What's a good home-based wireless modem?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › What's a good home-based wireless modem?

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2898 posts

Uber Geek
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#598853 22-Mar-2012 21:57

I found the Telecom modem/router to be utter rubbish - barely worked as a wired router and the wireless range/throughput was awful. I literally couldn't always connect from the other side of the same room.

Replaced it with a Belkin Playmax (which has now been superseded by a newer model). Good wireless range, gigabit ethernet (useful for larger file transfers and future proofing), simultaneous dual-band wireless (which lets me stream video at 5Ghz and move everything such as the laptop to 2.4Ghz where it won't interfere), and 2xUSB ports that let printers or USB drives etc be connected. It will power USB drives, and they appear as network shares. Mostly I am pretty happy with it and it's much, much, better than the Telecom model - lets me stream video throughout the house etc.

That's pretty much the feature set I would look for if I had to buy another modem/router.

Minor complaints:
- it seems to run marginally on the hot side
- transfer rates for disks on the USB ports are slooooow
- no port/wireless status lights on the font if I want to know whether something is working

techmeister

310 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 22

#598893 23-Mar-2012 02:15

Both the TG858v 7 and v8 have a very buggy flawed unstable wireless implementation, there is firmware updates for them that fixes some issues but Telecom will never supply them and Techincolor will never supply firmware to the public so your stuffed either way.
I just replace them with a TP-link and no more problems.

DrStrangelove

368 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#599661 25-Mar-2012 04:26

I have a Thomson TG585v8 and it's been rock solid to date.

It's true the configuration of the TG585 is a little touch and go and really can only be changed directly via the command mode. The user interface (GUI) is very limited and reduced to suit the needs of Telecom NZ.
NTP is just one of a few little quirks of the TG585v8

I bought a TP-Link TD-8840 and it gives a higher ADSL2+ sync rate, but lower peak throughput compared to a TG585v8.
11.2Mbps for the TD-8840 and 12.4Mbps for the TG585v8 in my environment.

If you're using the Thomson TG585v8 primarily to access the Internet, you should be OK.
If you're looking at accessing local NAS/Servers using a TG585v8 or on a larger LAN environment the TG585 may struggle.

In my environment, using speedtest.net the Thomson returns 12.4Mbps at the Ethernet interface.

Thomson TG585v8
Firmware: v8.2.7.7
Channel: 20Mhz
Band: 2.4Ghz
Connection speed: 39 - 65Mbps
Distance: 15 metres and approx 4 walls.
Signal Strength: -70dBm
Speedtest: ~12.4Mbps

Linksys E4200v1
Firmware: Tomato Toastman v1.28.0497
Channel: 40Mhz
Band: 2.4GHz
Noise Floor: -84dBm
Connection speed: 108 - 162Mbps
Distance: 15 metres and approx 4 walls.
Signal Strength: -60dBm
Speedtest: ~12.4Mbps
Bandwidth Capacity at 15metres: ~80Mbps (Peak: 101Mbps, low: 64Mbps)

Client: Alienware notebook with 2.4GHz/5GHz built-in WiFi mini-card.

So in my environment the TG585 is able to fully utilise the bandwidth provided my the broadband service provider at 12.4Mbps at distances of 15metres via 802.11n 65Mbps 2.4GHz.

And as an aside, the TP-Link WA730RE range extender works very well with the Thomson TG585 for some extended distances at the cost of reduced bandwidth.

lostminty

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#605911 5-Apr-2012 22:22

Hi all,

So on reading this thread and wanting a new modem/router set up I went out and bought a TL-WR1043ND which I have flashed with Gargoyle Router. I managed to find a TD-8840 non T which I have set to PPPOA with IP extension on.

Seems pretty solid so far, currently I'm running through a VPN which gives me some issues at times, although the vpn is running about 8x faster than it did with my old WAG160N.

For some reason I'm only connecting to the router at 100MBIT so that is a bit confusing.

Well, I really came here to see if there are any settings I should look at with this configuration to improve my connection.

Skolink

1081 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 32

#605943 6-Apr-2012 06:52

lostminty: For some reason I'm only connecting to the router at 100MBIT so that is a bit confusing.

Hi, welcome to GZ. I assume you mean wired connection. Are you sure your PC atucally has a gigabit interface? You could check the adaptor settings that "Speed and Duplex" is set to Auto and that 1000 Mb is actually an option.

Perhaps it is a limitation of the Gargoyle firmware. I have Gargoyle on a TL-WR740N which is only 100Mb anyway. Perhaps someone else can confirm it supports gigabit ports.

If you only have the one PC with a gigbit interface it doesn't matter anyway, since nothing else will communicate with the PC at that speed.

lostminty

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#606064 6-Apr-2012 11:43

Hi,

Yep wired lan. The specs for the 1043 do include gigabit lan, however it didn't work on the standard firmware either.

I know at least 2 of the computers have gigabit that are on the network, also I want to set up a media server which would make gigabit handy for transfers.

I've noticed the internet is freezing occasionally, at the moment the settings are pretty much standard.

the modem is set to pppoa + ip extension
the router auto went to dynamic ip for wan settings.

when I had the original firmware on the modem i tried a few DNS servers, namely opendns which seemed to interfere with my vpn client and googles dns servers.

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Bee

741 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 189

#607299 10-Apr-2012 09:43

Ive been thinking over the last few days whether I should buy a new wireless Router. I currently have a Dynalink RTA-1025W - I must be one of the luck few - I've had it almost 10 years and no problems at all,

But I'm wondering if I buy a new one will it have a better wireless range? Currently we get good signal in the lounge and bedrooms but Id like to be able to get signal outside as well...

Doing your best is much more important than being the best.

Skolink

1081 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 32

#607395 10-Apr-2012 13:11

Bee: But I'm wondering if I buy a new one will it have a better wireless range? Currently we get good signal in the lounge and bedrooms but Id like to be able to get signal outside as well...

If you choose carefully (ie buy what is recommended here), otherwise your wireless signal could easily be worse (eg Linksys WAG320N).

lyonrouge

1993 posts

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#610515 17-Apr-2012 13:41

Does anyone know if I can add a repeater (route, not bridge) to a TP-Link TD-W8960N? I have a couple of devices that only support WEP so i thought I would use a wireless repeater with it's own SID configured for WEP while the base aDSL/Router/Wireless access point would be WPA.

Skolink

1081 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 32

#610555 17-Apr-2012 14:53

lyonrouge: Does anyone know if I can add a repeater (route, not bridge) to a TP-Link TD-W8960N? I have a couple of devices that only support WEP so i thought I would use a wireless repeater with it's own SID configured for WEP while the base aDSL/Router/Wireless access point would be WPA.

Why not just set your TD-W8960N to WEP? If you are going to add another AP to your network with only WEP encryption, there is no point having your TD-W8960N set to anything stronger unless you somehow isolate or restrict what can be accessed via the second AP.

lyonrouge

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#610601 17-Apr-2012 15:29

I was lead to believe that you could not use 300Mbps if you have WEP.

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gcorgnet

1096 posts

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#610614 17-Apr-2012 15:46

lyonrouge: Does anyone know if I can add a repeater (route, not bridge) to a TP-Link TD-W8960N? I have a couple of devices that only support WEP so i thought I would use a wireless repeater with it's own SID configured for WEP while the base aDSL/Router/Wireless access point would be WPA.

Hey, Not sure if this is what you are after but just in case...
http://www.howtogeek.com/104469/how-to-extend-your-wi-fi-network-with-simple-access-points/

I have been able to do this with my TD-W8960N and an old D-Link (604t, maybe)

Hope this helps.

lyonrouge

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#610623 17-Apr-2012 16:01

Lot's of reading to digest there, however, the channel ID diagram was very informative.

Skolink

1081 posts

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#610833 17-Apr-2012 21:34

gcorgnet:
lyonrouge: Does anyone know if I can add a repeater (route, not bridge) to a TP-Link TD-W8960N? I have a couple of devices that only support WEP so i thought I would use a wireless repeater with it's own SID configured for WEP while the base aDSL/Router/Wireless access point would be WPA.

Hey, Not sure if this is what you are after but just in case...
http://www.howtogeek.com/104469/how-to-extend-your-wi-fi-network-with-simple-access-points/

I have been able to do this with my TD-W8960N and an old D-Link (604t, maybe)

Hope this helps.

That article is a pretty long-winded way of describing how to connect another AP with a network cable and give it the same SSID and a different channel.

lyonrouge

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#611051 18-Apr-2012 11:19

CutCutCut: +1 for the TP-Link TD-W8960N

A big +1 for this device. Replaced a Netgear device (that was three times the price) with this and it (so far at least) is great. Addressed a lot of problems (which until the replacement I thought were issues with the end-points) and has great signal around our home (two story brick and tile with cinder block internal walls).

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