Need recommendation for a WiFi Router.
 

I dont need to buy yet but I thought I would start shopping for a router. I am looking for something that will be compatible with my XP laptop, my buddies MAC, my iPhone, and his iTouch. It is going in a college town so security is a must and ease of connectivity would be nice too. Linksys fails at this BTW.

Linksys fails at what? Its the best one out there for a reason...

I think you'd have a harder time finding a router that does NOT do all of that.

Hmm, really, they are pretty much all the same. Get a $50 Linksys, DLink, etc these days and they all do easy. As far as security, don't bother with disabling the SSID broadcast or MAC filtering. Those are both false security that can cause problems. See this article titled
"The six dumbest way to secure a wireless LAN"
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/index.php?p=43

Use the WPA2. And remember that WiFi is not actually secure. All that you can do is deter the casual curious George. If someone wants in, they'll get in.

I've actually had terrible luck with Linksys in the past. Maybe their stuff has gotten better and I know it's kind of an industry standard right now (lots of them out there) but I was so put off by their products a few years back I permanently exclude their stuff from my network. I actually JUST got a Zoom X6 which is a router, 4-port switch, gateway and wireless router as well. It works extremely well and was a snap to set up.

Linksys still scares me. Here's why: "Home network" people tend to only look at cost, so they invariably go for the cheapest, rather than the best. Since there are SO many Linksys products out there, it's logical to assume that they're either the cheapest or one of the cheapest. Well... You get what you pay for. Typically. I know a few very computer savvy guys that use Linksys without problems, but I still won't trust their stuff on my network. I really went through hell with some of their cards and other components a few years ago when setting up a corporate network (their cards were crap - I ended up returning the entire lot and going with another brand, which solved all the problems).

I had bad luck with Linksys wireless access point/routers. Two or three in a row, lasted only a year each. Performed fine while they worked. This was a few years ago, perhaps they have improved. I then used a Netgear with no problem, and eventually switched to Airport.

Ya I want to avoid linksys at all costs. My parents have a linksys that is about two years old and it crashes occasionaly and even made a new network on it's own once.

So just about anything will work huh? Any of them notably faster?

Faster probably won't really matter since the WAN connection will likely be the bottleneck, not the LAN.

I'd stick with a major brand.

What wireless hardware do you already have? Is any of it aftermarket or is it all OEM (built in cards in the laptops, etc....) If it's all OEM, then it won't much matter. The fastest that you're likely to get is 54Mb.

I've been very happy with this Netgear Wireless N router.







Tim

I generally like Linksys stuff, but I'm down on them right now. I bought a Business Class router, which has some features I wanted (VPN). It failed within a year. I ended up with another one, but without the VPN, and it has been working fine.

I have a Zoom DSL-Router which works fine (It is the backup network for the business, $15/mth for 750 kb up & down).

I'll be buying another business class router soon, wireless N, and it won't be a Linksys.

Airport extreme base station
Belkin N1

I just picked up a Belkin Wireless N+ for fifty bucks at Wal-Mart. I think it should fit my needs just fine. Now it will be several weeks before I get moved in and get it all set up.

Yup