Looking for cheapest router /w Fastest WIRED Speed and most reliable WIFI

[Telos]

Essentially, I have been shopping for a few hours and I am stuck and mostly hesitant by the negative reviews en mass concerning most modern routers. I have been using a Linksys WRT53GS for many years now with no problems whatsoever. The thing has been a tank as I have never, not once, been disconnected from it, either wired or wireless, and it always provides reliable speeds. The only drawback is the wireless range is very limited, but that is something I can live with as I at least get a stable signal from anywhere in the house/garage.

Recently, I upgraded to Charter's Ultra 100 service, which is 100 Mbps down, and 5 Mbps up. My current router cannot handle the new speeds, as it maxes out at 30 Mbps wired and like 12 Mbps wireless. I get 101 Mbps down and 6 Mbps up if I connect into the modem directly, so my issue is with the router.

Essentially I am looking for something preferably less than $70 (will consider more expensive models that offer reliable quality), that can give me at least a wired download speed of 90 Mbps, and guarantee a reliable/stable connection for both wired and wireless.

I am not a wireless junkie, so I really am not all that concerned with wireless speed. I have a netbook, laptop, and iPhone but all I do is download apps and browse with them at home. My X360, PS3, and home theater are all connected via a wired connection, along with my computer. I don't really need anything fancy as far as QoS is concerned, just that it can capably offer my max download speed on any connection (regardless of the console's max rates), especially to my PC obviously. I just need to be sure that the router is reliable enough, like my current one, to offer a consistent signal to all wireless devices without cutting in and out or have to be restarted daily as many of the horror stories throughout many of the reviews suggest.

Also, data drive and printer sharing are not important. My network card is gigabit capable as well, which is going to be obviously required for the wired speed.

These are a couple routers I am currently considering, that are leading my interests at the moment, but I am not entirely sold on. I am definitely open to all suggestions.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YLAUU8/?tag=snbforums-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002TY785A/?tag=snbforums-20

Any and all suggestions and advice is welcome, thanks.

 

[NetSouth]

For several years, my router was one of the WRT54GL models running either dd-WRT or Tomato. It was rock-solid but the CPU was slow, got bogged down under heavy use, and it wasn't gigabit.

Ended up replacing it with a Linksys/Cisco E3000 which was a refurb on sale at Newegg for about $50. Replaced the factory firmware with Tomato and had essentially no issues after that. It is gigabit and routinely performs as expected on a full gigabit lan. I felt this was a reasonable alternative to something like the WNDR3700 which is still twice the cost, or more.

The incoming internet is Uverse rated at 18MBit and the router handles that without issue. The Uverse modem only has 100MBit out to the router but it's enough to cover the full Uverse bandwidth.

Maybe the biggest downside on the E3000 is the lack of external wifi antennas. It still seems to cover my house about as well as the WRT54GL but definitely a YMMV on this. It's also an "older model" and somewhat off the radar. Cheap and works fine works for me. Maybe not everybody.

Overall, I think it's a good choice IF it can be gotten for cheap, IF it stays working -they don't have the best reputation, and IF you can deal with installing the firmware of your choice.