[OFB Cafe] Best Wireless-N Routers

[Donald Spoon]

Donald Spoon wrote:
> Timothy Butler wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
>>     I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on Wireless N routers? There 
>> seems to be no consensus on which ones are actually capable of 
>> delivering good performance. Some folks say the Linksys wrt610n is at 
>> the top, some people say it is hardly usable. Others claim Apple's 
>> Airport Extreme offers the best performance, while others again put 
>> it at the very bottom. So it goes.
>>
>>     It seems like concurrent/simultaneous dual-band (which of those 
>> terms you use seems to vary by brand) should be faster, but many 
>> reports seem to peg the 2.4 GHz models as working better. The most 
>> consistently well rated unit is the D-Link DIR-655, although some 
>> people also reported it as extremely warm in operation.
>>
>>     Thoughts?
>>
>>     Thanks,
>>         Tim
>>
> A while back, I got the "itch" and bought myself a Netgear 3500v1 
> "Rangemax Wireless N" 4-port router.  I have been using it for about 9 
> months or so, and am happy with it.  Is it the 'best"?  Dunno... I 
> don't have the resources to do comparisons ($$), and it is the only 
> one I have ever owned (and probably will be the only one until it 
> breaks)!  I suspect most others on this list are in the same boat.  I 
> don't see it mentioned on many of the "best" lists on a Google Search, 
> but then I am quite suspicious of these lists.  I think they are 
> heavily biased if not dishonest in that they were paid off to rate 
> something as "best".
>
> Anyway, what attracted me initially was the following:
>
> 1.  4 Gigabyte Ethernet ports in addition to a 5th port "input" 
> Ethernet port you can hook up to a DSL / Cable modem.
> 2.  No External Antennas... just a rectangular box that sits on a 
> stand.  Supposedly it has 8 "internal" antennas that are optimized on 
> the fly to provide best throughput and range.
> 3.  Dual Band.  (If you absolutely MUST have the fastest throughput, 
> stick with single band, (5Ghz) since there is less "noise" from 
> competing wireless routers.
My bad... the WNR 3500 N is NOT "Dual Band".  It is 2.4 Ghz only.  I 
just found this out the hard way... Set my laptop to use only 5Ghz band 
and I couldn't connect!  Had to jump through some hoops before I found 
out a way to reverse the setting!

-Don Spoon-