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Best Wireless "N" Router for Home

5633 Views 11 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  TFL Replica, 
xguntherc
Hey guys, I know there is a lot of these threads, but my search didn't help much. Basically here's the deal. I have a modem hooked up to a 3-4 yr old Netgear WPN824 v2 it does B/G and done it well with restarts rarely needed. It's power supply died yesterday n I'm using a AC Adapter I shouldn't so I want something new just in case.

I run 2-3 PCs WIRED and usually 1-2 cell phones wireless, as well as my iPod touch I'm using alll day at home wirelessly. But the main daily use is 2 pcs and my touch. I want N just to have the latest n greatest, plus my phone accepts N and my 3rd Gen touch has a N capable chip whenever apple enables it (greedy apple).

What is the best wireless N router for under let's say $80 dollars. I'm tempted to get the xtended range dual band N linksys recertified on newegg. But I want reliability. When both PC's are online I feel the slowdown. So I want that gone, something that handles gaming and occasional torrents, technet downloads.

Thanks. I also have faith in my Netgear, I've had no problems with it so wouldn't mind sticking to the brand, but whatever works. Buffalo Nfiniti??
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H
The mythical, never-going-to-be-in-stock Netgear3500L would be awesome.

N under $80? Your best bet is probably the WRT-120N.
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S
I would recommend http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833127215

I have had for over a year and it is by far the best wireless router I have owned. I know it's a little more than 80 bucks, but its free shipping, and well worth it!
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Quote:

Originally Posted by hometoast View Post
The mythical, never-going-to-be-in-stock Netgear3500L would be awesome.

N under $80? Your best bet is probably the WRT-120N.
Dual band N?

Pretty much all of them would be out of your price range. There's one that cost $90 which is the TRENDnet TEW-671BR.

I currently have the D-Link DIR-825, but I am going to receive the NETGEAR WNDR3700 s00n as a replacement. However both expensive, but I think its worth it if you want a dual band N router. Both are pretty much the same in terms of hardware and spec-wise, but from the tests; the NETGEAR WNDR3700 performs better.

If you want to gamble on the linksys dual band refurb based on the price, then you should. But I am not a fan of linksys products.
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@Raiden911
Here's another set of tests that show your 825 to be better than the 3700 in every way:

http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/netg...l?tag=txt;page
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xguntherc
Well guys. Here's the deal. I don't game, or download music or files or transfer Anthing on wireless. "yet". Currently all my main stuff is done hardwired to the router ran in walls but my phones n iPod use wireless. So I don't need like the best of best. I just want somethiNg good. I heard bad stuff about d link but that dir-655 has like 900 reviews on newegg that looks pretty good. Frys had a wireless N router for $49 last week. But I'm sure it was the cheapest N.

I want good coverage. As I'm out front of house often and my touch looses partial signal out there. And like I said when I am online and the other PC gets on. I feel a slight slowdown. Nothing extreme.

So a top of line $130 dual band N won't do **** for my wired connection to my PC will it? Also being WIRED to my current G I only get wired & wireless speeds of 54 max right, so getting a gigabit or nice N router, will that still help my wired at all?

Thanks
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2
Quote:

Originally Posted by EGLynum View Post
@Raiden911
Here's another set of tests that show your 825 to be better than the 3700 in every way:

http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/netg...l?tag=txt;page
I don't put a lot of trust in Cnet reviews, but thx for the info.
The one source that got my attention was from smallnetbuilder.com
Here's the review with the various charts --> http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wirel...r3700-reviewed and this
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wirel...1-quick-review

Quote:

Originally Posted by xguntherc View Post
Well guys. Here's the deal. I don't game, or download music or files or transfer Anthing on wireless. "yet". Currently all my main stuff is done hardwired to the router ran in walls but my phones n iPod use wireless. So I don't need like the best of best. I just want somethiNg good. I heard bad stuff about d link but that dir-655 has like 900 reviews on newegg that looks pretty good. Frys had a wireless N router for $49 last week. But I'm sure it was the cheapest N.

I want good coverage. As I'm out front of house often and my touch looses partial signal out there. And like I said when I am online and the other PC gets on. I feel a slight slowdown. Nothing extreme.

So a top of line $130 dual band N won't do **** for my wired connection to my PC will it? Also being WIRED to my current G I only get wired & wireless speeds of 54 max right, so getting a gigabit or nice N router, will that still help my wired at all?

Thanks
What I stated in my post was in regards to your interest in getting a dual band router.

A gigabit router is good if you do a lot of file transferring within your own network. Which is another reason why i have a gigabit router for my wired setup (the house already has several cat5e outlets).

You should check out http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/ , they have some detailed graphs and reviews
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xguntherc
Sorry to double post. But so far I'm likin the dir-655 suggested for $92 or here's that refurb.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833122274

someone said the WRT-120N I could probably afford in my price range well newegg has the linksys WRT-160N on sale for $62 dollars. That seems like a deal
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833124277

I like that dir-655 or the cheaper but now way cheap dir-628 instead the entry level 615

edit* raiden so a gigabit router is like 10x faster and for transfering large files n what not. So if I don't transfer files over a wireless connection, or do anthing extreme on the wireless aspect of it. Gigabit isn't really needed for me then?? No point spending the extra
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killnine
I vote for the DIR-655 as well. Got one in the spring and its ridiculously awesome.Handles torrents great, never crashes. I have it set up to work with Dynamic DNS so I have my own subdomain by which I can reach my network from the internet. Lots of routing options and its just solid.

I have 2 computers wired with gigabit ethernet, a PS3 wired, my cell phone on wireless and my (wireless N) laptop all on the network with no hiccups.

Not to mention you can find it for around $80 on sale sometimes. I picked mine up for $92.
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M
my friend has the wrt160n and it's been great so far. you can flast it with DD-WRT. i see some wrt160n's on the craigslist in my area going for $40-50. maybe you can find some in your area too.
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xguntherc
Is that DD-WRT worth it. I see many have that option

I found 2 other choices that come close to the 655. An asus that looks good
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=ASUS%20RT-N16

and the Buffalo Nfiniti high power N router. I'm still trying to decide on one of these 3 listed. Or just to get the d link dir-628 instead

the 655 is refurb'd in a brown box for $75 at pcbay. But I don't know much about there site. The asus if you look at the specs lists it's capable of up to 300,000 p2p sessions. I wonder if the 655 has similar rating but doesn't list it. When I download torrents. Even just 2, or download large files like a single pc game demo or a technet 4GB windows file I get a slowdown. So that asus feature looks nice

what ya all think on those 3. And Will I actually get "improved" speeds even while being wired and having a better router. Or does it mainly only help wireless
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TFL Replica
Mistakenly necro'd, delete please.
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