• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

New Router / Wireless AP Recommendation needed

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

Mayonati

Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2008
Hey all!

First, for the tl;dr types:
I need a new router for my home network. Top end with lots of features. No upper price limit. Please recommend.

Now, a bit more detail:
I live in the UK and am currently on Virgin Media cable broadband on the lowest speed package (2mb I believe). I used the broadband modem that they supply, combined with a Netgear FR114P 4-port Firewall/Router in conjunction with a generic switch to provide wired internet access. I also have a Belkin wireless router which I am using as an access point connected to the Netgear to provide wireless (g speed) network access to my laptop.

Now, the Netgear has been causing problems for years, but I've just stuck with it. However, we're moving soon and I'm planning to get Virgin Media cable again, but at the highest, 50mbit speed. Since we're moving and getting "new stuff", I'm looking for some new router suggestions.

Here are my criteria: I'd prefer to get just one device to replace both of my existing Netgear / Belkin devices. I accept that I'll swill need my switch to connect all the computers as I don't think many home routers come with more than 4 ports. The router does not need a modem integrated, as Virgin will supply one (It's Cable, not ADSL).

I'd like it to be capable of Wireless-N speed if possible. Basically whatever the latest is - I'd like to be fairly future-proof, although I know the N standard is constantly evolving. However, the majority of the network will NOT be on a wireless network - I don't trust wireless enough yet, so it only has to handle the traffic from one laptop. Everything else will be hard-cabled in.

Following are some features the new device MUST have:

* Remote Access (Ability to connect remotely via the IP address and port to manage the device remotely)
* MAC Filtering
* Ability to disable SSID broadcast
* At least 802.11g speed, preferably N
* WPA security (With PSK authentication)
* DHCP server, with the ability to provide exclusions for my server and network printer
* An "Attached Devices" table would be nice, although not obligitory

10/100Mbps network speed is fine - It should be a reliable brand (Netgear/Linksys/Belkin/etc) and have a good reputation since I'm fed up with unreliable network hardware. As long as is can deal with 100mbps traffic among about 8 computers on a network, and 50mbps Internet connectivity, we're good to go.

I don't really have a "budget" - I'd rather splash out once than have to keep replacing crappy hardware. Maybe a maximum of £200 or so (That's, what, $350 roughly?).
I'm guessing my requirements will take a lot of "home" type devices that you can buy at PC world out of the question, but I don't mind something more complex.

Oh, it doesn't need to contain a firewall as I have a Cisco Pix 501 which I'm intending to put in instead. As a matter of interest, I *am* CCNA certified, so I have no problems configuring complex stuff, but I have yet to find a Cisco device that both fulfills all of these requirements and speeds, and doesn't cost an absolute fortune, lol. Any suggestions are welcome, though.

Thanks all for taking the time to read this! I look forward to any replies!
 
Last edited:
Any small PC you can find. Just run Linux or BSD on it.
There are lots of sexy small boards out there for this purpose.

Aa for your requirements list, those are very basic things every decent consumer router has nowadays. The Free OpenWRT firmware certainly does (and a LOT more) and runs on a shiltoad of consumer routers.
 
Thanks for the tip! However I'd really like to avoid that kind of power consumption - much cheaper to have a little router box running than a full PC (It's not my house so I'll not be popular if I start driving up the electricity bill, haha).

I'm glad to hear that most modern routers have all those features - that wasn't the case when I bought the FR114P, about 6 years ago. Well, the "professional" series ones did (the ones with metal cobolt colour cases, as opposed to the flimsy plastic ones).

Still looking for some actual model numbers and etc :)
 
That sounds like a really good idea - though I don't know much in terms of Linux commands - can anyone vouch for the web interface with OpenWRT? Does it provide access to customise all the things you can do at command line or is it just a minimal-effort deal that screams "Just learn linux already"? :D

Also, is there a preferred device to use with OpenWRT? Obviously since I'm buying from scratch I can basically pick anything. Since I'll be overwriting the firmware anyway is there much or a difference between a £20 cheapie Access Point and a super-douper £200 full-featured router in terms of hardware?

EDIT: I've been looking at the WRT54GS.. Opinions on this one?
 
Last edited:
I have an old wrt54g with an older version of DD-WRT firmware and its been running stable for years. You won't have to learn any Linux just follow the install instructions.
 
DD-WRT doesn't require knowledge of the Linux shell to administrate (has an UI). However...
I'd actually recommend Tomato over the other WRT variants simply due to its user interface, which is hands down the best of the bunch (I don't think anyone will contest this, actually). And it has a shiny bandwidth monitor. Mmm...shiny! It does have a much reduced compatability list compared to the others, but that's not really a problem since you're buying a new router anyway.

As for actual router...the WRT54GL is still a good buy at that price range (and the newer version GSs are not compatable w/Tomato and are greatly inferior to the older v1-4 GSs - Linksys has a habit of drastically reducing the specs of their routers as time and verison numbers pass).
 
Back