what wireless router are you using? what's the best?

I've had the best results with Netgear, particularly their "Pro" line, and the worst experience with SMC.

Any b or g signal should go through a wall or two without losing much strength.

i have dlink di-524 and a dell 1350 wireless.. i usually lose connection once every 2-3 hours.. not sure if it's the wireless card or the router..

Ive got the Netgear WGT624 and love it. Its fast, even without using the 108mbs mode and has extreamly good range (it covers my entire 3-story house with 'good' or 'very good' siginals)

I recommend Linksys w/ SpeedBooster. WOW!!! my connection speed gets up to 125Mbps. I love it when need to transfer in gigabytes.

good to know--will be getting a netgear! I have a 3 story home as well, so will need a good one.

Try checking out sites like www.timhiggins.com or www.practicallynetworked.com for current product reviews. The Tim Higgins/Tom's Networking site is especially useful in making product recommendations.

Over the years I've used an Apple BaseStation, a Milan ShAir Office, an Apple Airport Extreme, a Linksys WAP54G, and a Buffalo WLA-G54. Each has had its own little feature & performance quirks. Out of these, I still use the Airport Exreme and the Buffalo. The Buffalo (although it has a quirky interface) is probably my favorite as the performance seemed a little better (just my empirical observation w/ no hard numbers or tests) than the others.

Try doing a product/review search on the Tim Higgins site, there is probably a lot more test data on there now than when I last checked (months ago).

As for the question regarding the wall....err....kinda depends on what is in your wall. i.e. if there are steel frames/studs then it *could* affect wireless performance. In addition, the reception angle through the wall or corner of the room can also affect performance. I believe you can find a few articles on this subject on www.timhiggins.com under the "Need to Knows" section. The one you may want to read in particular - "Wireless LAN Performance Improvement", as I think this one deals with the topic of range/speed vs. interference.

Hope this helps!

Linksys
Yep, I said it...I used to like my D-link, but it continuelly gave me trouble, so I simply switched to Linksys. I called up D-link tech support, thinking maybe it was a hardware problem, and they said that they would need to have me test it before doing an RMA even though the email tech support said I could have one, anyways, I said screw it and I'm happy with my Linksys...

Asus for sure. There top routers have FTP servers and print servers built in.

I'm not sure why so many people like Linksys...I have always had problems with them. They're finicky little buggers. I often have to unplug and plug back in the power cord to get my laptop to conect to it. Then it will drop my connection half an hour or so later and I'll have to do it again...this gets very annoying after awhile.

Also, I have had a rough time with some of the networking in windows xp with the wireless...I can set up the network twice, exactly the same way, and one time will work and the other doesn't. Or other times I will just have trouble seeing other computers on my network (this problem is eliminated when I plug my laptop into my wired network).

Don't get me wrong, I'm no pro with wireless networks, but as far as reliable connections go, I wouldn't recommend Linksys from my experience. Does anyone have any recommendations (and possibly links to reviews) for routers with very reliable, consistent connections?

stpong, from my experience I don't think it was the Linksys router that drop you on and off. I had the same problem with my Linksys w/ speedbooster but it was resolved when I updated my Intel ProSet II driver of my Desktop computer. So, it was something that had to do within the windows and not the router. Now my Desktop and Laptop computers are communicating with each other very well.

I just purchased the Linksys WRT54GS a while back and haven't had a problem at all. From my research (if memory serves) Linksys was problematic until Cisco bought them and since then their stuff has been top notch. A couple of different mags rated the WRT highly. Setup was a breeze - first wireless network I've ever setup. Throughput is excellent and signal strength is good all around the house, outside and in. Closest neighbor is 400' away so I haven't bothered with any of the security settings but I believe it has both WEP and WAp (I think).

I'll dig out my research if ya want.

Another vote for Netgear. I have one at home and set up one for my girlfriend. No problems with either.

Steve

I second these two.

I have a Linksys Router w / SpeedBooster. I get a 'very good' signal and the router is on the other side of the stairs (through two walls) about 40 feet or so away.

I had a NetGear router that would connect at 108 mbps, but it had horrendous lag when playing multiplayer games of any kind. I can play games online, wirlessly, with no lag with my Linksys.

I highly recommend it.

Linksys WRT54GS. Works great and it runs Linux under the hood. Nuff said.

My old and new linksys have been great. Linksys has a much higher rating in my eyes then, lets say for no particular reason, D-LINK!!!

Word to that. Dlink sucks- I like the Linksys and the Asus, depends on feature which feature set you like most I guess.

Eric

I think that both LinkSys and NetGear have some great products although I am more of a LinkSys fan. As for more options/features, the Asus routers rock.

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