Searching for a stable router with gigabit LAN and WLAN

[lbs129]

Hello!

I am searching for a stable router with gigabit LAN and WLAN. I have been reading a lot of reviews here and I feel quite confused. The most important thing is that it can manage a lot of connections and heavy load on the wired LAN without crashing. I also want the WLAN to work well but it's not as important as the wired LAN. It also would be great if the router had static DHCP with MAC adress reservation and ability to add quite a lot of port forwarding rules (virtual servers). I don't know if the all the routers below have got this.

The routers I have been looking at:

D-Link DIR-655:
Some people says it is good, some says it isn't. I've heard that it's unstable if you get one with firmware >1.30 and then it's also impossible to downgrade. Costs approx. $ 140 here.

Belkin N+ F5D8235-4:
Positive owner reviews but expert reviews says it has quite mediocre performance. Only vertical mount, positive with guest WLAN. Costs approx. $ 110 here.

Netgear WNDR3700:
High performance and simultaneous dual-band WLAN but quite expensive. Worth the money? Costs approx. $ 180 here.

Linksys WRT320N:
Quite good performance, works with DD-WRT, said to be quite mediocre with default firmware. No external antennas. Not simultaneous dual-band. Costs approx. $ 110 here.

Belkin N1 Vision F5D8232-4:
Nice LCD screen, but some reviews mentions mediocre WAN performance. Seems to work well with updated firmware however, according to user reviews. Costs approx. $ 150 here.

Netgear CG3100:
Has got built in cable modem and I can get it very cheap from my ISP. Seems to have some stability issues but works quite OK if "IP Flood Detection" and firewall is disabled. Costs approx. $ 85 from my ISP.

I hope someone can help me out of this jungle!

Best regards
Johan

 

[thiggins]

Client-to-client performance on the LAN side is just a function of the switch. The router doesn't get involved. The main factor here is whether the router thermal design has been done properly, especially on a Gigabit switch.

If I remember correctly, only the D-Link has DHCP reservation.

Check the Router Chart for maximum simultaneous connections.

Sorry, but I don't keep track of the number of port forwarding rules that routers support anymore.

 

[lbs129]

Thank you for your answer!

In your review of the Netgear WNDR3700 it says " The DHCP server can be disabled and allows IP address reservation by MAC address." and I assume it is correct.

Do you think that the WNDR3700 is worth its cost? I want a good performing router that doesn't need to be restarted several times a week because it looses the Internet connection like the old Belkin F5D5231-4. It's important that it can handle heavy games, torrents and web surfing at the same time. In the Maximum Simultaneous Connections chart, a lot of routers have the same result (200). Isn't Total Simultaneous Throughput more important?

The router is for a friend of mine, and personally I have a Linksys WRT54GL that works like a charm. What I'm searching for is a router that is as stable as the WRT54GL but has gigabit LAN and DHCP reservation.

Best regards
Johan

 

[thiggins]

The WNDR3700 review is accurate and sorry for not remembering about the DHCP reservation.

For your application, it sounds like you need a router with both high bandwidth and the ability to handle a lot of simultaneous connections. Yes, many products show 200 Simultaneous connections because that's the test limit. Throughput significantly higher than your Internet connection doesn't really make for a better or more reliable router.

My testing shows the WNDR3700 is currently the best-performing N router in both wireless and routing. But, like all products, it's not perfect. And since I don't test long-term reliability, I can't speak for that aspect of any router's performance.

Why not just get another WRT54GL, load an alternate distro on it that supports DHCP reservation and use a separate Gigabit switch?

The D-Link DIR-655 has been the go-to single band N router. But the recent firmwares have been very troublesome and have been not downgradeable. I don't know if that situation has changed. Check the forums over at dslreports.com for more info on that.

 

[lbs129]

Thank you for your help!

My friend has a 24 Mbit/s Internet connection and plans to upgrade it, probably to 50 Mbit/s. The router must be able to handle that and a lot of connections and heavy load from games and downloads. Gigabit LAN is good to have for video streaming and data transfer to a NAS. I have read that the Linksys WRT54GL has a quite mediocre throughput and gets problems at around 30 Mbit/s, so I think it's out of the game. But I have had the same thought about using a WRT54GL together with a gigabit switch.

I think the Netgear WNDR3700 is the way to go if my friend thinks it is affordable. Or do you think a Belkin N+ or a Linksys WRT320N will work good enough? As I said before stability is more important than extreme speed. The Netgear CG3100 from the ISP is also an alternative with a very attractive price. Does these specifications say anything to you?
http://www.netgear.com/upload/product/cg3000/cg3000_cg3100_ds_06aug09.pdf

EDIT: I saw that I can buy a Netgear WNR3500 or WNR3500L at around $ 110 and they have support for DD-WRT which is known to be very stable. The question here is if the hardware is good enough. I have excluded the D-Link because of quite bad experiences with them earlier.

Best regards
Johan

 

[thiggins]

I just can't help you in terms of long-term stability. What I will tell you is that having proper heatsinking and thermal design helps a lot. Also using 10/100 vs. Gigabit internal switch.

For the best chance of success thermally, I'd use an external Gigabit switch and turn off the internal wireless.

 

[kot1rc5]

see my post here #3 http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=2681

 

[lbs129]

Thanks again!
We have decided to buy the Netgear WNDR3700 and it will probably work great.

Best regards
Johan

 

[lbs129]

We installed the Netgear WNDR3700 today and it is amazing! We upgraded to the latest firmware and everything works absolutely perfect. The performance is overwhelming compared to my friend's old Belkin F5D5231-4.

Best regards
Johan

 

[woodscomp]

Have you tried to setup a guest network yet? I am curious as to if that is working properly.

 

[lbs129]

Have you tried to setup a guest network yet? I am curious as to if that is working properly.

Yes we have! It works well and there are no problems connecting to the Internet. We have not tried to access the local network but it should not be possible if that is disabled in the guest network settings, which is the default setting.