At the moment I have a Belkin adsl wireless G router, which to be honest has been good but it's now starting to drop out now and then and has lost all its info and passwords quite a few times just lately.

So what is the best one to go for speed and security wise (not netgear though as I have been through more of them than I can count)...all the letters "G" "N" etc have now got confusing so anyone in the know as to what is good.

Thanks in advance

I am still using the router supplied by my ISP at the mo. Have been looking to change recently. Best security or encryption i believe is WPA2. Wireless N standard has not been ratified yet. To get the best of an "n" standard router you will need a compatible wireless card in your PC or notebook. If you buy a wireless "n" router and only have a wireless G card then it will automatically default to the slower "g" standard.

It really depends on what you use your router for but a lot of routers at the budget end offer things like QOS ( Quality od service ) where as when you pay more you can have Multiple SSID, some can even broadcast simultaneously on g and n (2.4ghz and 5ghz wave length)

If you dont use it for streaming then a "g" standard product will be suffice i would say.

Hopefully a few people will come along soon and recommend a few routers.

I'm running a Netgear draft n router and the range and speed is great. My neighbour can use my internet and they are acrross the street and 2 doors down!! I get a 2mbps download but that is the limit of my local exchange. Moving house soon and to a 7meg service

I'm running a Netgear draft n router and the range and speed is great. My neighbour can use my internet and they are acrross the street and 2 doors down!! I get a 2mbps download but that is the limit of my local exchange. Moving house soon and to a 7meg service

Yep that's the problem with N.

You use up more than one channel to get the extra speed so tramping on other peoples ability to use one of the 3 discrete channels and causing them wireless issues. That plus the increased range means people can steal your data/net from further away if your security isn't up to scratch.

Draytek (2820) and XyZel make good routers for a higher price but otherwise you can do a lot worse than a Thompson speedtouch.

I had a Belkin wireless router and it was a pile of poo. Talktalk offered me a wireless router for £15 and that has been miles better, on the base is marked as an Echolife HG520S. I used to have to keep switching the old belkin on & off to get a signal, but the new one hasn't missed a beat yet.

AHhh got some of it, the "G" and "N" are the wireless side of it with N being faster .......

Your Download Speed: 2.19 Mbps

Your Upload Speed: 362 Kbps

in theory I have a 8 Mbps download speed but I know thats never going to get there.....less than half a mile from the exchange .....what should my speed be on average.....are there any routers that download faster than the others....as I have a adsl modem (no wireless) and that will go up to 5Mbps

Your Download Speed: 2.19 Mbps

Your Upload Speed: 362 Kbps

What's your attenuation and SNR? Please post your full stats.

Dont talk to me about routers:mad: Won a Netgear DG834N on ebay and gues what its faulty...spent an hour on Netgears tech help and they said wireless transmission must be busted :thumbdwn: turns out the guy i got it from purchased it on the 10th Jan 09 off of ebay and could not get it working:mad: Now in the hands of Paypal

Rant over though, told by mate who works for Misco that this one is generally a good buy...getting one new off him now:)

Phil

Edited 5 February, 200917 yr by piv34uk

What's your attenuation and SNR? Please post your full stats.

Can't find a test that gives out those figures anyone got a link to one?

Can't find a test that gives out those figures anyone got a link to one?

They will be in your router. Have a look here.

All is becoming clear

Data rate (Kbps) 5472 448

Noise margin (dB) 15.1 24.0

Output power (dBm) 19.8 11.9

Attenuation (dB) 16.0 10.0

i've got a belkin vision N thingy and its the best i have ever used for range, awesome!

2 bits of advice are to use a network scanner to see what channels others are using, and use the lease used.

Also, try a decent RJ11 cable. Just replaced mine with a gold plated terminal jobbie (Belkin Gold) and have gained 800kbs speed in peak times.

If you're running the router through any extension lead, this will kill speed too.

We supply all our clients with Netgear DG834G routers, we've sent out over 600 and only had 2 returned for being faulty...not bad going if you ask me!

Needless to say we won't supply or use anything else as we can't configure them as easily or as well it would seem with the others i've messed about with.

Choice is yours at the end of the day, what ever one you find easiest to setup.

We supply all our clients with Netgear DG834G routers, we've sent out over 600 and only had 2 returned for being faulty...not bad going if you ask me!

Needless to say we won't supply or use anything else as we can't configure them as easily or as well it would seem with the others i've messed about with.

Choice is yours at the end of the day, what ever one you find easiest to setup.

Maybe they have got better......but I had two, one after the other and they both went faulty

There are several router choices:-

N Range

Linksys WAG160N

Belkin F5D8633UK4A

G Range

Linksys WRT54GL and flash it with Tomato firmware

Belkin F5D7633UK4A

Netgear DG834GT and flash it with DGTeam firmware.

I imagine that you will be quite happy with Wireless G so go for the WRT54GL. Don't get the G or GS though as they have less RAM, less flash and less CPU.

Your line stats are pretty good. Have you tried plugging into the test socket to see if internal wiring is causing an issue? See here for instructions.

As Gadgetman says, a decent RJ11 cable can make a difference. I installed an XTE2005 faceplate and Pro RJ11 cable and got an extra 500kbps.

If you're really techy, you can also check your MTU size. This can make a subtle difference. Instructions here.

another vote for draytek, allthrough you wont need all the features it has a good security set up and is better than some of the basic models that isp's seem to give out free.

Draytek (2820) and XyZel make good routers for a higher price but otherwise you can do a lot worse than a Thompson speedtouch.

Another vote for Draytek or Xyzel. Cisco are excellent, but too much bother to set up for most people, and expensive.

Personally, I would go with the Draytek although the Netgear DG834GT is very good with the DGTeam firmware (fast when streaming or with multiple active users).

I would steer clear of the Belkin F5D7633UK4A if you have an unreliable connection.

To the OP, don't Belkin products have a lifetime garuntee?

And whats the point in all the speed increases for modems because most basic Wifi units do 54Mps and the faster UK Broadband is 50MB. And granted you may use it for transfering data/file sharing but again thats limited by the read/write speed of the HDD surely?

Back on topic I am happy with my 2 or 3 year old Linksys. Dropped it a few times and lost settings but it keeps going when its not being dropped. Having said that we couldn't set it up ourselves and had to ring their very helpful/knowledgeable helpline.

But 50Mb broadband is actually 5MB per second, which wi-fi g can't really handle, maximum theoritcal speed is 5.4 MB = 54Mbps, In reality about 3.5-4 MBps. And if your HDD can't write t these speeds ......then you need a new one.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong lol

But 50Mb broadband is actually 5MB per second, which wi-fi g can't really handle, maximum theoritcal speed is 5.4 MB = 54Mbps, In reality about 3.5-4 MBps. And if your HDD can't write t these speeds ......then you need a new one.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong lol

Almost, there are 8 bits in a byte so 50 Mb would be 6.25 MB i believe.

Almost, there are 8 bits in a byte so 50 Mb would be 6.25 MB i believe.

You know what I mean't lol

Circa 5MBps then

There are several router choices:-

N Range

Linksys WAG160N

Belkin F5D8633UK4A

G Range

Linksys WRT54GL and flash it with Tomato firmware

Belkin F5D7633UK4A

Netgear DG834GT and flash it with DGTeam firmware.

I imagine that you will be quite happy with Wireless G so go for the WRT54GL. Don't get the G or GS though as they have less RAM, less flash and less CPU.

Your line stats are pretty good. Have you tried plugging into the test socket to see if internal wiring is causing an issue? See here for instructions.

As Gadgetman says, a decent RJ11 cable can make a difference. I installed an XTE2005 faceplate and Pro RJ11 cable and got an extra 500kbps.

If you're really techy, you can also check your MTU size. This can make a subtle difference. Instructions here.

The Belkin F5D7633UK4A is one I have now, but for some reason it is dropping all the log on data every so often.......have one PC and one laptop on the wireless and two pc's direct wired.......the wireless side isn't to bad I'd just like to wring every last bit of speed out of the whole system

And I already have a XTE2005 faceplate looks like I need a better rj11 cable

Edited 6 February, 200917 yr by Octygone

But 50Mb broadband is actually 5MB per second, which wi-fi g can't really handle, maximum theoritcal speed is 5.4 MB = 54Mbps, In reality about 3.5-4 MBps. And if your HDD can't write t these speeds ......then you need a new one.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong lol

Good point, I know that downloading is roughly and tenth of quoted speeds but I assumed that the Wfi would transfer at the quoted speeds, would explain a few things.

Thanks for clearing that up for me,