Looking for a good wireless router/modem for home network around $200 or less

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Looking for a good wireless router/modem for home network around $200 or less

Malingo

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Master Geek
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Topic # 106925 2-Aug-2012 20:40

Time to get rid of the old dynalink that Telstra supplied.

My current needs and situation:

Have an ADSL2+ line with Telstraclear
Want a combo modem and wireless router
I noted a few other wireless networks around, so dual band would be good (not sure)
Have the following I connect, (and plan to connect in the future)

2 X smartphones (iphone and SGSII)
1 X PC
1 X laptop
printer (want to plug a standard one in to get a wireless print solution)

Looking for great speed and performance, having up to 3 devices connecting to wireless
Dont want degregation on speed if i stream movies
I dont do any gaming online, so not a factor for me.

Also been doing some reading, and as i dont have cable or fibre, I take it i dont need a gigabit port? The SGSII can use 5ghz, and ive heard that will be quite quick, and get the other stuff off the slower band.

Any advice would be appreciated, along with links to places that have great prices.

Thanks

kyhwana2

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Reply # 666536 2-Aug-2012 20:46

Do your wireless devices do 5ghz (dual band) as well?

Malingo

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Reply # 666537 2-Aug-2012 20:48

Nope, its a dynalink rta1025WE. About 2.5 years old, and now discontinued. Its been causing issues with the SGSII (dropping IP address)

kyhwana2

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Reply # 666540 2-Aug-2012 20:50

If your wireless devices don't do 5ghz wifi, there's no point in buying a 5ghz wifi AP! (Unless you're planning on upgrading to stuff that does it later on)

ubernoob

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Reply # 666541 2-Aug-2012 20:55

Have you read this post

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumId=66&topicId=106334

Malingo

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Reply # 668185 6-Aug-2012 12:08

I bought the linksys E4200 router at DSE in hamilton this weekend. Great price at $144.
It was a breeze to setup, and it did its own firmware upgrade at the time automatically.

The guy at the store mentioned I should set my Dynalink RTA1025WE to bridged mode when I connected it to the router. From what I understand, so that it functions purely as a modem, and lets the linksys do everything else.

However, when I rang telstraclear technical support, they mentioned it was not necessary, and I just needed to switch off wireless on the RTA. Are they right?

The RTA seems to be working fine with the linksys by the way, but not sure if its setup to get best speed etc.

1) Should I be swapping it to bridged mode (and how do i do that) to get better speed etc?

Also, have set the SGS2 to connect via 5ghz and works well so far.

2) I need to upgrade my wireless card on a desktop pc to take advantage of the faster wiresless speed (it currently connects at 54mbps - its about 4 years old, and connects over 802.1g). Any suggestions that plug into PCIexpress slot? I'm thinking of using the Wireless N 5ghz band for this PC as I do streaming and heaving downloading off it.

3) Also, any further tweaks to linksys or RTA to get the combo working at its maximum potential?

Any help with the 3 questions above would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Ragnor

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Reply # 668217 6-Aug-2012 12:31

Here's an old guide for setting up a dynalink in half bridge with another device, should be similar enough to what you have for you to figure it out
http://www.ben.geek.nz/2006/11/adsl-routing-solution-in-detail/

Malingo

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Reply # 668629 6-Aug-2012 22:40

Thanks, I used this guide at http://www.docstoc.com/docs/70211624/RTA1025W---Bridge-Mode-Setup

It all went fine, but then the modem dropped internet connection, and did not work. I called TelstraCL and they said that bridged mode wouldnt work.

So I reset to default settings, and just turned off wireless.

Will settle for this I think, connection seems fine though linksys.

BTR

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Reply # 669122 7-Aug-2012 16:31

I have used Linksys gear and have never had a problem with it. The routers are straight forward to setup and the wireless works well.

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Ragnor

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Reply # 669214 7-Aug-2012 18:49

Malingo: Thanks, I used this guide at http://www.docstoc.com/docs/70211624/RTA1025W---Bridge-Mode-Setup

It all went fine, but then the modem dropped internet connection, and did not work. I called TelstraCL and they said that bridged mode wouldnt work.

So I reset to default settings, and just turned off wireless.

Will settle for this I think, connection seems fine though linksys.

Yes that guide won't work as most ADSL/ASDL2+ connections in NZ use PPPoA not PPPoE, you as can't easily bridge it.

The way you have it working now is fine for regular home usage.

However it's double NAT (two routers) and you may find it messes with gaming, p2p and voip. If that becomes a problem for you follow the guide I linked earlier for half bridging/ip extension.