Router help. Never bought one before.

marc512 · 16 Mar 2009 at 18:47

I have never bought a router before so i wanna make my first be my last.

Iv heard bad and good storys about them and it makes me weary to by one.

NEEDS
1: To be fast
2: wireless ( wi fi preferably )
3: long lasting
4: less than £40 + VAT + P&P
5: work for vista and xp

I have 2 computers, 1 upstairs in a small room and 1 down stairs.
The downstairs one is the main pc and the upstairs one is just for my dad to use.
The main is VISTA 32bit
Upstairs is XP Home.

Any help?

marc512 · 16 Mar 2009 at 19:17

Ebay 1

is this worth buying ? it says doesnt work with vista but so do half of the programs i use

Brian Stuart · 16 Mar 2009 at 19:24

This should suit your needs.
All wireless routers are Wi-Fi and as for long lasting I have had mine for about 4 years with no problem. Speed depends on many things, distance and type of wireless adapter (don't forget you will need a wireless adapter for each PC)

marc512 · 16 Mar 2009 at 19:51

£50 is abit pricey for me. Is there anything under the £40 mark? its only going about 10m to the upstairs so i dont need anything extremely powerfull.

Brian Stuart · 16 Mar 2009 at 20:01

Thats the cheapest at OcUK. You could try a well known auction site at your own risk of course.

marc512 · 16 Mar 2009 at 20:11

i think i rather spend the £50 on this when i know i will get it rather than spend £30 on ebay and find out i bought just the wire or something. Ill see what i can rake out.

Ucof · 16 Mar 2009 at 20:27

I prefer the Netgear brand of routers

I think they make good stuff.

Routers are based on a certain set of standards that all PC and networking manufacturers adhere to. This means the router will work fine on Windows, Linux, Macs or even your own operating system that you wrote it with the standard in mind. You don't need to look for one that is "OS specfic".

1: To be fast - They will all be these days
2: wireless ( wi fi preferably ) - Again, they will mainly all be these days.
3: long lasting - How long is a piece of string. If you look after them, they won't (read "shouldn't) randomly break.
4: less than £40 + VAT + P&P - Good luck. You really do get what you pay for with regards to technology.
5: work for vista and xp - Platform independent.

tolien · 16 Mar 2009 at 20:32

It depends what you're going to connect it to - the DG834G (or any ADSL router) is useless if you're on cable, and similarly a router without a modem would need an ethernet ADSL modem added to it to work on ADSL.

Routers don't care what OS your machine runs. All you need are drivers for your network card.

If you want cheap, use a cable - you're not going to get all the things you want (cheap, reliable, features)...

marc512 · 16 Mar 2009 at 20:44

i dont have any knowledge about any routers what so ever. Im a complete nooob. I just want something plane and simple and will work. The first one i got giving is a good choise at the moment.

J.B · 16 Mar 2009 at 20:49

The problem is marc, who provides your internet? Is it cable (ie. Virgin Media) or does it come out your phone socket?

bledd · 16 Mar 2009 at 21:01

J.B said:
The problem is marc, who provides your internet? Is it cable (ie. Virgin Media) or does it come out your phone socket?

yup

need to know if you're ADSL or CABLE

they have different routers, ADSL routers with built in modem is what you want for ADSL

all routers are compatible with all OS's by the way, there's no such thing as a non vista compatible router

Bane · 18 Mar 2009 at 10:20

If you go walk about shopping and you want cheaper, you can get Philips and Belkin branded ADSL modem routers (if your using a BT phone line) ranging up to £45. Can't mention here.

If considering Philips I'd check the ease of getting a firmware update from their site before buying a specific model. Belkin websites is far easier to navigate.

Rabtech · 18 Mar 2009 at 11:25

If this is your first router you want ease of setup and good reliability - for £40 your in unbranded/Philips/belkin territory.

My honest advice is spend the extra on a Netgear or Linksys (Netgear preferably as above) and be done with it.

If your buying the the bay, apart from a possible scam - have you thought about the fun you'll have if you need to return an item under warranty (if any at all)?

Bane · 18 Mar 2009 at 14:14

Seen some sub £40 wireless routers fully inclusive that might be OK. But see what others think, if you're still reluctant to pay more for Netgear.

Thomson TG585v7, O2 broadband supply these to new customers. I didn't rate the user interface myself, but it was fairly minimal. Also my years old Netgear DG834Gv2 obtained better sync, but your situation may be different.

ZyXEL Prestige 660HW-T1 that includes a free USB dongle for upstairs computer if it lacks a wireless adaptor. No idea if these are any good.

Something to bear in mind with the Netgear DG834G range is revision. They are now up to revision 5, with v5 having two buttons on the side. There is no way of knowing which you will get unless sites specify. I wouldn't let it put you off though as my v2 has been great, and people rate the v1-v3 (same as my v2) below the later models.