Stew Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Looking for a new wireless router for my house as mine has packed in. I know nothing about this stuff so I'm looking for some recommendations. One that is easy to set up and won't break would be good! The highest speed possible would be nice too! Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmac Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Hi stew, I have a bt home hub and love it. My laptop is in my office at the far end of the house and my wife has hers in the lounge. Speed is great and we are able to work oat the same time with no loss. I also has the advantage of giving ou the bt vision package if you can get freeview where you live. On demand viewing anytime. There is also a phone which gives you free evening and weekend calls. Great package and not a problem with it in the year I have had it. One big advantage, take it out the box, plug in and it works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digsy Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I've got a Draytek Vigor 2800VG. I'm not technical but it seems to work well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beavis Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Don't buy a Netgear wnr854t rangemax. Biggest pile of computer related crap i ever purchased. And their forums stand testament to that. Get a D-link Try here http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productli ... groupid=46 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 It's a D-Link one I have but it's packed in. Are Belkin any good? The home hub is a good idea but I have sky, fancy phone and free calls! If only they'd come out with it earlier then I could have it all rolled in to one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbs Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I have a BT home hub, works great all over the house, it was easy to install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M13KYF Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Don't buy a Netgear wnr854t rangemax. Biggest pile of computer related crap i ever purchased. And their forums stand testament to that. Does that explain why my sky router has a range of 2m. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest prescience Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I have a Speedtouch 585 and am very happy with the range - it even seems to work through the walls which are 1ft thick sandstone Because they have a tie-up with my ISP, Zen, there is also plenty of knowledge base stuff to use to set-up (which is easy) http://www.zensupport.co.uk/knowledgeba ... B7I:1V3P5M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinbad Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 i always thought netgear stuff were good, but i wouldnt touch them again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpe Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Linksys are probably the best technically. But then you'd expect nothing less from the company whose equipment keeps most of the internet running (Linksys is Cisco's consumer brand). Netgear are usually pretty good, although they have had some poor/unreliable products in their line-up (but then, everyone has/does). D-Link and Belkin are fair-to-middling depending on model and required usage (but quite often unreliable and cr@p). Anything proprietry provided by an ISP (e.g. BT HomeHub and Orange LiveBox) is kit built by the lowest bidder using the lowest quality components built to a fairly low specification. Just my personal experience/opinions mind you... If I had to recommend one it would be: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-050-LS&groupid=46&catid=1012&subcat= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 Seems like you know what you're on about. The one you recommended is pretty reasonably priced too! How are linksys to set up though? Computers are evil and I don't have a clue about them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpe Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 The one you recommended is pretty reasonably priced too! Yup, that one's not the "best" available, but it's of the latest generation of products with good speed and range, so good value for money. How are linksys to set up though? Computers are evil and I don't have a clue about them! I've never had a problem with setups as I have a techie background, so my opinion on ease of use is probably not the best to go by as I think they're all easy to setup But they all come with "wizards" these days to assist with setup, plus Linksys have a good amount of support resources on their website: http://www.linksys.com/ Personally, I wouldn't think you'd have any trouble, but perhaps a non-techie person here with experience of Linksys products could venture an opinion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lexx Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I've got a Draytek Vigor 2800VG. I'm not technical but it seems to work well. What he said! we've had two of these now, only becasue we needed a bigger one, not becasue it broke. It can be used as s imple router, or as part of a larger network hub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennydies Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I have 2 Linksys Routers, a wired one and a wireless one. They are both good but the best thing is the configuration screens, a doddle to set us and use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zummertor Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I've had a few Belkins and all have done well, range was not quite as good as Netgear but then still covered house and garden. Key is to ensure you decrease you vulnerability when you get one. ideally look for one with WPA as well as WEP encrytion, much tougher to crack if you do banking or other personal stuff wirelessly [to give you an example there is a little tool for the naughty which can crack WEP codes within 10 minutes easily even on low powered devices, use a powerful laptop and you're in/online in under a couple of mins, apparently] , turn ping response off (however called on you particular kit), MAC addr filtering is recommended. By default most wireless equipment will have B/G built in but not the various MIMO types yet, so if you go for the faster and longer range MIMO type router you'll probably have to buy a card / USB device to get advantage of the extra speed, not likely you'll need it if you don't have heavy wireless traffic. Not sure if that helps or confuses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacko Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I've had loads of netgears and they always been good, but you do have to pick the right one as mentioned.... http://www.netgear.co.uk/wireless_modem_router_dg834pn.php I use this one every day as work from home quite a lot as well, but you need to get corresponding Rangemax cards to get best out of it. The netgear stuff now is really easy to setup as well, can only talk for this one the DG834PN but its been very stable...... Also one thing to remember is does depend how good your ISP is as well, a lot of the times you make have a perfectly good wireless signal, but the actually link to your exchange/ISP problems is why you are getting crap connections etc..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beavis Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Here are links to the Netgear rangemax i got last summer. http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=19023 http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=3135 http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=11917 Surely only a matter of time before i do this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beavis Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Here are links to the Netgear rangemax i got last summer. http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=19023 http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=3135 http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=11917 Surely only a matter of time before i do this NEWSFLASH!!!!!!!!! MY TOP OF THE RANGE NETGEAR RANGEMAX ROUTER DIED THIS EVENING. WILL BE TAKING IT BACK TOMORROW AND DEMANDING A NOTHER BRAND. PURCHASED BRAND NEW IN OCTOBER. PILE OF C**P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK350Z Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Ive always used linksys stuff, never had any problems, has much better signal strength than my BT hub, especially in a old stone house like mine. Just remember to keep them away from radiators and other heat sources, they don't like it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beavis Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Ive always used linksys stuff, never had any problems, has much better signal strength than my BT hub, especially in a old stone house like mine. Just remember to keep them away from radiators and other heat sources, they don't like it! Yes been thinking about a linksys. The one i had was in a very cool spot and not near anything that could cause it to fail. Its just a very bad product. The death toll of the wnr854t is enormous worldwide Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 I use a Huawei HG520 and its great - but I probably would say that as I sell them We supply to Talk Talk and Tiscali in very large numbers - no problems what so ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozz Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 I've had loads of netgears and they always been good, but you do have to pick the right one as mentioned.... http://www.netgear.co.uk/wireless_modem_router_dg834pn.php I use this one every day as work from home quite a lot as well, but you need to get corresponding Rangemax cards to get best out of it. The netgear stuff now is really easy to setup as well, can only talk for this one the DG834PN but its been very stable...... Also one thing to remember is does depend how good your ISP is as well, a lot of the times you make have a perfectly good wireless signal, but the actually link to your exchange/ISP problems is why you are getting crap connections etc..... Spooky, I literally just unboxed this model and within seconds am back on the net, wired and wireless. Never had a router so easy to use. Was a toss up between this one and a linksys but this one had better reviews - bought from ebuyer, 318 feedback and arrived within 2 days even though they said 7. Can't fault it so far! £38. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumo Power Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Personally i use Netgear, im currently using the Netgear dg834gt, this has been a realy good router, had a few problems when i upgraded the firmware but, that was an easy fix. have in the past used belkin and also quite a few different d-link products. Regards Nathan@Sumopower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beavis Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Personally i use Netgear, im currently using the Netgear dg834gt, this has been a realy good router, had a few problems when i upgraded the firmware but, that was an easy fix. have in the past used belkin and also quite a few different d-link products. Regards Nathan@Sumopower I have just RMA'd a Netgear and switched to Linksys, not one dropped connection in 2 weeks now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarnie Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Personally i use Netgear, im currently using the Netgear dg834gt, this has been a realy good router, had a few problems when i upgraded the firmware but, that was an easy fix. have in the past used belkin and also quite a few different d-link products. Regards Nathan@Sumopower I have just RMA'd a Netgear and switched to Linksys, not one dropped connection in 2 weeks now Which Linksys you using? My netgear drops the connection every half an hour or so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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