I'm looking to buy a new wireless ADSL modem / router for my house.

I'm posting here in the hope that some of the gurus on this forum can give me some tips on what's hot . i.e. not something like our current Belkin* piece of crap, which has to constantly be reset.

There isn't really a budget; I'm willing to spend a bit on something which is likely to provide reliable, fast performance for a few years.

Josh

*Edit: Brain-fart, I don't have a netgear router but a belkin router at the moment.

It depends on what you're after. We put in Netgear DG834G's for our home workers. They work fine - once you get them to v3 firmware or above. Nothing too advanced in them, and a nice interface. ADSL2+ modem built in. We did try using the Netgear WG602's for a select few home workers, and basically they're crap.

I personally use a v2 Linksys WRT54G running DD-WRT at home. This doesn't have any built in modem, so you'd need an ADSL modem you can connect via ethernet if you went for that specific model.

Running third party firmware on many home routers is now possible and unlocks a lot of hidden potential in the multi-purpose hardware - its just a case of doing a little research before hand. At least if the native firmware sucks (like most linksys firmware), its replacable.

have a look at linksys i use that and they are a part of cisco systems and there accelaration system is excellent

billion - i have their wireless router without the buildin ADSL-modem. (ethernet interfaces offers me future support)

http://www.billion.com.au

great products, great price.

Basically, something reliable for use on a small home network of 6 computers is probably all I will need. I don't want my connection dropping midway through an endurance race .

However, having dossed at uni for the last two years I may be going back into halls next year, in which case I might want something with a decent range / signal strength for a spot of network gaming...

I'll have a quick gander at the DG834G.

alot on the linksys routers have a built in switch for hard wiring

Quote from james12s :

alot on the linksys routers have a built in switch for hard wiring

I'm afraid that means nothing to me...

Quote from joshdifabio :

I'm afraid that means nothing to me...

Means you don't have to go wireless, you can run a wire as well. Regular old Ethernet.

I totally know what your going through with the Belkin, I've had the same issues on 2 Belkins (mine and a friends). I've seen 3 Linksys go bad as well though with the same issue. Factory reset to correct it so it's even more hassle. This was always the same model though, which is fairly old now. D-link is my fav for typical off the shelf stuff.

I can't fault my Netgear DG834.
Wireless has good range, it also has 4 ethernet ports for wired connections.

Currently using a D-Link DI-624 wireless router. Ethernet is brilliant and uptime great but now after about 2 years it's getting a bit flaky at times and needs to be reset. Wireless has the extreme 108mbps speed but it's a bit limited in distance and you need proper hardware.

If I were to get somethign new I'd go for the Linksys WRT54GL you can load custom firmware on to add extra functions but then you'd need a dsl modem. You could get the WAG54G which has a modem built in.

Quote from ChaseMe :

Means you don't have to go wireless, you can run a wire as well. Regular old Ethernet.

Ah, I suspected that was what he meant. Don't pretty much all wireless modems come with at least 1, if not 4, ethernet ports?

Does anyone think it would be worth going for something with support for ADSL 2, or is that likely to be some way off in this country?

The Netgear DG834 seems to have some solid reviews, and seems pretty cheap. I may go with that and then in a year or two, if ADSL 2 is needed and 802.11n is the standard I won't be too out of pocket when I need to upgrade.

The king of routers, Asus WL-700gE

http://www.asus.com.tw/product ... model=979&modelmenu=1

Need a separate adsl modem though.

Quote from arco :

The king of routers, Asus WL-700gE

Why is it the king then?

Billion - has QOS, True firewall, switch, router, VOIP - etc.

I'd need more details of your needs before making a specific recommendation. You say you need a "ADSL modem" ??? If that is specifically something you need, and not just a regular ethernet router, then that will limit your selection.

It would help to know these things:

What type of broadband service do you have? DSL? Cable?

What company provides your broadband service?

What is your current Router and/or Modem?

How many clients connect via ethernet cable and how many via wireless?

Who uses the other computers on your network? You may want QOS capability.

Regardless, I'd steer clear of anything D-Link. My past experiences with their equipment have been unsatisfactory. Linksys equipment have been the most reliable for me. If you need more speed at a longer range, you may want to consider 802.11n technology.

Quote from c0nv1ct :

I'd need more details of your needs before making a specific recommendation. You say you need a "ADSL modem" ??? If that is specifically something you need, and not just a regular ethernet router, then that will limit your selection.

Well yes, I have ADSL... as in DSL, not Cable... hence saying I need something with an ADSL modem built-in.

Currently there are six of us connecting via wireless, none via cables. I don't understand what difference our service provider makes to this, our service is ADSL, not ADSL2 or 2+.

Anyhow, I think I will go for the Netgear DG834 since the feedback on that seems good, and through google I can't see any negative feedback regarding its stability.

Thanks for your assistance everyone

Josh

Quote from joshdifabio :

Well yes, I have ADSL... as in DSL, not Cable... hence saying I need something with an ADSL modem built-in.

Currently there are six of us connecting via wireless, none via cables. I don't understand what difference our service provider makes to this, our service is ADSL, not ADSL2 or 2+.

Anyhow, I think I will go for the Netgear DG834 since the feedback on that seems good, and through google I can't see any negative feedback regarding its stability.

Thanks for your assistance everyone

Josh

Many people call their broadband "DSL" regardless of whether or not it it actually is DSL.

The provider matters because different providers can use different protocols to communicate betwen the DSLAM and your modem. It appears that you know your provider uses PPPoE, PPPoA or IPoA, so pretty much any generic ADSL modem will work. Some ISPs use a bridge rather than a router, which in most cases requires a proprietary modem, but obviously you know what your provider requires.

That Netgear router looks good, it lacks QoS which may be useful with so many clients sharing one ADSL line, but if you don't need that capability, theres no need to worry.

Also, you do realize that router does not have a wireless access point right? Maybe you just pasted the wrong product code.

Quote from Renku :

Why is it the king then?

It's basically a router and stand alone download / file server with beefed up hardware allowing you to run software on it like bittorrent / samba / ftp server / whatever really. As such and to my knowledge it currently is the most powerful consumer router you can buy. It also comes with hardware encryption built in on the cpu for example - very nice for wireless performance.

I have the 500 version (doesn't have the built in harddisk) and bought it because my linksys couldn't keep up with my needs anymore (cpu wise) so I needed something beefier. So if you have high demands, the asus's are a good option. And like TAA already mentioned 3rd party software, the asus's are great for that too - first thing I did when i bought mine was replace the factory firmware with openWRT turning it into a regular linux box basically

But not truly relevant in this thread, because josh is looking for something with an adsl modem.

wow, thats a sweet router. I think it will seriously help my energy bill (I download a lot in the night)

Does anyone know if there is a way to have it read from rss feeds?

Quote from c0nv1ct :

Many people call their broadband "DSL" regardless of whether or not it it actually is DSL.

The provider matters because different providers can use different protocols to communicate betwen the DSLAM and your modem. It appears that you know your provider uses PPPoE, PPPoA or IPoA, so pretty much any generic ADSL modem will work. Some ISPs use a bridge rather than a router, which in most cases requires a proprietary modem, but obviously you know what your provider requires.

That Netgear router looks good, it lacks QoS which may be useful with so many clients sharing one ADSL line, but if you don't need that capability, theres no need to worry.

Also, you do realize that router does not have a wireless access point right? Maybe you just pasted the wrong product code.

Sorry, I missed the g off the end . I guess there is a non-wireless version called DG834. Anyhow, I've decided to go for the DG834G . Decided I will hold off getting something top-notch until 802.11n is the standard, and then I will probably look for something with QoS as well. My current housemates don't use a lot of bandwidth in general so I think we can do without QoS for now.

Cheers guys,

Josh

To the OT just one thing to say, are you sure it's your router playing up not your ISP? I have a cheap Netgear router which has been faultless I used to have to reset it loads due to a crappy ISP constantly loosing connection. Guess the tell tale sign for this is if your network still works with no internet.

We got a laptop a couple of months ago and needed a wireless router, were about to buy one but BT were offering a free wireless router which has worked flawlessly since I got it and it doesn't seem like the cheapest of sh**e too.

Although I understand if the money isn't a problem, but if it is you could allways moan at your ISP threatening to change to BT (unless you allready are there)

Quote from ajp71 :

To the OT just one thing to say, are you sure it's your router playing up not your ISP? I have a cheap Netgear router which has been faultless I used to have to reset it loads due to a crappy ISP constantly loosing connection. Guess the tell tale sign for this is if your network still works with no internet.

My housemates said they had the same problem last year too (different ISP, same router) so I think it's safe to say it is the router. I appreciate the advice though.

And bawbag; I will be living in 3 different houses over the next 7 months, and will be needing my own wireless router in two of them. So I may as well get one now .

Well, I have ordered the Netgear now . I'm quite tempted to get something badass such as the Asus when the wireless standards move on, I'm a sucker for gadgets!

Josh

Quote from joshdifabio :

Sorry, I missed the g off the end . I guess there is a non-wireless version called DG834. Anyhow, I've decided to go for the DG834G . Decided I will hold off getting something top-notch until 802.11n is the standard, and then I will probably look for something with QoS as well. My current housemates don't use a lot of bandwidth in general so I think we can do without QoS for now.

Cheers guys,

Josh

You are lucky, I had 5 roommates in college, all pro gamers. When 1 person started a download on our crappy 1.5mb DSL, everyone screamed about the lag and how they were getting killed. Luckily i was a IT major, so I just threw together an old PC and easily setup a Linux router with QoS and traffic shaping. Man its nice to live alone now, lol!