Router for small home networl - help needed

[katabatik]

Hello everyone,

I want to buy a new router to replace the crappy wireless router my ISP gave me (Pirelli/ADB A1000G). I just bought two laptops with Bigfoot Killer N-1103 cards.

Right now I have the crappy router from my ISP and an old Sagem 2604 router (also a "gift" from a former ISP) serving as a wireless AP (connected through cable to the main router).

Here's what I plan to connect to the new router:
- A Brother AIO printer (cable, even though it has wireless capability)
- A PC (cable)
- 2 laptops (wireless)
- 1 smarthphone (wi-fi)
- 1 USB HDD for storing my movies and being able to access them from all laptops

I'm no computer geek. I set my old router using SNB's guide (great guide, btw). However, I would like something that was fairly configurable but with a user-friendly interface. I would also like something reliable and stable.

Uses: internet, streaming audio and video (my wife is addicted to Youtube), occasional gaming. Most of the time my wife and I will be using the internet at the same time.

My budget is 200 Euros, max.

One final question: if I upgrade my internet service to optical fiber cable (100 Mbps), will I be able to use any router I pick now?

Thanks

 

[thiggins]

How To Buy a Wireless Router: The Short Version



Your router must have sufficient throughput to handle the bandwidth that your ISP provisions. So you should be looking at routers with > 100 Mbps throughput in the direction (up / down) that your ISP supports.

 

[sfx2000]

Hey Tim - wonder if it's time to consider updating that article.

One of the upsides of the newer 3-stream gear is that many of them have more RAM, and more CPU horsepower - and gigabit connectivity on both the WAN and LAN side - GIGe on desktops and laptops is more common these days, and with higher bandwidth on the LAN side, the additional RAM and CPU horsepower should show better performance.

 

[thiggins]

Hey Tim - wonder if it's time to consider updating that article.

No need to wonder. It certainly is time for an update. Will try to get to it soon, but no promises when!

Or anyone want to take a whack at rewriting it for me?