What Wireless Router Do You Use?

Geico266

Geico266

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Geico
I have a Netgear with a flashing / rotating blue light on top. It has been working okay, actually, it has been "iffy". I have to restart it several times a day after it locks up. The blue light becomes stationary.

Anyone else have suggestions on how to fix this one, or is it time to upgrade?

I would hate to miss anything in the SZ! :rofl:

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
Linksys. On average it'll lock up once or twice a week. Sometimes more frequently, sometimes less.
 
Bob Noel said:
Linksys. On average it'll lock up once or twice a week. Sometimes more frequently, sometimes less.
Click to expand...


What causes then to lock up? Location? Too close to other electronics?

Are there brands out there that reset themsleves? Geez you would think someone could make a self settle router.
 
I have a linksys/Cisco at work that has never caused me a problem. At home I have a Lucent that runs fine and a Apple Timport for wireless routing that also runs fine. I go months without having to ever do anything to anyone of them.
 
smigaldi said:
I have a linksys/Cisco at work that has never caused me a problem. At home I have a Lucent that runs fine and a Apple Timport for wireless routing that also runs fine. I go months without having to ever do anything to anyone of them.
Click to expand...


I wonder if it is the location of my router. I'll move it to the other side of the room, away from other elctronics.

Netgear seems to be the bottom of the barrel?
 
Geico266 said:
I wonder if it is the location of my router. I'll move it to the other side of the room, away from other elctronics.

Netgear seems to be the bottom of the barrel?
Click to expand...
I will agree with that about netgear. I had one piece of their gear in my house. It took me an hour before I decided it was not worth the $10 savings and took it back to the store.

I am not sure why you are getting a lock up or your router. I would not think it to be interference, but maybe it could be.
 
I have had 2 linksys in the house for years. I recycle them maybe once a year and I'm not sure if it's the wireless router or DSL modem that needs it. I tend to recycle everything rather than isolate such a rare problem.

Joe
 
Geico266 said:
Anyone else have suggestions on how to fix this one, or is it time to upgrade?
Click to expand...

Most routers these days are just cheap hardware. Vendors compete for the lowest price, and end up putting in cheap components and skimping on software testing -- which results in unreliable devices.

If the hardware is flaky, heat is its enemy. Putting it in a stack of other warm hardware can make it warmer, and more prone to lock up. Having its cooling holes fill up with dust/cat hair/whatever is also bad for it.

My strategy with wireless routers is -- if it is broken, replace it, and hope that the next one sucks less. These things are sold cheaper than dirt these days, so there is not much more you can do. (Well, you can buy a commercial grade one at 10x the price, but if you are installing only one it is probably not worth it.)

Chris
 
colohan said:
Most routers these days are just cheap hardware. Vendors compete for the lowest price, and end up putting in cheap components and skimping on software testing -- which results in unreliable devices.

If the hardware is flaky, heat is its enemy. Putting it in a stack of other warm hardware can make it warmer, and more prone to lock up. Having its cooling holes fill up with dust/cat hair/whatever is also bad for it.

My strategy with wireless routers is -- if it is broken, replace it, and hope that the next one sucks less. These things are sold cheaper than dirt these days, so there is not much more you can do. (Well, you can buy a commercial grade one at 10x the price, but if you are installing only one it is probably not worth it.)

Chris
Click to expand...

+1 to the above. I've seen pretty much every brand last forever and I've seen many of them completely totally suck (in every brand).

If it's broken, buy a new one, hope it sucks less.

Of course you can spend a lot of money on a REALLY good one...but its just not worth it.
 
I took all of the wires / connections loose and found one that was "weak". I move that connection to another port and it "clicked in" harder and more secure. I cleaned up the other connections and wiggled them a little.

Seems to have helped, as this am I had to restart it several times, now it is working fine. We'll see.

Thanks for your input and I'm looking forward to reading more.
 
Linksys WRT54G.

Have had it for a few years now and very rarely do I have to rest it. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's the p.o.s. cable modem from Mediacom that keeps locking up.
 
Lawreston said:
LinkSys WRT54G here, also. Never a problem.
Click to expand...
Ditto. I had been contemplating upgrading to an -N, but from the comments here, I think I'm better off sticking to my 54G.

BTW, I'm setting up an entertainment center in a separate room from the router, with three units that need network access. I could set up individual wireless adaptors for each, but is there an easy way to set up one wireless adaptor and feed all three units from it? I found a commercial unit that does this, but it costs $150...seems a bit steep.

Ron Wanttaja
 
I have a Linksys that I bougt a number of years ago - no problems that I am aware of.

I have it stuck up between the floor joists in the basement - still reaches out to the (unattached) garage OK.
 
Geico266 said:
What causes then to lock up? Location? Too close to other electronics?
Click to expand...

I don't know. Without being a wise ***, if I knew the cause I'd
probably fix it. I just reach over, flip the power switch off and
then back on.

I actually have another one, but I just haven't gone through
the bother of switching them yet.
 
Keep in mind that not all WRT54G Linksys routers are the same beast. There have been several releases all with dramatically different hardware.

From a returns perspective - I never saw a pattern when it came to a particular brand having more issues than another. This was years ago though.
 
Geico266 said:
I wonder if it is the location of my router. I'll move it to the other side of the room, away from other elctronics.

Netgear seems to be the bottom of the barrel?
Click to expand...

Unless your nearby "elctronics" includes a VanDeGraff generator or Tesla coil, I seriously doubt that they are affecting your router. It is plausible that glitchy power could precipitate a hangup but given the way these things are powered (switching wall wart supply) even that seems unlikely. Heat could be a factor if you've got it blocked in so it can't vent or radiate any power or worse yet sitting on top of a serious heat generator of some sort, but I know that in my case none of this is true yet I've still suffered the occasional lockup requiring a reboot.

One final note: Most routers have the ability to automatically request a new IP lease if the current one expires or is no longer recognized by the host server but on many of the routers I've examined this can be disabled and might have that for the factory default condition. Definitely worth checking into if you're having to reset often as the reset will always generate a new DHCP request.
 
Linksys. I, too, have the "lock up" problem, but the ISP & I have done numerous tests and are convinced it's Qwest's fault, possibly the Actiontec DSL modem. I reset the modem, all things are fine.

bunch of computers <-> Linksys firewall router <-> Actiontec DSL modem
other stuff <-> Linksys wireless router <---^

This way I can take the laptop and iPod Touch anywhere in the house yet the rest of the computers are ethernet cabled directly into the firewall.
 
Pretty much all consumer-grade wireless routers suck. I basically view them as consumables.

That being said, I used to like the Netgear line and hate Linksys. Nowadays, it seems Netgear really sucks, and Linksys is somewhat less sucky.

I still use the Netgear ProSafe firewall/routers for SOHO accounts once in a while (only because they're ICSA certified, and my lawyer knows enough about technology to be annoying about things like that), and they haven't given me a problem -- yet.

I've also had better-than-average luck with D-Link. I have a DIR-625 that has outlasted three ISP accounts and feeds five computers and four VOIP lines, and I rarely have to touch it. And only one D-Link that I've installed at a client's house has died, to my knowledge. (At least, only one client has called to tell me about it -- and these clients aren't shy about complaining.)

-Rich
 
Is anyone using Apple's Airport Extreme for a router?

I have one, I just don't use it for a router, instead I use it as wireless
access into my home network.
 
I have one of the first Linksys 'N' routers, it has three antennae on it one blade and two pencil type. It has worked flawlessly in all the time I've had it... maybe two years. The router is upstairs on one side of the house and my office has a usb antenna on the opposite side of upstairs and our laptop in on the ground floor under the office. No drop outs and speed is great. Maybe I've just been lucky.
 
CJones said:
Linksys WRT54G.

Have had it for a few years now and very rarely do I have to rest it. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's the p.o.s. cable modem from Mediacom that keeps locking up.
Click to expand...

I have this also. As a matter of fact, it came off a locomotive test, literally. It fell off at 30 mph, jerked the cables off, and broke off one of the antennae. We threw it away at work, and I took it home. I dug out the broken RJ-45 conn3ector, plugged in the AC adapter (we were using a 12 volt battery at the test) and just stuck the antenna back on. It works fine and I haven't even power cycled it for a year except when the whole house goes dark due to outages.
We use them to download data from a data acquisition system on board rail vehicles without needing to get on the train, which requires all sorts of safety/security measures. I think we pay ~~$49 each.
 
Interesting. My router was giving me fits this am. I changed the connectors, wiggled the wires (your basic pre-flight) and now it has worked flawlessly all day.

I may be onto something here!
 
Linksys '54G here also. I've had it for at least 4 or 5 years and except for having to reset it a couple of times a year it's been fine.
 
Trendnet I paid $5.00 for at a yard sale. works perfectly never have to reset it.
 
CJones said:
Linksys WRT54G.

Have had it for a few years now and very rarely do I have to rest it. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's the p.o.s. cable modem from Mediacom that keeps locking up.
Click to expand...

I have the same one.. only time I need to reset (reboot) it is when the cable access goes down... then it is the standard process of removing power from everything. Then plug in the modem, let it sync, plug in the router.. let it sync, then turn on the computer.

I probably have to do that 3-4 times a year.. the cable access is pretty reliable.
 
linksys wrt54gs (the s is for speed). Sometimes, mine locks up. I think it is a combination of the cable network (COMCAST) and the hardware on the wireless network (A, B, and G devices).
Get a LINKSYS, get it up to the highest rev, and hope for the best.
 
silver-eagle said:
linksys wrt54gs (the s is for speed). Sometimes, mine locks up. I think it is a combination of the cable network (COMCAST) and the hardware on the wireless network (A, B, and G devices).
Get a LINKSYS, get it up to the highest rev, and hope for the best.
Click to expand...

Or get a slightly older Lynksys and load dd-wrt in place of Linksys operating system....

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index
 
I have used a Linksys wrt54 in the past and never had an issue with it.
I use a "2wire" modem/wireless router now that came with the DSL.
It has one issue with one of the online games (WOW).
It will NOT keep a connection when the game is playing unless you set it to broadcast in B only.
Some quirk with the game and the 2wire brand. Took me a couple days to track it down after I first started to use it.
 
I got rid of my linksys wrt54g because it would no longer reset (and while i didn't need reset often, it still needed it once in a while).. It lost the password, i couldnt get in, and couldnt reset it to default..

It got replaced with a netgear device that has been error free for the few months ive had it.. sitting on top of the tower..
 
Netgear WGR614 v6.

I don't know if it's the router or the modem, but I end up resetting them both at least once a week.
 
Speed said:
Netgear WGR614 v6.

I don't know if it's the router or the modem, but I end up resetting them both at least once a week.
Click to expand...


Try cleaning the contact and pushing the plugs in tighter. I have not had to reset mine for a week!......almost.
 
I have a Linksys that I've used for years without problems.

I had T-Mobile's Linksys Router that was made for HotSpot@Home, and it would reboot as soon as a call came it. Replaced it, and the same thing happened. My advice: Stay away from the T-Mobile Linksys Router (I think it is a TM504G or something).
 
My linksys is fairly stable, but occasionally loses its mind and refuses to let one login to the web interface. Unplug and reboot, and all is well. Otherwise, the uptime is quite good.
 
I had a Linksys WRT54G (removeable antennas) for several years. It eventually bit the dust. Bought another. Bad deal as it was not half the router the previous one was, power-wise and quality - and non-removeable antennas. I started reading reviews and found that the WRT54GL (linux based) was MUCH better, so I bought one. It was a little more money but not that much. After more than a year and maybe one or 2 lockups, certainly not more, it has proved a good choice. I'm not even sure that the router was the problem. More power, good coverage, etc. If you are adventureous, you can even load different setups using DD-WRT, Tomato or OpenWRT and have more control over power and operating parameters.
 
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