable modem with an integrated router? Those are pretty rare, you'll probably have more luck asking your ISP to send you another one.
However, if you're simply talking about a box to which you connect your cable modem with a standard rj-45 wire (aka network cable) and distribute the signal coming from the said modem to multiple devices (like computers) then you're talking about a plain router. Well, a wireless router in your case.

"good wireless router" and "£20" usually have a hard time meeting each other.

When it comes to wireless router, the reference is the linksys WRT54GL, it's 2 to 3 times the price you want to pay but it's one of the best.

I can't personally vouch for this one, however asus usually tend to do good stuff:
http://uk.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/RTN10/#overview

I've heard some good stuff about buffalo, the BUFFALO WCR-GN should be in your price range, however this particular model seems to have some trouble judging by the comment left on newegg.

You can always try trendnet, they tend to look cheap, I can't say anything for their wireless routers however their network cards and switches usually work well.

 

[Deleted User]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16833704002
TPlinks are underrated, and they work just as well as expensive routers. I can access wireless from downstairs and I live on the 4th floor of a New York apartment building.

 

[trumpet-205]

ASUS makes good router, but they all price higher than your budget.

If you do have the money, go with RT-N16 (flash it with Tomato USB or dd-wrt). You won't regret it.

Honestly, given your budget, you can find decent (nothing good or bad, just decent) router. And these decent router certainly won't be able to handle large amount of connections simultaneously well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Link-DIR-615-Wir...1387&sr=8-9

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TD-W8960N-...1387&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RT-N16-Wirele...1446&sr=1-2

 

[jamesaa]

Thanks for the replies, i'm looking through the links now.

I've just been offered a D-Link DIR-635 by a work colleague for £18 - any thoughts on this model? Only downsides I could find about it were the power adapter dying (has already been replaced) and no dd-wrt support, but that's not critical for this purpose.

My network setup is a bit messy due to not being able to run wires everywhere, the router i'm replacing takes the internet and using wireless sends it to my flatmates laptop and iphone (and occasionally my ipad) using IP addresses in the 192.168.2.0 range, i then have a buffalo router flashed with dd-wrt in my room which grabs the wireless signal, and redistributes it via gigabit lan to my PC/Laptop and PS3, everything else goes through to a second wireless AP (with a separate ssid), i also have a transmission client running on it and 200GB drive hooked up to it, everything connected to the buffalo is in the 192.168.1.0 range to keep it separate from my flatmates devices. So although the buffalo does the majority of the work for my room, it's still alot of constant wireless internet usage through the first router.

And lololol guess what, my router crashed while trying to send this post - definitely getting worse. (all i had using the internet was youtube in the background...)

 

[trumpet-205]

D-Link routers are rather hit or miss. Some people have good time with them, some hate them. I have used DIR-655 in the past but constant wireless drop forced me to return it.

Ultimately, you would want to get a router that has good CPU and RAM inside to handle large connections.