Need router

[liambl]

So basically I have someone wanting me to fit their house out with wireless. I need some suggestions that will reliably service a kinda large 3 storey house with reception throughout. The router will be on the middle floor, and price isn't the most important factor, the reliability is.

One more thing, they have a coax cable internet, and just to verify my knowldge; the router connects to the modem through the WAN port, then I access the routers config page through LAN on a computer and set the IP settings in the router, set up the WPA and then its pretty much good to go?

Thanks in advance.

[glc]

That's a tough call. If possible, bring any wireless router over there - yours from your home, for example - and set it where you want to put the new router. You do not need to connect it to anything, just fire it up. Take a laptop around the house and check signal strength. This will tell you if doing this with just one wireless device is even feasible.

[liambl]

Unfortunately I don't own a router nor do I know anyone that would give theirs up. It may be that it comes down to buying one anyway and just seeing how it goes.

And what about brands? Preferably one with known good performance.

[glc]

I prefer Linksys. The WRT54GL is the most versatile, it allows for use of 3rd party firmware which can tweak it considerably, including the ability to turn up the transmit power.

[Masaki 7-11]

I use only D-Link, have had problems with Linksys (not being able to log onto the web interface) and Netgear (dropped connections). I like that most D-Link routers are relatively inexpensive, have good performance/range and have a straightforward interface (it takes me about 15 minutes to setup a D-Link router including firmware updates). The DIR-655 and DIR-628 are pretty good models.

[liambl]

http://ascent.co.nz/productspecifica...?ItemID=359184

What about that one? The 655 is a bit too expensive.

[Alaron]

Just a bit more for the Linksys WRT54GL: http://ascent.co.nz/productspecifica...?ItemID=345759 Its a great router.

[liambl]

That was my first thought, but other users on here reported problems with Linksys. Then again I have heard good things about the WRT54G series. Any other users with opinions?

[glc]

The WRT54GL is a specific router that's made for technically oriented people. It uses embedded Linux instead of VXWorks and lends itself to the use of 3rd party firmware such as DD-WRT. It just happens to be an excellent router with the stock firmware too. As far as I'm concerned, a VXWorks-based Linksys is crap just like all the D-Links, Belkins, and Netgears out there. The GL is essentially a reissued WRT54G version 4 - the last version with Linux. I personally have a WRT54G version 2 with DD-WRT. Linksys shot themselves in the foot with VXWorks in my opinion. The WRT54G version 5 was just terrible.

[liambl]

So the GL would be a good place to start. I know that that retailer would offer a complete refund if it wasn't right so I suppose theres no loss to be had. Guess I'll just try with that one.

[glc]

The antennas on the GL are also replaceable with higher gain ones if necessary. If you need to jack up the power, you will need DD-WRT firmware. Stock, it's 28mw and up to 100 is safe.

[mojo]

Another vote for the GL. I have one here with DD-WRT on it running as an AP. I have a one story house, but with a big finished attic and a finished basement, so essentially 3 stories of living space. I have my GL in the finished attic, with the power turned up the 50 mw, and I get great signal anywhere in the house. It currently has an uptime of 100 days, which means I haven't had to even touch it or think about it in that amount of time. The only reason the uptime isn't longer is because we had a power outage about 100 days ago. It just works. The only experiences I've had with D-Link routers have been bad ones. My sister used to have an old DIR-614 (I'm not sure if that's the exact model) at her house that was absolute crap, and literally made their internet run at snail speed, and I once got my wife's parents a d-link WBR-2310 when I was in town for 2 days and didn't have time to order anything online. It required constant rebooting and never worked very well. I've since replaced it with an old computer running IPCop (same as I do here at my house) and haven't had a problem since.

[glc]

I had a D-Link DI-624 and it was garbage. As a router, it would spontaneously reboot itself about once an hour. I neutered it and turned it into just an access point and it worked "okay" but the wireless was pretty weak.

[mojo]

Linksys should come out with the WRT54GLC since they're already two thirds of the way there. It would work really well but might be a bit tempermental and crotchety!

[liambl]

Problem

I have the router at my place now, in fact I'm typing this message through it. Thing is, only the LAN works. Neither my EeePC or my Acer laptop will pick up any hint of the wireless, all I get is "No wireless networks detected" I have exhausted all other ideas I found on the internet like make sure its broadcasting the SSID, disable security, change channel, reset, etc. I guess its just faulty?

[glc]

I assume your laptops will find other wireless access points?

[liambl]

Havn't been able to verify that yet. Tomorrow I'll take the Eee into a place sure to have wireless networks and see what happens, although just now I walked a bit down my street and didn't detect any networks, and I'm pretty sure there should be. From what I can see on the router, the wireless seems to work properly so I guess the only thing left is to do is try find some other networks.

[mbossman2]

the Linksys is an excellent choice.

what ever you buy, make sure that it has paired antennae. this allows you orient the antennae and shift the plane and shape of the transceiver's torus of coverage (a torus looks like a donut).

I personally orient 1 antenna vertically and the other horizontally. Yes, I lose some distance range (I estimate 10-15% but my house is no larger than 2000 sq feet so it doesn't matter much) but it provides more of a spherical coverage pattern than 2 parallel oriented antennae which is important in a multi-floor residential deployment.

[glc]

If you have 2 wireless laptops, I'm surprised you don't have a wireless router yourself!

[liambl]

Its never really been a big issue, my Acer laptop is retired and only used occasionally on the LCD TV as its screen broke, and the EeePC only gets used when I take it away from home.

[liambl]

So I went cruising with my laptops and found not one single wireless signal, even in highly commercial areas where I know there are lots of wireless networks. Wow, 2 laptops with non functional wireless, whats the chances of that? So I'm taking the router over now and see what it does.

[mbossman2]

obvious dumb question: is the wireless radio in the laptop turned on? (usually a Function F key - only my thinkpad Function F5 and on my Dell it's Function F2)

[glc]

The Eee uses Fn+F2.

[latamesh]

I have a Buffalo WZR-G108 which is probably ancient by now. 15 Cat5 outlets around the house and good wireless signal. Never had a single problem with it, vs. what I had with Linksys and Dlink. So if you open to it, look into Buffalo Technologies.

[liambl]

Yes its turned on, blue light on the front is lit up. Anyway I went round and installed it and it works fine. Theres a good signal everywhere on the 3 storeys of house on their Macbooks., even though the router is on the top floor. My EeePC still wouldn't behave over there so now I'm left with the problem of fixing the wireless, reinstalling the drivers didn't work.

[glc]

That was the smart thing to do, putting it on the top floor. You will get better range.