what router

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my current netgear wireless router keeps dropping connections all the time so i'm looking to replace it with another router so which would you recommend i get? i have a laptop and desk pc with windows 7, xbox 360 wireless and virginmedia cable broadband
 
I also need a new router to replace an old Netgear one, so instead of creating a new thread for the same purpose I'd like to politely hijack this one :D

I currently use Virgin 20mbit cable broadband shared across all of the following devices in my house (home to a large family), using a Netgear WPN824 v2 which I bought 2-3 years ago;

  • 2 x PCs (wireless)
  • 3 x Laptops (wireless)
  • 1 x Xbox 360 (wired)
  • 1 x PS3 (wired)
  • 5 x Mobile phones (wireless)
The main problem is every evening when everyone is connected it becomes virtually impossible for me to play online games (mainly CSS). There's a general increase in latency, and the smallest download on any of the above devices triggers furious lag spikes.

I've read about QoS and custom firmware being useful in this sort of scenario, so some advice on this would be great.

I'm willing to spend upto £150 for some decent kit and do a bit of configuration if necessary, I just want things smoother.
 
I too, am going to hijack this thread for the same purpose.

The problem with that Netgear is that it only has 16mb RAM onboard, for both the OS and data, this means the NAT tables quickly fill up leading to dropped connections. If you spend a lot of time torrenting Linux ISOs and/or WoW patches then the NAT tables fill up even quicker.

The one to get always used to be the Linksys WRT54G, however when Cisco bought them they nobbled this and sold the old model as the WRT54GL, however we're talking a few years ago.

Would love a recommendation for a good modern equivalent to the WRT54G as we're currently stuck with a borrowed Netgear after our ISP switched us from BT to O2 and their equipment is incompatible with our ancient Cisco SOHO thing. The ISP gave us a Draytek Vigor 120, but this is just a modem, needing a PPPoE client, and is incompatible with Cisco's PPPoE implementation.
 
Build a PC based router.

This is my PC based router it is based on Smoothwall.
It is powered by P3 1Ghz 512mb RAM with 3 network cards for WAN,LAN,Wireless.
It is offline atm as the drive failed.

 
Been there, done that (well technically it wasn't PC based, it was an old lunchbox chassis Sun SparcStation IPC running Debian) can't be bothered with the noise, hassle or power consumption any more. Mine failed due to overheating.

I guess it would allow for huge NAT tables though :)
 
Been there, done that (well technically it wasn't PC based, it was an old lunchbox chassis Sun SparcStation IPC running Debian) can't be bothered with the noise, hassle or power consumption any more. Mine failed due to overheating.

I guess it would allow for huge NAT tables though :)

ALIX with pfSense?
 
Hmm, they do look interesting, though a little on the pricey side.

The Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH looks like it may be an option, since we have that Draytek thing knocking around doing nothing. Anyone had any experience with it?
 
I have always been on cable and I have owned a Linksys WRT54GL and D-Link DIR-825 and in fact both are for sale as I now run the all in one Virgin Media super hub due to the way my lounge is wired up in a restrictive space.
The Linksys WRT54GL was my favourite router. I ran it with Tomato firmware and it stayed up for constantly even when getting hammered and had all the features I needed. Extremely stable and solid piece of kit.

The D-Link DIR-825 I purposely chose due to the good review on smallnetbuilder. It is well built and has all the management options you would require, dual band simultaneous wireless with good throughput, USB sharing, and the best bit is that it's got Gigabit ports that actually properly work and support Jumbo Frames. This can make a big difference when running backups on the home lan etc. The DLink can supposedly be flashed to DD-WRT but to be honest I used the out of box firmware and found it fine. Set it all up once and just left it on for the last month or so that I have owned it.

Like I say if anyone wants either of these two let me know I have a for sale thread in MM with them on.
 
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