Summary
In a market with so many different makes of router available, it can be confusing trying to buy a router which meets your needs. This article aims to make the process a little easier and will consider the following:
- Wired Cable Routers
- Wireless Cable Routers
- ADSL wired routers
- ADSL wireless routers.
- A note for Xbox
What Router Type is Right For You?
Cable or ADSL User:
The first step is to determine which of these sections you need to be looking at.
- Ntl:Telewest users: Cable modems are suitable for ntl & Telewest connections (NB if you have AOL through ntl cable it is not currently possible to use a router with the service). Routers with an ADSL modem inbuilt generally cannot be used on Cable.
- ADSL users: If your Internet connection is supplied through your BT phone line then you either need an ADSL router, or you can connect a cable router to a standalone ethernet modem (although this is not that efficient). 99% of ADSL routers have a built in modem.
Wired or Wireless:
There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods:
- Wired networks will run faster than wireless. Most PCs sold with network cards over the last 5 years, and most wired routers will operate at 100Mbps. Highly useful for moving larger files between home PCs, but your internet connection, at 10Mbps, would only use a fraction of this.
- On average a wireless router will cost around £20 more than the wired equivalent.
- If you wish to connect PCs wireless they must be "wireless enabled" eg, have inbuilt wireless or have wireless cards installed. Wireless PC cards cost around £30, whereas PCI cards are around £25.
- Wireless router configuration can take longer than doing so for a wired router, as you need to setup wireless security.
- Wireless routers alleviate the need to run ethernet cable round the house
- Buying a wireless router now could save you paying to upgrade if you decide to go wireless in the future.
- There are two wireless standards, 802.11b and 802.11g. "b" standard is 11Mbps whilst "g" standard is 54Mbps. These are maximum speeds which due to local conditions, interference, walls, and the like may not be achievable. With the faster broadband speeds of 10Meg now being common, the 802.11b standard leaves little margin. We'd suggest you only look at "g" standard wireless, or perhaps the standard just emerging "n".
Popular Choices
Wired Cable Routers:
Linksys BEFSR41
This router is simple to setup- and will work straight out of the box for both ntl and Telewest. There are many different firmware versions available open source for those who wish to fiddle and the router has a built in 4 port switch.
Full Spec
Wireless Cable Routers:
Linksys WRT54G
This router is priced around £40. It combines a router and 4 port switch and allows connection at upto 54mbps and although Linksys did have problems with DHCP renewal on previous firmware versions, these appear to have been resolved now. This router is recommended by a number of cable broadband users, although some consider the administrative features to be rather limited- the mac address filtering in particular has been mentioned as a weakness. It has a DMZ for those who wish to setup a web server and is VPN compatible for those who need to VPN into work. Some users have reported drop outs if more than 5 PCs are connected and all using Peer 2 Peer software simultaneously.
The WRT54GS is the slightly bigger cousin of the WRT54G. The S denotes "Speedstep", Linksys' booster techology that can give up to 30% extra wireless performance, provided the wireless card on the computer is compatible.
Full Spec
Netgear WGR614
This router is a little dearer than the Linksys, priced at around £50-60. It also combines a 54g router with a 4 port switch, and is compatible with all windows/ apple OS's. Reviews suggest that this router is very easy to configure, and for those of you concerned about appearance, is more attractive (and shinier!) than the Linksys. The Netgear also features a DMZ and supports VPN connections.
Full Spec
Wired ADSL routers:
DSL-W 906E Single-Port ADSL Router
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I think Bifta's review of this one says it all.... ?Setup - easy if you're using the windows tool, fantastic if you use the console, you can configure just about everything from the command line.
Performance - Very reliable, suffered being dropped down 2 flights of stairs, still worked with the guts hanging out, never dropped the ADSL connection once in the year or so I used one?. Priced at around £40, the disadvantage of this router, is that it only has a single ethernet port, so it would be necessary to buy a switch or hub as well.
Full Spec
Ebuyer 1 Port SPI Firewall Combo Ethernet ADSL Modem Router
This is just about the cheapest router that seemed to be worth the money- £19.99, but only available from ebuyer. The router only has one port- so the cost saving will probably be made up by having to buy a switch as well. However, the router is as feature packed as any other, and I haven't found any reports of stability problems.
Full Spec
Wireless ADSL routers:
Netgear DG834G
It combines an ADSL modem, router, 10/100 LAN switch, 802.11g access point, and SPI True Firewall. It gives you untethered continuous connectivity to your network resources and the Internet, and allows you to share your broadband access with all of your networked computers wireless or with wires using Ethernet cables. Also compatible with Xbox Live. TheBlueRaja suggests this is better than the Linsksys WRT54G & GS.
Netgear appear to be withdrawing this product in favour of the DG834GT.
Full Spec
Belkin F5D7231UK4
This router can operate at upto 125mbps- the fastest wireless speed currently available. Setup and administration are reported to be very easy, although there have been a number of complaints about connectivity- some stating below par, only 20 foot away from my machines yet loses connection constantly?. Prices are around £50-60
Full Spec
Linksys WAG54GS
An update to the apparently discontinued WAG54G. The WAG54G had been poorly reviewed, based on early problems with firmware, although recent reviews of the v2 suggest that these have now been resolved. Linksys also state that The current version of the WAG54G V2 is not compatible with the WRE54G.
This ADSL2+ router includes Linksys' Speedstep wireless booster. Setup is straightforward, and the router combines a 4 port switch. Prices around £60.
Full Spec
A note regarding routers for Xbox:
The Xbox website details certain routers that are/ are not compatible with xbox live:
Compatible Cable Routers
Dlink DI624+
Dlink DI624
Dlink DI614+
Linksys BEFSR41
Linksys BEFW11S4
Linksys WRT54G
Compatible ADSL Routers:
BT Voyager 200 Network Router
Thomson SpeedTouch 510
Thomson SpeedTouch 530
U.S. Robotics SureConnect 9003
Also provided is a list of routers that do not work with Xbox live. Further information can be found
here
Other Information
Finally- it is worth checking whether your ISP recommend any particular router- as they may be able to help with the support of this if you have problems. Some ISPs information pages:
Updated 21/10.06. Originally written by Monkeybreath
with thanks to: Stuartbe, Bdav, Raistlin, Bifta, SMHarman, punky, Nffc, Zoombini, Ramrod, TheBlueRaja, Zovat, Aragorn, Scastle, Movedgoalposts and Bayonet for their contributions to the thread discussing this
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