Suggestions for a good quality home router?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Suggestions for a good quality home router?

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stuffed

288 posts

Ultimate Geek

#463035 27-Apr-2011 14:52

Just out of interest - have just had this email back from Netgear tech support when asked them how long it had been on the market:

"It just came out 2 weeks ago and it’s a bit of a hassle to get a hold of one.
But it’s a beast none the less and I’m personally getting one myself very soon."

Why work on Wednesday and stuff up 2 good long weekends

theEd

341 posts

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#463037 27-Apr-2011 15:00

cisconz:
nate: Draytek DV2710NE

Just be careful that the firmware is the latest and you have a 1 amp power supply

There were issues with these units desyncing ADSL when WLAN clients connected but that's been fixed in firmware. I'm not aware of any need for a 1A power supply - we were shipping the DV120 with a 1A PSU for a brief period but the need for this has also been fixed with firmware updates.

cisconz

cisconz
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#463078 27-Apr-2011 17:01

theEd: There were issues with these units desyncing ADSL when WLAN clients connected but that's been fixed in firmware. I'm not aware of any need for a 1A power supply - we were shipping the DV120 with a 1A PSU for a brief period but the need for this has also been fixed with firmware updates.

My reason was distance of ADSL line, I have a few customers who need the bigger supply as the have a long ADSL line.

Hmmmm

tl54

30 posts

Geek

#463092 27-Apr-2011 17:51

stuffed: Have made an executive decision and ordered the top of the line Netgear DGND3700 – also equipped for fiber for when we get it in 2085………………..

Will let you know how it works when installed.

Thanks everyone for your input.

I would get a WNDR3700 paired with some cheap ADSL modem.

Solely because WNDR3700 can be flashed using DD-WRT firmware.

Also Netgear has paid the DD-WRT people to implement some unique features in the firmware, such as throttle MAC address when it used too much data. It could be very useful in NZ if you had flatmates/kids.

stuffed

288 posts

Ultimate Geek

#473799 25-May-2011 09:25

Thought would update the forum on the end result. Purchased the new model NetGear DGND3700.

Did before and after speed tests (ihug no ADSL2) and the results are quite spectacular – 95% increase in download speeds and 390% increase in upload speeds!! Probably not very scientific – the average of 3 before (D-Link DSL-504T) tests and 7 with the new NetGear router.

Why work on Wednesday and stuff up 2 good long weekends

Mbrausch

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Wannabe Geek

#476889 1-Jun-2011 23:35

Avoid belkin

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#477183 2-Jun-2011 19:19

Curious why you say avoid Belkin?

Although it has some irritating quirks (eg no status lights on the front) I am having a good run with Belkin. Did a bit of research before I purchased, and their quality gear (Playmax, N++) seemed to review pretty well. My experience has been positive so far - touch wood.

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shrub

775 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#478199 6-Jun-2011 12:12

I had a belkin N1 its complete rubbish as soon as you have more than 3 devices using the net for more than browsing it drops the ADSL. Now using a draytek 120 full bridge - pfsense box been up for approx a month now. No worries :)

lyonrouge

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#539554 31-Oct-2011 13:28

stuffed: Thought would update the forum on the end result. Purchased the new model NetGear DGND3700.

Did before and after speed tests (ihug no ADSL2) and the results are quite spectacular – 95% increase in download speeds and 390% increase in upload speeds!! Probably not very scientific – the average of 3 before (D-Link DSL-504T) tests and 7 with the new NetGear router.

Have you run this as a media server? I can view content via DLNA (excellent), HTTPS & FTP. I'm unable to write to the USB media via FTP. I've selected All Users and Admin for credentials but neither works.

johnhb67

54 posts

Master Geek

#541772 6-Nov-2011 20:24

you could have got one of the numerous vodafone modems off trademe for a fraction of the cost and similar features...
Ill never buy new, why when people are giving away near new quality gear provided by their internet company.

cyril7

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#541775 6-Nov-2011 20:32

Curious why you say avoid Belkin?

Well I dont normally bag any brand until there is very good reason, but over the years that I have been supplying and supporting network gear this brand has cause so many issues and the support from the suppliers has been so poor that sorry, I just now point blank refuse to touch them.

I am sure that more recent equipment is good, but after been burnt and not supported by the supplier you just have no choice but to walk.

Cyril

theEd

341 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#541882 7-Nov-2011 07:20

JimmyH: Curious why you say avoid Belkin?

The trouble with Belkin (as well as D-Link, Asus, Micronet, LevelOne, TP-Link etc.) is they mostly just rebadge various different OEM gear. Some of those OEM products are good, others are complete trash.

I can't remember the models for each brand, but I've used the exact same ADSL Router sold under the names Micronet, LevelOne, Dynalink, Asus and Linksys. None of those companies actually made the router, it was made by some unheard-of company. A couple of these brands hadn't even bothered to change the default password from the OEM's name.

That is the biggest trouble with brands like Belkin - unless you do a lot of research on the specific product, you have no idea what you're really getting. The brand doesn't mean anything, as it's just a label put on other manufacturer's gear.

TL;DR: Belkin don't make their own stuff. A few good products are outweighed by a lot of junk.

lyonrouge

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#541893 7-Nov-2011 08:20

stuffed: Have made an executive decision and ordered the top of the line Netgear DGND3700 – also equipped for fiber for when we get it in 2085………………..

Will let you know how it works when installed.

Thanks everyone for your input.

After a fruitless engagement with Netgear support, I found the problem I had with writing to connected mass storage devices was due to fact that I had changed the IP address. I had an old router on 192.168.0.254, so I thought I could save some reconfiguration by changing the new Netgear (DGND3700) from its default (192.168.0.1) to match the device it was replacing. This stopped the ability to write to the media via UNC or FTP. Changed this back to its default setting and changed my network configuration to match and now it is working.

I have no 5GHz devices so I have turned off 5GHz on the router and this (anecdotally) has improved 2.4GHz stability (i.e. no disconnects since).

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