What is the best router for me?

huyi · 22-04-2007, 08:52

well, i want to buy a router but i have no idea which one to buy, i will put a list of stuff that the router will be used for:

PS3 connected by ethernet cable
PS2 connected by ethernet cable
Wii & DS connected wireless via the nintendo wifi adapter.
bittorrents

now the reason i mentioned the bittorrents is because i know that routers are a bit tricky (pain in the ass) when it comes to configuring them and opening ports and all that stuff, which modem do you recommend that has the best compatibility with bittorrents and is easy to setup? and will using a router with wireless usb wifi access point have any affect on the router, like any conflictions (reason for mentioning the wii & DS)

i'm looking to spend no more than Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£40-Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£50 for a router for my cable modem any recommendations?

oh and btw, what is this i hear about the mac address or something? when i buy the router will it involve just installing it and plugging it into the computer or will i have to call ntl and wait days for a mac address or something? how do you enter the mac address into a router & is it easy? what router is easier to set up in this situation?

Paul K · 22-04-2007, 09:38

The netgear we use here is fine with torrents (WGR614) and comes with the standard 4 ethernet ports as well as the wireless connection. If you shut your Modem and PC down when switching connections you should just be able to power up the modem, wait for lights to lock and settle, power up the router, wait for lights to lock and settle, power up the PC. If not then cloning the MAC is not hard.

huyi · 22-04-2007, 10:01

so all it takes is just installing the drivers and plugging in the router to the pc and it will find the mac address? and what is this cloning? what do you have to do to clone your modem?

edit: i've heard that the Netgear WGR614, disconnects after a while, do you have this problem yourself? has the latest firmware fixed this problem?

Nikesh · 22-04-2007, 10:40

I use torrents too and the Linksys WRT54G is great because you can install DD-WRT on it.

huyi · 22-04-2007, 11:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikesh

I use torrents too and the Linksys WRT54G is great because you can install DD-WRT on it.

whats that? and i've also heard this router has problems with shareaza, has anyone else experience these problems?

Nikesh · 22-04-2007, 11:18

I've never used Shareaza but DD-WRT is firmware for the router which gives you lots of extra options. It's much better for torrents than the original Linksys firmware. You can also increase the signal strength.

huyi · 22-04-2007, 11:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikesh

I've never used Shareaza but DD-WRT is firmware for the router which gives you lots of extra options. It's much better for torrents than the original Linksys firmware. You can also increase the signal strength.

ok well i looked on thier website and the download section and it's not very clear what firmware they have for the Netgear WGR614, they have a few stuff for the linksys but not for the Netgear WGR614, and btw have you heard of the linksys WRT54GS is it good for the stuff i mentioned?

Nikesh · 22-04-2007, 11:28

I don't think you can get DD-WRT for Netgear routers. The Linksys WRT54GS router is better because it has speedbooster and I think it has more memory so DD-WRT will run better.

huyi · 22-04-2007, 11:41

what is the difference between the normal G S and L versions? they all have the same model number but have different letters at the end, and does this specific router have problems with utorrent? i don't have any firewalls on my computer will it work straight away or will i have to set up port forwarding

if i do have to set it up i will unplug the router out to download i think, btw is there anyway to turn the firewall off in the router itself?

Nikesh · 22-04-2007, 11:50

You can turn the firewall router off but you might as well setup port forwarding because it's easy if you follow these instructions.

The WRT54G is the standard one.
The WRT54GS has speedbooster (which is only useful if you have a speedbooster wireless adaptor)
The WRT54GL is the linux version.

Cobbydaler · 22-04-2007, 11:52

G is the basic model. You can't get DD-WRT for the latest version of this (ver. 7) as they've changed the wireless chipset to Atheros from Broadcom.

GS is the model with speedbooster technology to increase the communication speed.

GL is basically the old version 4 G model. This reverts to Linux based firmware from VxWorks.

If you want to flash the router with DD-WRT firmware you're better going with the GL model...

huyi · 22-04-2007, 12:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikesh

You can turn the firewall router off but you might as well setup port forwarding because it's easy if you follow these instructions.

The WRT54G is the standard one.
The WRT54GS has speedbooster (which is only useful if you have a speedbooster wireless adaptor)
The WRT54GL is the linux version.

so i'm best of getting the WRT54G, i thought the WRT54GS boosted the internet connection or something so that means you have to buy a extra adapter to take advantage of it, now the only problem is dabs.com is the only place that sells the WRT54G version, ebuyer sell only the WRT54GS version

port forwarding is absolute hell and i don't want anything to do with it, i had a BT voyager 205 once (now in the bin) and that thing was a absolute nightmare, if i have problems with any of my programs the only thing i will do is to unplug the routers i ain't messing with any annoying ports, and thanks god i can turn the firewall off

Quote:

GL is basically the old version 4 G model. This reverts to Linux based firmware from VxWorks.

If you want to flash the router with DD-WRT firmware you're better going with the GL model...

i'm not really interested in using linux at all so i won't be getting the L version, i've heard that to install the DD-WRT you have to do something to the router or something, i don't really want to mess with that thank you and on top of that there is risk that it will brick the router and i would be left with a Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£50 paper weight, it aint worth the risk espically if i won't know what the hell i am doing.

janipewter · 22-04-2007, 14:46

The WRT54GL is easy as pie to debrick, all you need is a good pair of eyes, a small screwdriver and some balls. I paid Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£70 for mine a while ago, and I've bricked it twice since then, yet I've managed to fix it myself and it's still running strong (with DD-WRT v23 SP2).

ntluser · 22-04-2007, 19:25

We have a desktop PC, an Apple MAC G3 computer and three wireless-capable laptops.

We have a Samsung STB and currently use the PC and MAC taking alternate turns to connect to the internet. i.e. either the PC or the MAC not both.

Ideally, we would like to connect a high-speed wireless router with LAN connections to the STB so that the PC and MAC can connect to the internet via LAN cable and the three laptops can connect to the internet wirelessly.

What would be the best router to do this bearing in mind our internet connection is 4Mb?

Also how does the router deal with the signals it receives from various sources?

Any information would be welcomed.

Nikesh · 22-04-2007, 19:27

ntluser: The Linksys WRT54G range of routers will suit your needs fine.