What router is best for my needs?

[Kecke]

I've just orderd a laptop that comes with the wireless card: Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN. More info about the card can be found at: http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/wireless_n/overview.htm

Now I'm thinking of setting up my first wireles network. I've made good efforts to read up on how this work and what routers that's availabe, but it's a jungle and I would apriciate if some one with more knowledge could help me out.

I have one stationary computer that's connected to my speakers and my tv and i'm thinking of controling this with my laptop trough remote desktop. Is this possible? I won't be able to dock my computer and I would realy like to control music from other rooms and have the tv connected with monitor cable for good image quality. Other than this I would like to be able to download large amounts of data from my back yard and 2nd floor in my rather large house.

I have a 24 Mbit internet connection that i don't want to limit.

I would be verry gratefull if some one could give some suggestions on suitable routers that's worth their price.

Thanks in advance!

 

[scotty]

Probably something that's wireless N, to take advantage of the speed and range. The D-Link DIR-655 comes highly recommended on a few forums, including this one. Solid stable router with a solid feature set and good QoS capabilities.

 

[somms]

I'm biased towards the Linksys WRT160N due to the fact it is fully supported by DD-WRT opensource firmware...

 

[Bart]

Another vote for D-Link DIR-655 here. Excellent router, with an excellent featureset. Price is ok as well and it contains a gigabit switch.

 

[somms]

The Linksys WRT600N is my gateway router. Dual Radio 2.4GHz+5GHz and a gigabyte switch. Still running stock Linksys firmware atm though as still not yet fully supported by DD-WRT... The DD-WRT folks are hard at work trying to get this beast supported though: http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=24947;)

 

[thiggins]

This is a good opportunity to illustrate how to use our tools to narrow in on products that might meet your needs.

First, do a site survey to see if you have any neighboring networks that will interfere with your proposed wireless network:
How To Fix Your Wireless Network - Part 2: Site Surveying

If you're ok on the 2.4GHz band (802.11b and g), then you won't need to go for dual-band wireless. If you see a lot of networks in 2.4GHz, then a dual-band router might be the way to go. But keep in mind that while the 5 GHz band is relatively uncrowded, throughput will fall off faster with distance and walls / ceilings than the 2.4GHz band.

Selecting a router that can handle a 24 Mbps Internet connection isn't hard. Just hit the Router Charts and look at the WAN > LAN chart. Anything higher than 24 (plus a little margin) will not be a bottleneck for wired throughput. You'll see that there are many products that meet this criteria.

If you're going to be downloading Torrents, then you want a router that can handle as many simultaneous connections as possible. Use this Router Chart to screen for that. Of the three routers mentioned, the D-Link DIR-655 is going to be the best for handling simultaneous sessions.

Getting a 24 Mbps wireless connection is a bit harder. As the other posters have said, you'll need to go to draft 11n. But depending on the distance and obstructions between where you park the router and where you have the notebook, you might not be able to get that fast a connection.

So now use the Wireless Charts and the Throughput vs. Path Loss feature. If I do that for the WRT160n, DIR-655 and WRT600n, I get this chart:

​

What you want is a product with throughput that has the longest flat part of the curve, falls off slowly and ends at as high a Path Loss level possible. That might not be the product that has the highest maximum throughput.

The curves above say that the DIR-655 and WRT600N are probably going to give you higher throughput at a longer distance than the WRT160N. They also show that any of the products will be able to provide more than 24 Mbps of throughput under strong signal conditions.

Hope this helps to illustrate the process.

 

[Kecke]

Thank you all for pointing me in the right direction, I'l look up your suggestions.

You have saved me alot of time and I will probbably by a better router than if I would have asked some one in a shop.

I'l get back with my experiences of the router i decide to by and try to give something back to this forum.

Thanks again! // Kecke

 

[geo]

I can't recommend the Netgear WNDR3300 yet. Tho Netgear recently commenced a firmware beta program and forum that seems headed in the right direction. It's certainly possible they will get their stuff together a bit down the road. Their latest beta is signficantly better at not dropping 5GHz .n connections.

 

[thiggins]

See this info regarding the WNDR3300's 2.4 GHz performance issues:
Fix Coming for Low Netgear WNDR3300 2.4 GHz performance

 

[crashnburn]

I'm biased towards the Linksys WRT160N due to the fact it is fully supported by DD-WRT opensource firmware...

Another vote for D-Link DIR-655 here. Excellent router, with an excellent featureset. Price is ok as well and it contains a gigabit switch.

The Linksys WRT600N is my gateway router. Dual Radio 2.4GHz+5GHz and a gigabyte switch. Still running stock Linksys firmware atm though as still not yet fully supported by DD-WRT... The DD-WRT folks are hard at work trying to get this beast supported though: http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=24947;)

Which ones the better one?

 

[thiggins]

As I said in the earlier post above, "better" depends on what you need.

 

[prijikn]

The D-Link DIR-655is a better and Xtreme N Gigabit Router displayed lightning-fast performance in short-range and mixed-mode tests; it offers Gigabit LAN ports and the latest in wireless security.It's very expensive.

 

[blue]

I recommend Netgear Wireless router WGR614l. It supports many open source firmware like DD-WRT, Tomato etc. Do try it.