Morn'in,
We currently have a D-Link, model DIR-615 router/wi-fi unit. This thing is not stable and I am finished messing with the device. I have read enough forums about this unit to make my head hurt; including special techie notes about do this and that to attempt a stable operation.
A new unit will be used with 2 laptops (one direct connected to the router), an Ipod touch and likely a Smartphone in the near future.
Your suggestions are most appreciated; and thank you in advance.
Take care,
Catch
Comments
David has a Netgear N150 and is quite satisfied. They have a household with at least 6 or 7 wireless devices, experience no noticeable interference from other electronics, and rarely need to touch the device.
That said, I don't have much experience with other brands, except Linksys. I'm currently unhappy with the dependability of the Linksys units we have at work, although they're likely just overloaded.
+1 for Airport Extreme.
It is pricer than most similar products. However it is quality Apple design in both software and hardware. I had another brand above average access point before which caused connection drops with my wife's laptop. Airport Extreme eliminated that and she is happy again. Most consumer class wifi routers are crap. They all get their units from some asian manufacturer and even the same model has several versions that has no common software between them. i.e. there is no continuity of development and maturity of product before it goes out of market and another model is brought in. It is a hit and miss.
It has strong signal power (100mW or 20dBm) and very good range despite not having external antennas. The one I have has simultaneous dual-band support (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and implements 802.11a/b/g/n. If your laptop or wifi device supports 5GHz operation, you can benefit from clean channels in that frequency band as over the years interference from neighboring wifi routers/access points have increased in 2.4Ghz making performance suffer and perhaps this contributed to my wife's connection drops.
It can be configured either as router or WiFi access point. I use it as access point as I have a business class firewall router in front of it but internal router/firewall functions could be sufficient for most people. It can do up to 300Mbps "raw" speed (real throughput is lower due to overhead in wireless protocols). It is not the fastest one but most of these wifi routers only hit those fastest test environment speeds when you are literally next to it. You can also hook up a hard disk to Airport Extreme through the USB port. It can be used to share a printer or hard disk and with hard disk it can be the target of OSX TimeMachine backups. The only slight negative is that to configure this device you need to install the Airport utility software on your Mac OSX or Windows as it has no web interface. But the software is pretty easy to use with a wizard interface and it also handles the software upgrades of the Airport Extreme with ease.
Apple also has Airport Express which is a cheaper but has functions complementary and unique to itself as well. Latest version is similar to Airport Extreme but smaller in size. Previous versions were more portable wall-wart type. The latest version also supports simultaneous dual band similar to my Airport Extreme. Previous version could only operate in either 2.4GHz or 5GHz band but not both. There is a USB port for USB attached printer sharing but no hard disk support. There is also an audio port which you attach to speakers (or to your audio system) for Apple AirPlay functionality. In other words, you can use it to play music from your iPod, iPhone, iPad wirelessly to your audio equipment. It can also act router, wifi access point or wifi range extender to Airport Extreme.
If you are price sensitive consider the new Airport Express. Make sure you are ordering the latest model as some sites have older model still on sale.
Here are Amazon links:
AirPort Express
AirPort Extreme
Of course if you decide to buy please visit the MFO Amazon.com link before adding these to your cart so you can support MFO at the same time.
http://www.amazon.com/Medialink-Wireless-Router-802-11n-Internal/dp/B0044YU60M/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1347078696&sr=1-1&keywords=wireless+router
Just go all out I say. I'm no shill for dd-wrt. I just know it works heckuva lot better than stock firmwares from manufacturers who basically manufacturer ONE hardware device, then simply change firmware and charge $50 every time we need a router, bridge, access point, etc. No more clogging, slowness, network drops, etc.
If you are brave enough, check dd-wrt compatibility before you buy.
http://www.dd-wrt.com
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=_sb_noss/176-1376334-2456067?url=search-alias=electronics&field-keywords=wifi+router