Please recommend a wireless router

JamesEW · 1 Jul 2017 at 12:49

Hi,

I am on Virgin Media 100mb broadband and i've been using the Super hub modem plugged into a Linksys WRT54GL Wireless G router.

I think this is quite old technology now and caps my speed of upto 30mb/s. I don't think it has gigabit ports. The linksys wireless router has been very solid with little wifi drop outs but I am silly paying for 100mb broadband and not getting anywhere near that.

I want to replace this and am looking for a recommendation for the best wireless router of around £50-£100. I have a htpc and normal pc connected by ethernet cable but every other device I connect is wireless.

I was tempted by Linksys EA6350 Dual Band Smart Wi-Fi Gigabit Router for £60 but i'm interested to see if there is a much better router in my price range that I should consider?

I would really appreciate the help here as I'm a bit out of my depth with this stuff. Ideally I want to buy it, set it up easily and be done. Not really into the idea of flashing firmware on it.

JamesEW · 2 Jul 2017 at 14:40

I guess because i'm mainly using a wired ethernet connection (with wifi for a few devices), the Asus AC56U and AC68U might be overkill. What is the general consensus on Linksys? I definitely want to replace my existing one with something that has gigabit ports and latest ac wi-fi standard.

Also what advantage is there to running different firmware? I don't mind installing one e.g Tomato but not if it's a huge risk and likely to cause me problems down the line.

Keep the recommendations coming. Thanks guys.

JamesEW · 2 Jul 2017 at 22:58

Wi-fi drop outs on the super hub were really common, and not when I was using the linksys router. The config options with superhub were also extremly limited.

JamesEW · 8 Aug 2017 at 18:16

Anyone else with any recommendations or know of any current good deals on a decent wifi router?

JamesEW · 8 Aug 2017 at 20:01

JamesEW · 11 Aug 2017 at 19:09

Avalon said:
They will send you a free - and significantly better - router if you do as suggested, surely it's worth a phone call?

Also your posts seem to contradict, you state you're averse to flashing a firmware that takes 5 minutes but find the SH config limited and just want it to work. What was limited on SH that you needed? Just trying to understand what you actually want/need.

I appreciate your reply and i'm not too technical with networking technology. The thing is I've heard about lots of issues people have had with the new VM SuperHub 3. I've only ever used my SH2 connected to an old Linksys and what I liked is the amount of options for configuring say port forwarding, setting up a fixed number of DCHP and generally things that would make bit torrent, HTPC and other things play nice.

When I last checked, there was barely anything to configure this with SH2. My logical or illogical conclusion was to just buy a half decent new wireless AC wifi router and avoid any headaches down the line. Again i'm not clued up on these things hence this post.

That said i'm not clueless with computers and could flash something (ooh err...sorry).

So what benefits would I get from pleading with VM to give be a brand new SH3 for free, other than cost. If it's going to play up, have regular drop outs and issues, it might not be the ideal solution.

Feel free to put me correct on many of my likely false assumptions here.

JamesEW · 27 Aug 2017 at 21:34

TheVoice said:
In the month and a half since you created the thread, you could have already received a new hub (for free with minimal effort, probably) and have found out for yourself whether it's any good or not.

What is with this unhelpful response? Quite clearly I outlined that I didn't want to mess about with trying to secure a VMS 3 to find I've made things worse (from many of the comments about this hub). I had already missed their deadline to get a free upgrade so it would have involved me trying to make a justification of why i needed a new hub for free.

I needed a reliable router and was looking for recommendations from people here who likely know a lot more than I do. If you didn't want help then stay out of the topic. Not hard is it? Do you work for Virgin Media or something?