Good cheap rounter to share internet connection.

Can I have some recommendations on a good/cheap router to share either a cable or broadband internet connection between 3 computers. Also do all I have to do is hook the computers to the router as well as the modem and then it will work?

Are you wanting wired or wireless? Is this purely for internet sharing, or are you going to be sharing files between computers?

i say a d-link 604 (what ive got) its cheap and efficiant, and it should work if u just plug it in, and if not u have to follow the instructions that come with the router, ie changing ip address

I want wired for now, and it would be nice to share files amoung the computers.

any will do, look at the weekend deals in the paper and get the cheapest. I would suggest the Linksys wrt54g which is wireless but you can disable the wireless. It is a bit more robust than most.
I would also get a wireless just because they are jsut as cheap as a wired and you can disable the wireless until you may need it.

Link to this weeks deals in nebraska

do the router have to support dhcp? I don't want to pay the isp for 3 connections I just want to split 1 between the 3 computers.

A router only uses one external IP, unless you connect it to one of the LAN ports.

SMC. its cheap but it has worked with out a single day off for a hole year. no no problems.

I can't believe that this is a thread about which router to buy, and nobody has mentioned Smoothwall yet!

I'm impressed. I say go for the Linksys WRT54G. Great router, good price.

That's what I have. Works great. Here's the cheapest i've seen it for. Taken from anandtech forums.

Radio Shack has this router advertised for $39.99 after $10 MIR in their monthly ad on page 20. Go to RadioShack.com to view the monthly ad. It is also on the website for $49.99 without the rebate.

Circuit City, Office Depot, And CompUSA have it advertised for $39.99 after $10 and $20 MIR this week.

Go to Radio Shack and pick up a sales flyer then purchase the router at either Circuit City, Office Depot, or CompUSA using the flyer to PM.

So the deal is this $69.99 - $22(110% pricematch to RS)-$10MIR -$20MIR = $17.99

Slackfumasta said:

I can't believe that this is a thread about which router to buy, and nobody has mentioned Smoothwall yet!

I'm impressed. I say go for the Linksys WRT54G. Great router, good price.

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quick, pull out a 486 and install smoothwall on it! lol

but seriously, it depends on what you need to do. and in fact you asked for a router, not an alternative to a router.

smoothwall running on old rig is not cheap. initially, your cost might be zero. however as time progresses, old rig running smoothwall and/or other linux/unix variants use a whole lot more electricity than a pre-built router unit. by estimation, in the end of the first year the excess of electricity usage will offset the cost of your router. it is not difficult math, a router usually drains 60~120w, a pc drains 200~400w. you need a good reason to pay extra in power consumption. for a normal home network, there really is no valid reason for it. routers now days come with firmware that does everything you will ever need as a home user/avid gamer/small business professional.

second reason not to use smoothwall is that linux is highly configurable and there is a lot of room for userland configuration errors. It could lead to system wide security compromise. learning how to operate linux also cost extra time and effort.

third reason not to use smoothwall is that no matter how efficient software side of pc become, a pc will never be as efficient as an optomized hardware router for packet delivery. the key here is hardware optomizing. pcs don't have that.

only reason to use a pc to route is that you would like integrated QoS and don't want to spend more than 50 bucks for a router with that feature.

well... i dont think that an old old pc would use 100 watts.... i know that lappys are alot more efficient, but mine will run on 15.1 watts, thats at 533 mhz(barton 2500 slowed with powernow), but also with 512 megs of ram, a wireless nic, all of the faster NB and other mobo components tht make more heat.. .and running the backlight on the LCD that draws about 3.6 watts.... so im sure that an old 486 could run on about equal amount of power, unless the PSU is terribly ineffecient... but then switching PSUs are more efficient than the passively regulated ones (the brick wall adapters that routers come with) so the ineffiiencies would be equal i would think.

so the power consumption isnt all that much of a diference... and the power consumption of the router would also add to the cost.

elfiena said:

only reason to use a pc to route is that you would like integrated QoS and don't want to spend more than 50 bucks for a router with that feature.

Click to expand...

Yea but if you get DD-WRT's aftermarket firmware you have all the Qos support you need with the wrt54g. Thats the great thing about the router is its linux firmware.