which router to buy

[max99x]

Need bit of advice on which wireless router to go for, been told by a tech guy to go for a netgear one as they are good and reliable but not sure which.

In terms of what is needed the wireless router is at the bottom of the house and needs to throw the signal through thick walls and up 3 stories.

Any advice on which to get, there are about 3 or 4 on amazon that look good but really not sure which will be best

Any help muchly appreciated

 

[rob]

I agree - you can do the wifi and the garden with the one device!

 

[Bailey]

Who supplies your telephone line Max ?, i pay a little bit extra for BT's Business services, for the service level and willingness to change/exchange hardware as and when YOU ask can be very cost saving in the long run

 

[expertc]

... been told by a tech guy to go for a netgear one as they are good and reliable but not sure which.

Netgear is fine. For a home network you should check that your router:

1. Supports ADSL2+
2. Supports 802.11b/g/n
3. Supports WPA2-PSK
4. Made by a company that is specializing in such devices.

About range: for an average house most of the routers are just fine. In some cases the very far end of the garden might have a weaker signal but simple device called "signal repeater" takes care of it. But I do doubt it should be a case. Simple check like how many network your computer "sees" will show you that you can often see networks for the half of your street.

Examples of good routers: Netgear DGN2200, D-Link DSL-2740R, etc. Don't pay much attention to reviews that say "difficult to set-up", check the performance reviews. CISCO is great, but it comes at a price and an average home user would only use about 5-10%% of what it can offer.

 

[expertc]

I have assumed it's ADSL based on the recommendation by a tech guy, I might be wrong

I did support CISCO RV series for a corporate client with VPN requirements, it's no fun...

To be honest gigabit ports you don't need until you Internet connection speed reaches fiber optic levels, unless you need it for your home network or use many hard-wired devices. Then you should think about proper cabling, at least CAT5e around your house. But even then you will not see much difference until you start using it for something above the average household level. What I am saying is: most of the devices made by Netgear, D-Link or even Belkin and Buffalo are more than enough for non-business application. I don't think future-proofing is a good idea in this case, as at £40-£50 for a pretty good wireless router you can discard of it easily if you need something more serious or change you connection type. Just my 2p...


P.S. I don't use WiFi, my workstation is hard-wired.

 

[Aegean]

I had a similar problem with a friends hotel in the highlands, 4 stories and very thick walls, it was a victorian building. But another friend of mine managed to get me two of those rabbit-ear wifi boosters, one antenna picks up the signal the other throws it out, it seemed to fix the issue with the guests on floors 3 and 4 not being able to use their laptops.

Something similar to this.