Wireless Purchase Advice b/g

[Gilbo]

I recently posted in the techsupport forum here about some issues I've had with a Linksys BEFW11S4 rev 4 wireless B router. The thing has totally died. Even wired connections don't work. I may as well be plugging ethernet cables into a piece of pizza...

I did however, enjoy several months of wireless freedom and I'm addicted to being able to use my laptop all over the house, so I need a replacement, and I know many of you have experience with wireless APs and routers.

I'm looking for a router, although I could use an access point as well. Additionally I'm looking for advice regarding antennae, specifically an omnidirectional one (or do I want an amplifier? --not necessarily one as powerful as Merc's ).

The router/AP point needs:
1. To be reliable in your experience (or your 2nd hand experience), particularly as regards connectivity issues.
2. To support WPA.
3. To support aumentation using an antenna or amplifier of some sort (I want it to work in the backyard where signal strength is doomed to be impeded by many walls and was very low with the Linksys).
4. Did I mention I wanted it to be reliable...

I appreciate any help you guys can spare. Thanks in advance .

 

[Gilbo]

I suppose for an antenna, you just strap it to the existing antenna eh? So asking if a router supports an additional antenna may have been kind of stupid eh?

Sorry guys I'm clueless about RF electronics/physics.

 

[Mercutio]

General observations:

Linksys equipment consistently offers marvelous range and good signal strength. THey are easy to modify with new antennae or hacked firmware. Their hardware, however, isn't highly reliable, as the stack of broken WRT54Gs (usually, the WAN port dies or wireless stops working... they're decent little switches, though) in my garage will attest.

DLink makes shit hardware. Period. Consistently the most limited range of options, poor signals, limited security options... I wouldn't touch it.

Netgear - The few netgear APs I've had seem to have range/signal issues. And their web admin program seems to be IE-only. But I don't have stacks of netgear APs in my garage, either.

Those are the most familiar options.

 

[sechs]

I have a Belkin router. Except for a blown fuse on the original one that I bought, I've had no problems with it. It has just enough options for me to be secure about it.

I know people with Linksys routers, and I feel that Merc has pretty much hit the nail on the head with those.

 

[Howell]

Netgear - The few netgear APs I've had seem to have range/signal issues. And their web admin program seems to be IE-only. But I don't have stacks of netgear APs in my garage, either.

I don't have any problem using my 634U with Firefox.

 

[Handruin]

I've not been entirely happy with my netgear WGT624. However, the admin interface does work with firefox.

My netgear actually works fine if I don't enable the 108Mbps option at all. I've tried all latest drives and firmwares, but nothing has fixed my constant disconnect issues as well as constant reboots of the router. All problems have gone away with the 108 disabled.

 

[Howell]

I have had trouble in the past where if there is a power blip the router will get stuck in a reboot cycle reboot cycle reboot cycle.

Recently I moved and reset everything to defaults and it seems to be working fine, 108 included. Over time I'll enable more security settings and see what wiggs the router out. I've never had the disconnect issues you describe.

 

[Handruin]

My router is connected to my UPS, so I'll rule out power dips and blips. I also have WPA encryption enabled, but disabling it in the past has never solved the issue.

I can say with confidence that my router misbehaves when auto 108 is enabled. Performance is terrible, my WG511T drops signals like crazy, and the router will reboot randomly. Once I've disabled auto 108, I was able to work on my laptop for several hours with no issues. With 108 disabled, I can't remember my router rebooting randomly.

I spent some time looking through netgear's support forum and I even found one person who could reproduce his reboot issue whenever someone called his home phone. Turns out, his issue was his cordless phone causing the reboots. I checked, and this wasn't my issue.

 

[Howell]

Hmm. My router is on a UPS too but it is on old APC and I suspect it doesn't switch over fast enough. I could duplicate the issue by simulating a quick power outage at the power plug.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Will Rickards]

I have a netgear MR814v2 which is b only and doesn't support WPA.
Works great for me. I plugged it in months ago and never really had to do anything to it since. I think I updated the firmware once, but only because I wanted to not because there was any problem. I have it hooked up to the BroadVoice Telephone Adaptor (VoIP) and it works fine. I recommend netgear to those who ask.

 

[Handruin]

I'll run a test with mine the next time I'm on my laptop, but I don't think this is my issues. Voltage dips and spikes are generally handled by the automatic voltage regulation capabilities of my UPS. However, this doesn't rule out the possibility. My UPS rarely switches over to battery for these events. It's usually when there are severe power sags, or complete power loss.

 

[blakerwry]

I have a netgear MR814v2 which is b only and doesn't support WPA.
Works great for me. I plugged it in months ago and never really had to do anything to it since. I think I updated the firmware once, but only because I wanted to not because there was any problem. I have it hooked up to the BroadVoice Telephone Adaptor (VoIP) and it works fine. I recommend netgear to those who ask.

I've setup a couple of these and they work great, easy to configure, very cheap price. Would like to have the increased secuirty of a .g AP though. And a detachable antenna would be convenient too.

 

[timwhit]

I'm not a big fan of Netgear. A friend has a one of their wireless routers and has had endless problems with it. I have used their wired routers in the past and don't really like them very much.

I've also used several d-link routers in the past and they are absolute crap. Always resetting themselves, overheating, etc. Stay away.

I have had the best luck with Linksys. I have a BEFSX41 wired router, which has worked very well for me. I also bought a Linksys WRT54G wireless router a couple weeks ago and it has been working really well. The range is very good and it probably has all the features that you would ever need.

 

[Clocker]

My Netgear WGR614v1 (802.11g) has been good for me. It just goes and goes and goes. I never have to reset it or anything. I'm using WEP encryption. When I try to use WPA it gets kind of flaky and unstable.

Netgear is on v5 of the router now, I think. I'm not sure it is any better but the fact that they have 5 revisions is somewhat disconcerting. I think it is mainly due to chipset vendor changes but come on already. :eekers:

 

[BooST]

My Linksys WAP54G is my baby... For great signal, get a Hawking antenna for $20. It works 1/2 mile from my house. WPA, WEP, whatever... It works.

 

[Mercutio]

The Netgear 634U I have access to does not refresh after I make a setting change and restart, when I use Firefox. Seems to work with IE. This is the reason for my previous statement.

 

[time]

My Netgear WGR614v1 (802.11g) has been good for me. It just goes and goes and goes. I never have to reset it or anything. I'm using WEP encryption. When I try to use WPA it gets kind of flaky and unstable.

Netgear is on v5 of the router now, I think. I'm not sure it is any better but the fact that they have 5 revisions is somewhat disconcerting. I think it is mainly due to chipset vendor changes but come on already. :eekers:

I'd been told that there were working v1 units, but frankly I didn't really believe it. I went through three in very rapid succession before Netgear said: "You have a version 1? My God, we'll send you a v4 immediately. Send the v1 back when you get a chance."

The v4s I've used have been great (for the price). By and large however, the WG624 v2 feels more robust (faster processor etc). With Netgear, I suspect if you get a mature product, you're fine, but newish products are poison. Handruin's is probably faulty.

I've had no problems with range or browsers (that I'm aware of). I've used Mozilla, Opera and IE with equal success. With some other routers, however, I can't use Opera and I've had to restart Firefox once or twice.

 

[Buck]

My Linksys WAP54G is my baby... For great signal, get a Hawking antenna for $20. It works 1/2 mile from my house. WPA, WEP, whatever... It works.

BooST, which antenna did you buy?

 

[Mercutio]

It's a HAI6SIP. He has better luck with it than I did.

 

[P5-133XL]

I have a Netgear WGR614 v1 (802.11g) and it has worked fine since day 1. My biggest annoyance has been the inability to upgrade the BIOS to include WPA. I'm starting to have problems with the 10/100 switches and am considering replacing the unit however.

Clocker, are you sure it is a v1 that you have: It doesn't support WPA in any form. You have to go for a later version for WPA to even show up as possible.

 

[Clocker]

I have a Netgear WGR614 v1 (802.11g) and it has worked fine since day 1. My biggest annoyance has been the inability to upgrade the BIOS to include WPA. I'm starting to have problems with the 10/100 switches and am considering replacing the unit however.

Clocker, are you sure it is a v1 that you have: It doesn't support WPA in any form. You have to go for a later version for WPA to even show up as possible.

100% sure. I got mine when they first came out.
Check here: http://kbserver.netgear.com/products_automatic/WGR614v1.asp

The beta 1400 firmware for the v1 'supports' WPA-PSK according to Netgear but I can't get it working with any stability. So, I've been running the official 1126 firmware.

C