Need help with home network

[greg88]

I need help setting up my new network. I have my main router BELKIN F5D8235-4 802.11b/g/n gigabit 300mbps router that just broke and I want to get new router. I also have a working linksys wrt54gs v1 flashed with dd-wrt that is hooked up to my 2nd PC on the 2nd floor as a repeater. I was actually shocked to see it getting somewhat good reception and speed since the main router, pc and modem are in the basement. Now my question is should I get two 300mbps routers, one as main router, the other as repeater or should I just go with another linksys wrt54gs for my main router. The only thing is that my other 2 laptops don't have N wireless, they only have a/b so would it be pointless to get 300mbps routers since I won't be utilizing the full speeds of the routers. What do you guys suggest I do.

Here is the routers I was thinking of getting to help with wireless range in my house.

2 x TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND Wireless N Gigabit Router with 5dbi or 7dbi aftermarket antennas

or

1 x Linksys WRT54GS with the 7dbi aftermarket antennas

or

2 x Ubiquiti PowerAP N

Let me know what you guys think or if there are better routers that will also do the job that you would recommend.

 

[thiggins]

The advantage of moving to N routers would be that the wireless bridge throughput will be higher. This could result in higher effective throughput to the far-end client, even if it is 802.11g because the "pipe" back to the main router and Internet connection would be bigger.

I'd go with the Ubiquitis.

 

[greg88]

I read some reviews on the Ubiquiti and some say they are hard to setup anyone know if this is true. Would it be better for me to run the second router as a AP or repeater.

 

[stevech]

An AP has a wired connection to the router - be that cat5 cable or HomePlug AV or MoCA. So an AP is much preferred to a WDS repeater - which at best halves the speeds, and at worst, and all too often, is unreliable.

 

[greg88]

I had the repeater setup up with cat5e connected from my pc to the lan port. It wasn't set up in WDS. I'm running dd-wrt on my wrt54gs router. So it's like a AP. When I ran the speedtest on it I was getting 5 up 1.2 down and didn't have any problems with disconnects. If I had 5dbi or 9dbi antennas it might of been higher. I'm thinking about getting the TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND Wireless N Gigabit Router with the 5dbi antennas, anyone know how they perform, or is there something better.