New Router

[NovaShine]

Hey guys, im back

As you can see, I havent been around here for more than a year now so yea... im pretty outdated for hardware.

Just popping in now cuz i need to ask a question:

I need a new Wireless Router now since I moved into my new house.

I'm currently using a Buffalo 802.11b router, a relic from many ages past.

Below, is a rough sketch of the second floor of my house. It's about 10m from one side to the other, left to right. I have my computer next to my router, so i can use a Cat5 cable, but my dad's and sister's computer is on the other side of the house. My dad's computer is shown in the picture below and my sister's computer is directly above.

Right now, my dad's reception is low constantly and so is my sister's, except my sister's drops out every once so often.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v32/NovaShine/Home.jpg

I also got ADSL2 now, so the 11Mb cant make full use of the 24Mb bandwith.


Can anyone reccomend the cheapest set of reliable wireless router and recievers which suits all my needs?

[don256us]

You may be interested in one of the MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out) routers. Possibly one of the new "Draft N" type to suite your needs. You would have to get the matching wireless cards too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124052
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833314014
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124050
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124032

These are just a few that I picked at random. I'm a personal fan of the Lynksys WRT 54GS. With 3rd party software, I've been told that you can get a large boost in signal strength. Also, the Lynksys WRT 54GS has after-market antenna that you can buy to boost signal strength too.

The cheapest thing that you can do is to move the router to a more central location.

Remember, if you mix and match wireless types (E.G. 802.11b and 802.11g) your entire wireless network will run at the slower speed.

Good luck.

[NovaShine]

Is this some of the Pre-N router types ive been hearing about?

But moving the router isnt really an option...

I'm the only one in the house who has any idea how to maintain a network and im the big gamer.

The middle part in the picture is the main bathroom and the ensuite, so if i move, it must be to my dad's room, which means i will be on wireless. For gaming, Wireless ftl :(

But it seems to be a tad dear for a router :S

How about an average ranged router plus a signal booster, will it help at all?

How about just buying a booster for my current router. How does it work? Is it just a relay you put in the middle to pick up your existing wireless signal, then spit it out much stronger?

[Cowboy X]

Based on the reviews I have seen Pre-N routers do not perform up to standard and often perform slower than Super G routers . What they will give you is better range to an extent but at the same time they tend drop down to lower transfer rates faster than G based products . There is a possibility that some of the Pre-N products will be upgradeable to the N standard via a firmware update and would have their bugs and performance issues sorted via firmware as well but there is no guarantee . Their is a strong possibility that what you see now is what you may have for the life of the product . So be careful .

I have been researching htem for a few weeks now and was going to spend the $$$ and get one . My reasoning was that I didn't care about interconnection problems with 'lesser' networks or with possible incompatibility with true N based products whenever they arrive . Because for the purposes of my home network I would just use adapters from the same company in the same spec/family and be happy with the extra speed and MIMO .

That is until I saw how much they underperformed .

There is a competing technology similar to the N standard which is present it the Netgear Range Max 240 series . This is cheaper than the Pre-N routers , and unlike them it performs better than Super G products . The only issues that I see reviewers have with it is that it can interfere with or lower the performance of some other 2.4Ghz networks ................... not a big deal for me in my home setting . And of course it will only perform best if one uses the Range Max 240 router with Range Max 240 adapters ............ again I don't care about that because that is what I intend to do and it is no different from any Super G implementation where one must buy from the same vendor anyway .

With all of that said , I am considering the D-Link 4300 Gamer Router because it performs very very close to the Range Max 240 but also has a Gigabit switch built in .

[Cowboy X]

http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/06/01/draft_11n_revealed_part1/
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/05/24/hardware_router_chart_interactive/

[don256us]

Is this some of the Pre-N router types ive been hearing about?

But moving the router isnt really an option...

I'm the only one in the house who has any idea how to maintain a network and im the big gamer.

The middle part in the picture is the main bathroom and the ensuite, so if i move, it must be to my dad's room, which means i will be on wireless. For gaming, Wireless ftl :(

But it seems to be a tad dear for a router :S

How about an average ranged router plus a signal booster, will it help at all?

How about just buying a booster for my current router. How does it work? Is it just a relay you put in the middle to pick up your existing wireless signal, then spit it out much stronger?
What router do you have? (Maybe I missed it.)
A booster is realy just a higher gain anttena. Some are powered and some are not. It would replace the antena on your router currently.

[NovaShine]

Right now, im on a pretty old router.

It's one of the first generation of Buffalo 802.11b routers.

Looks like this:

http://www.superwarehouse.com/images/products/buffalo_wbr2-b11.jpg

[don256us]

If you have an antena connector in the back, you can get a booster from Buffalo themselves.

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/wireless.php

[NovaShine]

oohh, looks good.

Guess i'll be getting an antenna then :D

thanks everyone