Need Recommendation for Home Router

[cebrown]

I've currently got a Linksys WRT-54G v8. My last router was a Linksys WRT-54G v2. The v2 died after 1.5 years. My current v8 has lasted a year. Now its gone flaky on me. Can someone recommend another router that I won't have to replace every year, works as it is designed to, and works FLAWLESSY with a PS3. Thanks in advance!

[I.M.O.G.]

I've had reliable experience with Linksys, are you sure these units are getting clean power? What about the symptoms you see, what are they?

I'm not sure what else I'd recommend for home use, and withthe short lifespans your getting I have to wonder whats the X factor we aren't seeing. I thought the v2 especially was a popular version with 32 megs of unlockable ram.

[SniperXX]

I'd try flashing DDWRT on the router to see if that changes anything since its free. I know mine gave me issues then I ran ddwrt on it and its been stable.

[cebrown]

Power is good. Symptoms: Random disconnects, random router lockups, random inability to access the setup page at all. None of these symptoms were present in the previous v2 router we had. That one just simply died. As for X factor....this sort of hardware failure has occurred with multiple routers of multiple manufacturers, with multiple computers over the years, in three different houses, etc. Probably the only constant would be the old dsl modem that has kept on chugging 24 x 7 x 365 for 8+years...and the modem and router are on the same power source. The only thing I can figure is that we are just hard on our routers.

[cebrown]

Oh....and the phone line tests clean. Not that that matters much since we have not had any voice issues.

[gangaskan]

Power is good. Symptoms: Random disconnects, random router lockups, random inability to access the setup page at all. None of these symptoms were present in the previous v2 router we had. That one just simply died. As for X factor....this sort of hardware failure has occurred with multiple routers of multiple manufacturers, with multiple computers over the years, in three different houses, etc. Probably the only constant would be the old dsl modem that has kept on chugging 24 x 7 x 365 for 8+years...and the modem and router are on the same power source. The only thing I can figure is that we are just hard on our routers.

nah, i dont think you're hard on the router. the V2 was a champ ;)

the new stuff, meh not so much. i know with the gs versions they cut ram / flash dramatically. how much ram does the v8 have? and as others have mentioned, flash it with DDWRT, its alot more solid and actively developed on.


there are other options, however, do you want to spend the $ on a enterprise router? and how apt are you to learning something? those are 2 key factors in buying a business class router

[cebrown]

Well, I think I figured it out. The wireless has crapped out. With wireless disabled, its been pretty stable thus far. Problem is, we need the wireless. I'll try flashing it with DDWRT first and test the wireless. If that doesn't work....on to another router.

As far as a business class router, I'd be more inclined to try one of the higher end SoHo routers before a business class. Learning something isn't a problem. I was previously a CCNP so anything Cisco isn't a problem. Juniper too.

[cebrown]

.....And disabling the wireless didn't fix it.... Flash time.

[disk11]

The only way I see all of that equipment dying is bad power or overheating. Have you had the building's wiring checked out and what is the room temp?

[cebrown]

It's not overheating. It's not hot at all. I turned everything off last night just in case that might have had something to do with the issue. The building is my house and considering that this sort of hardware failure has happened in three different houses, I doubt they all had bad wiring. Room temp? 72-74

[bz2klag]

I like the DIR-625 from D-Link, excellent feature set and solid for over 2 years now.

[cebrown]

bz2klag, I just bought the dir625 as a backup in case I can't get this one working. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll put DDWRT on the linksys when I get home from work tonight.

[Madwand]

I'll put DDWRT on the linksys when I get home from work tonight.

If you get it flashed, you could use it in client bridge mode as a wireless adapter for one or more devices with wired LAN capability.

[bz2klag]

bz2klag, I just bought the dir625 as a backup in case I can't get this one working. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll put DDWRT on the linksys when I get home from work tonight.

Cool, it's pretty straight forward, but if you need any help let me know.

[gangaskan]

Well, I think I figured it out. The wireless has crapped out. With wireless disabled, its been pretty stable thus far. Problem is, we need the wireless. I'll try flashing it with DDWRT first and test the wireless. If that doesn't work....on to another router.

As far as a business class router, I'd be more inclined to try one of the higher end SoHo routers before a business class. Learning something isn't a problem. I was previously a CCNP so anything Cisco isn't a problem. Juniper too.


my 851W works flawlessly :) its more than enough for a home setup, however, the 871W can be upgraded with more flash / RAM whereas the 851 does not.

i heard the 1800 series is good too :)

[cebrown]

Just an update - dropped DDWRT on the Linksys and it's been pretty stable for the past few hours. I haven't tried the wireless yet or the PS3...so, we'll see. I do like DDWRT better though.

[JCLW]

I've always found the older (non-switching) Linksys power supplies to be a bit flaky. I've replaced all of mine with 3rd party 12V power supplies.

[joedymueller]

I've been using DDWRT for 2 years? i love it I'm still on an outdated beta version. its solid. works great with PS3 as well.

[SuperMiguel]

i love the http://games.dlink.com/products/?pid=643&#DGL-4500

[jediobi1]

i love the http://games.dlink.com/products/?pid=643&#DGL-4500

i want that :drool:

[nd4spdbh2]

WRT54GL here... had it for 3 yrs its been on straight for 3 years and hasnt caused me ANY problems.

and gaming routers are a joke IMO... a good router should have qos on it and a router like the wrt54gl you could run dd-wrt and get insane ammounts of functionality.

[cyberfish]

Wow, glad to know I'm not the only one with all-routers-die-within-one-year syndrome. I had a SMC (forgot which), a D-Link (DI-624), a Linksys (WRT54GC, compact router) die on me. My last router was a WRT54GL (flashed to DD-WRT). It was stable and everything... but the wireless signal strength is just not good enough (even after boosting it in DD-WRT).

Right now I am using a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 with DD-WRT (flashed on the first day). Have been (ab)using it for about 2 years now. Very heavy usage - a web/mail/ftp server, 2 wireless laptops, 1 PS3, 3 PCs. Torrents, large file transfers within LAN, gaming, VPN server... pretty much everything you can think of. No slightest problem so far. The signal strength is excellent, too, and works with my PS3 and Wii and PSP (could be the firmware, though). Highly recommended.

I think the main problem with other routers is that they have too little RAM, and start dropping connections when the NAT program has no more RAM to keep routing informations. This typically happens with P2P programs, since they open a lot of connections, and don't properly close them. The older WRT54G's have 16MB RAM, and newer ones have 8MB. The WHR-HP-G54 has 16MB.

[Madwand]

Just an update - dropped DDWRT on the Linksys and it's been pretty stable for the past few hours. I haven't tried the wireless yet or the PS3...so, we'll see. I do like DDWRT better though.

The DIR-625 is a better router, and has a fairly rich feature set. I'd use that as the main instead of the WRT v8, which I'd never buy in the first place. I would use the v8 as a wireless bridge with DD-WRT if I had it though.

[Sir Barton]

Im running a WRT54GL as a WAP since my main router is an IP Cop box. I run my WRT54GL on the blue interface with DMZ pinholes so my wireless devices can access my LAN.