Wireless Routers

[BoBoBREWSKI]

I have a Cisco Lynksys router that is 4+ years old and isn't cutting it anymore. Our wireless connection is getting worse & worse... especially now that we have more devises using WiFi. We have 3 iPhones, 2 iPads, & 2 Xbox's using WiFi. Our PC is wired. Any recommendations on a good new wireless router? Hopefully less than $100.

 

[ABM]

http://www.amazon.com/Medialink-Wir...356752963&sr=1-9&keywords=t10+wireless+router

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Thanks, but thats an older router. I'm looking for something new (2012), with the latest & greatest features.

 

[ABM]

Over $100, but found this...

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...18224b2d9e39&gclid=CNGWioTnvrQCFSXZQgodLAkA-Q

 

[Haakzilla]

Best Wireless Routers --> http://reviews.cnet.com/best-wireless-routers/

 

[Denny Crane]

Apple Airport. Time Capsule has WiFi router built in, but also has network disk storage.

The thing just works.

 

[donkiez]

are you sure its the router? Whats your download and upload speeds? Have you done a speed test to compare what your are suppose to get with what you are actually getting? With all those devices its possible that you are just using all your bandwiidth. Also is your network password protected? Your nieghboors could be streaming netflix on your dime.

 

[Eastoff]

Just a heads up, when you use your microwave, the wifi signal will cut out/weaken

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Thanks guys!

are you sure its the router? Whats your download and upload speeds? Have you done a speed test to compare what your are suppose to get with what you are actually getting? With all those devices its possible that you are just using all your bandwiidth. Also is your network password protected? Your nieghboors could be streaming netflix on your dime.

No, I havent done a speed test. I'll try that.
Yes, its password protected.

 

[Haakzilla]

www.speedtest.net

 

[Nikolokolus]

When you say you want the "latest and greatest" it's not enough to just get the fastest router out there, if your connected device isn't compliant with the new standard then you're going to need a new wireless card/dongle, etc (or a new device) that can take advantage of all those fancy new bells and whistles. to make a recommendation I'd need to know how many devices you typically connect at once, what networking standard they use (802.11n, 11g, etc.) and if you plan to upgrade your networked devices to newer standards.

802.11ac is the bleeding edge, but it's not set in stone yet as a standard and the routers available are mostly outside of your budget. If you want something that is still fast but a little older, there are a ton of 802.11n routers floating around out there. I've been using a D-link DIR-655 for several years and it's mostly still chugging along with pretty good load balancing, lots of options, there are also some good dual-band 802.11n routers, but might not fit your budget.

http://www.amazon.com/Routers-Netwo...d_t=101&pf_rd_p=1416298802&pf_rd_i=2956536011

For what it's worth, I don't recommend buying a router second-hand, these things typically run 24/7 for years and years and over time heat can wear the internal components out ... which might partially explain your current router's issues.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Some times 2 Xbox's, 2 iPhones, and 2 iPads are all connected at the same time.

This is what I have now:
Cisco Linksys WRT160N
http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-WRT160N-Wireless-N-Broadband-Router/dp/B000Z3U1P6

 

[porkchopexpress]

Apple Airport. Time Capsule has WiFi router built in, but also has network disk storage.

The thing just works.

I have an Airport Extreme for my router and love it. I use an old Express for airtunes and that works pretty well also. If we ever move to a bigger place it'll be great as a network extender. I would be hesitant about the Extreme's with Time Capsule built in. I was looking into getting one and it seems like they have a fairly high failure rate. This was a few years ago, so it may be better now, but when I was looking it seemed like they all died in about a year (I've had the Extreme 3 or 4 years w/o a problem).

 

[Denny Crane]

I have an Airport Extreme for my router and love it. I use an old Express for airtunes and that works pretty well also. If we ever move to a bigger place it'll be great as a network extender. I would be hesitant about the Extreme's with Time Capsule built in. I was looking into getting one and it seems like they have a fairly high failure rate. This was a few years ago, so it may be better now, but when I was looking it seemed like they all died in about a year (I've had the Extreme 3 or 4 years w/o a problem).

I have the time capsule and it's been terrific for 8 months now.

 

[ppilot]

Probably the most comprehensive home networking site on the web. Only downside is that it can be a little hard to navigate.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

SpeedTest results on my iPhone (wifi):
Download - 14.52 mbps
Upload - 4.19 mbps
Ping - 23 ms

SpeedTest results on my PC (wired):
Download - 24.56 mbps
Upload - 3.82 mbps
Ping - 9 ms

 

[Denny Crane]

SpeedTest results on my iPhone (wifi):
Download - 14.52 mbps
Upload - 4.19 mbps
Ping - 23 ms

SpeedTest results on my PC (wired):
Download - 24.56 mbps
Upload - 3.82 mbps
Ping - 9 ms

Seems like it's working. You have a 25MBit connection.

The iPhone is slower because it is really slow writing to the flash memory doing the download test.

I'm not seeing anything really wrong...

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Hmmm. OK. Thanks!

 

[Denny Crane]

If you have a laptop or something you can test speedtest.net over the wifi, it'd be useful.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Bobo, your speedtests look fine, but maybe you could describe in more detail what kinds of problems you're having. Are connections dropping in and out? Is video playback choppy?

I'm also going to assume that your router has a configuration page (usually accessed by typing in the router's address into your browser. e.g.: 192.168.0.1 is a super common default out of the box) sometimes it's worth seeing if there are QOS (quality of service) rules that can be setup to help prioritize certain kinds of web traffic, of if there's a way to load balance network traffic when multiple devices are accessing the network simultaneously. You say that your wifi connection is failing you in some way, have you tried changing the default channel, sometimes other devices in the home (or a neighbors' home) can conflict with your wifi channel -- cordless phones on a 5 GHz connection are prime offenders. Also try and see if there is a firmware update for your router; if there is an update you can usually read the release notes and see if it addresses a particular problem with your current router.

Here's your product support page:http://homesupport.cisco.com/en-us/support/routers/WRT160N

(firmware, user forum, etc.)

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Problems - iPhones not able to connect... xbox losing connection.
I updated the firmware last weekend and have noticed a slight improvement.
I'll check the the QOS and channel.

THANKS!

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Best router ever!

http://consumerist.com/2013/01/08/target-sells-most-awesome-router-ever-for-only-29-99/

 

[THE HCP]

SpeedTest results on my iPhone (wifi):
Download - 14.52 mbps
Upload - 4.19 mbps
Ping - 23 ms

SpeedTest results on my PC (wired):
Download - 24.56 mbps
Upload - 3.82 mbps
Ping - 9 ms

The HCPs

MacBook Air (wifi)
Download - 6.04 mbps
Upload - 1.04 mbps
Ping - 29 ms

iPhone 5 (wifi)
Download - 5.22 mbps
Upload - 1.00 mbps
Ping - 14 ms

iPhone 5 (LTE)
Dowload - 15.69 mbps
Upload - 2.66 mbps
Ping - 123 ms

Can somebody please translate?

 

[Denny Crane]

Your internet connection is 6mbps down, 1mpbs up. If you upload a picture to S2, for example, it goes at 1/6th as fast as loading the picture in a WWW page.

LTE is significantly faster than your WiFi and Internet connection. Looks like 16 down / 3 up

Ping time is latency. Your 29ms means .029 seconds after you request to download that picture, it will start downloading.

 

[THE HCP]

I know recently I went to the slower internet because we don't really do much here at the house, but look how much slower it is then BeerBoys!

 

[Denny Crane]

Most of what you do is download. That's why the connections are faster that way.

Bobo's connection is about 4x faster than yours.

At 6mbit/sec, you can download about 600K bytes/second. An iTunes song might take 10-20 seconds to download. For Bobo, 4x faster than that, or ~5 seconds.

You might notice Netflix quality suffer a bit, especially if you're downloading iTunes songs at the same time.

 

[Eastoff]

Most of what you do is download. That's why the connections are faster that way.

Bobo's connection is about 4x faster than yours.

At 6mbit/sec, you can download about 600K bytes/second. An iTunes song might take 10-20 seconds to download. For Bobo, 4x faster than that, or ~5 seconds.

You might notice Netflix quality suffer a bit, especially if you're downloading iTunes songs at the same time.

Or if two members of your house are trying to watch netflix in 720 at the same time.

 

[THE HCP]

We use appletv and netflix a lot.

 

[mook]

I have the time capsule and it's been terrific for 8 months now.

I used to just backup to a hard drive. Then it occurred to me hurricane/fire/theft would destroy all my data. I use mozybackup now, although it really causes my old XP machine to slow down so I disable it when I use it.

 

[Denny Crane]

We use appletv and netflix a lot.

If you're happy with the experience/quality, you have enough bandwidth.