Reliable Wireless Router Needed .. HELP!

After a year, my belkin wireless router crapped out for some reason.
For months, I've been testing out various brands to replace it without
luck. Appears that I'm not alone in this frustrating quest either:

... in order of suckiness:

"Belkin sucks" achieves 401 hits (google).
"D-link sucks" achieves 751 hits (google).
"Netgear sucks" achieves 903 hits (google).
........ I tried one, but it couldn't even find my modem. Hellooooo!
"Linksys sucks" achieves 3050 hits (google).

"Worst routers" achieves 432 google hits.

The wired routers tend to work. It is the wireless jobs that are the
perpetual nightmare.

So I'm still hunting. No doubt the problem is strictly software
related. Any suggestions? No trolls please. I currenty use a Efficient
Networks Speedstream modem.

Steve

On Wed, 2 Apr 2008 16:03:21 -0700 (PDT), Stevepppp@gmail.com wrote:

>After a year, my belkin wireless router crapped out for some reason.
>For months, I've been testing out various brands to replace it without
>luck. Appears that I'm not alone in this frustrating quest either:
>
>.. in order of suckiness:
>
>"Belkin sucks" achieves 401 hits (google).
>"D-link sucks" achieves 751 hits (google).
>"Netgear sucks" achieves 903 hits (google).
>....... I tried one, but it couldn't even find my modem. Hellooooo!
>"Linksys sucks" achieves 3050 hits (google).

Interesting. I would have rated the vendors in the reverse order of
the number of complaints.

Here's another way I like to check. Go to the download site for the
vendor and see how many old products that they no longer sell have
firmware updates. Also, how many updates. In my warped opinion,
updates are a sign of continuous development, concern for the cutomer,
and general attempts to improve the product. I think you'll find the
Linksys updates almost continuously, even for old products. Belkin
has at best one update per product. D-Link and Netgear are in
between.

>"Worst routers" achieves 432 google hits.
>
>The wired routers tend to work. It is the wireless jobs that are the
>perpetual nightmare.

Yep. RF causes nightmares. It also causes brain cancer, bad breath,
and premature impoverishment.

>So I'm still hunting. No doubt the problem is strictly software
>related. Any suggestions? No trolls please. I currenty use a Efficient
>Networks Speedstream modem.

Speedstreamm/Efficient/Siemens make many modems. Some good, some bad.
Any clue as to which model?

What's your DSL speed? Some of the bottom of the line routers don't
do well at higher speeds.

Any price limit? There's some really nice stuff made by Cisco,
Sonicwall, 3Com, and other high end vendors. Wanna pay the price for
quality?

Any particular performance specs or limitations? Expected range?
Environment (indoor, outdoor, vehicle, etc)? Better yet, how do you
plan to use it? Casual web browsing, or heavy duty video?

Any important features? Dual SSID? Running a hot spot or
neighborhood WLAN? Interference problems?

Also, see reviews at:
<http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/86/106/>
and performance charts at:
<http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_wireless/Itemid,200/>

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

> >"Belkin sucks" achieves 401 hits (google).
> >"D-link sucks" achieves 751 hits (google).
> >"Netgear sucks" achieves 903 hits (google).
> >....... I tried one, but it couldn't even find my modem. Hellooooo!
> >"Linksys sucks" achieves 3050 hits (google).
>
> Interesting. *I would have rated the vendors in the reverse order of
> the number of complaints. *

The order probably reflects the popularity to some degree ie LinkSys
prolly sold more units than say Belkin and hence more complaints.

>
> Here's another way I like to check. * Go to the download site for the
> vendor and see how many old products that they no longer sell have
> firmware updates. *Also, how many updates. *In my warped opinion,
> updates are a sign of continuous development, concern for the cutomer,
> and general attempts to improve the product. *

Good tip. Sounds reasonable.

Another tip is to cardcount how many returns are at Frys, etc. Frys
had multiple
returned boxes of routers of all four companies.

> What's your DSL speed? *Some of the bottom of the line routers don't
> do well at higher speeds.

As I noted, the ones I've tried didn't even find the modem.

>
> Any price limit? *There's some really nice stuff made by Cisco,
> Sonicwall, 3Com, and other high end vendors. *

Thanks. Do you have a specific model number that you've tried and
worked with flying colors?


>Wanna pay the price for
> quality?

Yes. After all, a good router cannot be too expensive.

> Any particular performance specs or limitations? *Expected range?
> Environment (indoor, outdoor, vehicle, etc)? *Better yet, how do you
> plan to use it? *Casual web browsing, or heavy duty video?

Not fussy on the flexability and performance beyond the fact that the
unit must set up and operate reliably .. aka error free with an IBM
system.

>
> Any important features? *Dual SSID? *Running a hot spot or
> neighborhood WLAN? *Interference problems?

Nope. I'm easy.

Thanks for your input. Hope you can supply me with a current model
number.
Thanks in advance.

<Stevepppp@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:9a11aad2-611a-42fb-8774-ea3cd2050ed8@b5g2000pri.googlegroups.com...
> After a year, my belkin wireless router crapped out for some reason.
> For months, I've been testing out various brands to replace it without
> luck. Appears that I'm not alone in this frustrating quest either:
>
> .. in order of suckiness:
>
> "Belkin sucks" achieves 401 hits (google).
> "D-link sucks" achieves 751 hits (google).
> "Netgear sucks" achieves 903 hits (google).
> ....... I tried one, but it couldn't even find my modem. Hellooooo!
> "Linksys sucks" achieves 3050 hits (google).
>
> "Worst routers" achieves 432 google hits.
>
> The wired routers tend to work. It is the wireless jobs that are the
> perpetual nightmare.
>
> So I'm still hunting. No doubt the problem is strictly software
> related. Any suggestions? No trolls please. I currenty use a Efficient
> Networks Speedstream modem.
>
> Steve

PC Magazine rated the current crop or routers (G, fast G, N) a few months
back and as I recall, Linksys came out on top in all three categories.

On Apr 3, 5:21*am, "Rick Blaine" <Rick@click> wrote:
> PC Magazine rated the current crop or routers (G, fast G, N) a few months
> back and as I recall, Linksys came out on top in all three categories.- Hide quoted text -

Thank you.

So we've narrowed it down to: Cisco, Sonicwall, 3Com, Linksys (new
model only).
Anyone got a coin? I'm gonna see which one of these Fry has in about 1
hr.
Will reply on my latest discoveries. Not holding my breath.

Steve

Stevepppp@gmail.com wrote:

> After a year, my belkin wireless router crapped out for some reason.
> For months, I've been testing out various brands to replace it without
> luck. Appears that I'm not alone in this frustrating quest either:
>
> .. in order of suckiness:
>
> "Belkin sucks" achieves 401 hits (google).
> "D-link sucks" achieves 751 hits (google).
> "Netgear sucks" achieves 903 hits (google).
> ....... I tried one, but it couldn't even find my modem. Hellooooo!
> "Linksys sucks" achieves 3050 hits (google).
>
> "Worst routers" achieves 432 google hits.
>
> The wired routers tend to work. It is the wireless jobs that are the
> perpetual nightmare.
>
> So I'm still hunting. No doubt the problem is strictly software
> related. Any suggestions? No trolls please. I currenty use a Efficient
> Networks Speedstream modem.
>
> Steve

well,
you could do something along these lines:
1. get a cheap intel/amd box (any speed faster than 500 Mhz)
2. install a wireless pci device and 2 ethernet cards
3. install openbsd
4. bridge one of the ethernet devices to the wireless (as a bridge)
5. have the other Ethernet device setup to acquire the ip address from your
dsl/cable device (and run pf as the firewall on that device)

what you will have created here is a home built combination unit (a wired
switch with a wireless interface and a firewall/router).

now, I know this can be done, but I don't have the actual know how to get it
done (A friend of mine actually setup one).

there is a lot of reading material available on the subject. just use
openbsd+router+wireless in a google search.

hope this helps

--
Sometimes, you just gotta come right out and say whats on your mind and be
damned those who would ridicule you for it!

This is the former favorite of the cheapo router group. I say former
because a lawsuit does not allow them to sell right now in the US.
But you can find one on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Buffalo-WHR-HP-G...QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/Buffalo-WHR-HP-G...QQcmdZViewItem

I am not recommending these vendors, just showing you the product.
Their rating is a bit low.

The particular advantage of having DD-WRT replacement firmware pre-
installed makes it a much better than average router even with the
same hardware.

Steve

Got lucky. Linksys (Cisco) did the trick .. it actually read my
modem!! Wonders never cease. Thanks for your all your prolific inputs.

Good luck,
Steve