Will a new Wireless Router speed up my internet?

[97tbird]

I am sure there is more than 1 person who had a bad experience with EVERY brand LOL

although I am tempted to make a change and go with the N600 discussed here but it seems the N600 has various SUB models...

which one did the OP get, I wonder ?

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
I am sure there is more than 1 person who had a bad experience with EVERY brand LOL

although I am tempted to make a change and go with the N600 discussed here but it seems the N600 has various SUB models...

which one did the OP get, I wonder ?



The model WNDR3700 is the best of the N600 models. Be aware that you either get a good one, or a bad one. They've mostly fixed it but some of them have weak 2.4Ghz radios. Once you get a good one though, it's flawless.

 

[97tbird]

Hmmm....That's frustrating...
is there any way to ensure one gets a 'good' one?

and really, are the new Linksys routers bad? online reviews seem to be much better than for any other brand, on 1st glance...

Also there are a lot more negative reviews about Netgear CS than Linksys CS...scares me a bit.

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
Hmmm....That's frustrating...
is there any way to ensure one gets a 'good' one?

and really, are the new Linksys routers bad? online reviews seem to be much better than for any other brand, on 1st glance...

Also there are a lot more negative reviews about Netgear CS than Linksys CS...scares me a bit.


Buy it at a store like staples with a decent return policy. If it's bad or goes bad within 2 weeks (it should if it will) then just return it for a new one.

 

[97tbird]

Thanks...That's a good tip

i think I am leaning towards the N600 for now...

Will I have any problems using my old laptop (the wireless in probably only BG - thinkpad R60 from ca 2004) which runs Ubuntu 11.10?

ISP will be TWC with turbo (upto 20 mbps)

 

[97tbird]

OK I just checked and saw that both our laptops have only B/G/N wireless adapters.

So a dual band router is gonna be useless for now, correct? (while chatting with netgear CS they told me the wireless adapters in laptops need to be A/B/G/N to take advantage of a dual band router with a 5 ghz band...)

so for now we will only be able to access the 2.4 band with our laptops?

I will be updating my laptop soon, though...

 

[Volvohead]

Yeah, you don't need dual-band if you don't have 5ghz clients. If you don't have three stream clients, you don't need a three stream wireless router. But you'll probably have those clients sooner than you think.

5ghz is the future. And three stream 5Ghz N is blistering fast. If you want something that's a little more future-proof, I'd still get a dual-band. Dual-band coverage has crept into the cheaper mainstream models. So you don't need to blow $200 on a TOTL N900 model (Netgear WNDR4500, Linksys E4200, or Asus new killer router, the RT-N66U).

FWIW, I have a RT-N66U on the way for comparison with the 4500. The 4500 is still a little too FW buggy. If the Asus is more stable, I'll return the Netgear. I like to keep infrastructure gear for more than a couple years (had a WRT54G/s for almost 7 years). I do have three stream 5Ghz clients. So when I buy, I buy higher end.

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: Nick R
The model WNDR3700 is the best of the N600 models. Be aware that you either get a good one, or a bad one. They've mostly fixed it but some of them have weak 2.4Ghz radios. Once you get a good one though, it's flawless.


Exactly. We had a 3700v1 (I forget the revision) and after the firmware grew up, it was absolutely rock solid with good range. But we've had an explosion of wireless clients in the past year that is now starting to bog down its aggregate. And once you've run three stream N, everything else except wired is slow.

I'm really looking forward to trying out this new Asus N66U.

 

[97tbird]

thanks for the tips.

I think if I am upgrading, might as well go with the dual band Netgear. Like I said when i order my new/next laptop, I'll be sure to get the dual band wireless adapter option (only $20 more than the BGN).

The latest version of the WNDR 3700 is v3, according to the Netgear website. I hope they carry those latest v3 ones at Staples.

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
sort of thread jack:
I am thinking i might need to do this as well.

We will be getting Time Warner cable internet pretty soon, and my old Linksys WRT54GL may not be up to the task anymore...having seen a lot of drop outs lately and i have a feeling that it's the router..

what's a good Linksys model that's affordable but new-ish?


Don't forget the modem. It too makes a big difference. If TW gives you one, it should be Docsis 3.0 to accommodate future speed increases. Otherwise, make sure the one you buy is D3. Or you may not realize service upgrades down the road.

Seriously, Comcast had us renting an obsolete D2 Arris for years (we require an eMTA for voice, until 6 mos ago you had to rent theirs). I'm sure it was fine five years ago. But it can't deliver current provisioned speeds. And they would have kept on renting it to us forever had we not complained and/or bought our own D3 replacement. Now we exceed provisioned speeds on one we own.

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
Like I said when i order my new/next laptop, I'll be sure to get the dual band wireless adapter option (only $20 more than the BGN).


Get the very best wireless solution they offer if it's in your budget. Money VERY well spent on a wireless device.

I opted for an Intel 6300 on my last Lenovo lappy (X201). Ordered it without the webcam, and got the third antenna. At the time, practically nobody offered three stream APs and it appeared overkill.

Today, no one sees my face, but I now get 3x3 450Mbps at 5Ghz all day long. Best $35 upgrade ever.

 

[97tbird]

Originally Posted By: Volvohead

Don't forget the modem. It too makes a big difference. If TW gives you one, it should be Docsis 3.0 to accommodate future speed increases. Otherwise, make sure the one you buy is D3. Or you may not realize service upgrades down the road.

Seriously, Comcast had us renting an obsolete D2 Arris for years (we require an eMTA for voice, until 6 mos ago you had to rent theirs). I'm sure it was fine five years ago. But it can't deliver current provisioned speeds. And they would have kept on renting it to us forever had we not complained and/or bought our own D3 replacement. Now we exceed provisioned speeds on one we own.


Thanks - i wonder if there's anyway to confirm the 'usual' modem they give us is D3 or not...
will try to research a bit and see what i can come up with. Or i will ask the tech when he comes to install/initiate service on Friday...

As for router i may get one before fri and may not - if not, will use the old WRT54GL - hopefully it will work with the TWC modem...

 

[Nick R]

The reason I recommend the WNDR3700 isn't just for 5ghz- I don't use the 5Ghz band. The reason I recommend it is because it has a very fast CPU, excellent gigabit etc, and has great DD-WRT support. It's a fantastic, solid router, even if you don't use the 5Ghz radio.

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: Nick R
The reason I recommend the WNDR3700 isn't just for 5ghz- I don't use the 5Ghz band. The reason I recommend it is because it has a very fast CPU, excellent gigabit etc, and has great DD-WRT support. It's a fantastic, solid router, even if you don't use the 5Ghz radio.


I agree with all of that. But it doesn't have enough RAM and can't support enough sessions to handle really heavy-duty network activity. Once 15-20 gigabit wired and more than 6 or 8 wireless clients start pumping through it, it starts to choke a little. Admittedly, that's not the usual household, at least not in 2012.

But for the normal home with a couple computers and a phone, pad or streamer or two, it's great and more than powerful enough.

The price on the 3700 has certainly gotten more reasonable.

The 4500 seems to cut a little on RAM and sessions as well, which is why I'm going to give the Asus N66U a very hard look. A mega CPU is little solace if the NAT tables are constantly overflowing.

 

[rg200amp]

Just a quick update.

I did go with the WNDR3400 Netgear N600.

I forgot to add a few other things I have that run on wifi.

I have been running one wired desktop, a laptop, a iPad, a smartphone, a kindle fire, a HDTV for Netflix, and a Xbox 360.

For a test, a ran all of them at the same time, watching hd videos on YouTube. Then I used my iPad and I did not find any lag or hesitation.

No issues as of yet.

 

[t0ked]

The one main problem with the 3700V1 is its mediocre NAT table. Newer versions and later models have much larger tables. On the 3700v1, 3-4 clients running torrents, online games, or other packet intensive apps will cause the thing to crash. the 4500 ans the new Asus models have much larger ones.

FYI, the 3700v1 NAT table is 4096 or somewhere near that. The venerable WRT54G had 512. Newest routers usually have in the 10s of thousands.

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: t0ked
The one main problem with the 3700V1 is its mediocre NAT table. Newer versions and later models have much larger tables. On the 3700v1, 3-4 clients running torrents, online games, or other packet intensive apps will cause the thing to crash. the 4500 ans the new Asus models have much larger ones.

FYI, the 3700v1 NAT table is 4096 or somewhere near that. The venerable WRT54G had 512. Newest routers usually have in the 10s of thousands.



Maybe. I have the 3700v2. The only thing I've done that's managed to make it choke is the following.

The way I have my network set up, I have my main box, and my storebox, and a laptop (other computers of course, but this is all that is relevant here)e. The storebox sits in the corner of the room, and I use it to store all of my tv shows, movies, pictures, music, anime, etc. I have it set to start up with all the pertinent programs, and immediately power on if the power goes off. I haven't touched it since early february.

Anyway, when I download something, I run utorrent on the main box. And I have it set to SAVE on the Storebox, over the network. So it comes IN through the router, goes THROUGH the router to the storebox. And then goes BACK through the router, and OUT to the internet for upload. That's a lot of p2p I/O traffic, and it puts a real strain on the router. I can do up to about 5 or 6 torrents at once. Anymore than that and the router chokes, and donwload speeds drop to a few KB/s. I can't complain though, it was never really designed for that kind of use.

 

[Volvohead]

FWIW, the 4500 may only support 4096 sessions as well. Netgear doesn't go out of its way to advertise session specs. Seems a bit neutered to me if that's the case.

The N66U supports 300k sessions, and Asus is certainly not shy about promoting that. They obviously are targeting different buyers, IMO.

I do wonder about the RAM and flash allocations on the big prosumer models. The 128m on the 4500 is nice now, but I would expect more headroom for down the road. While the N66U has 256m RAM, which is great for the foreseeable future, 32m flash is a little light for features. Nobody knows if/how the internal sd slot on the Asus will be utilized. Still, I favor raw performance over feature content, which leans me to the Asus on this one. The hardware is otherwise very similar between the two. The major third-party firmware (DDWRT, Tomato) should eventually run on either.

But back to the main point: the WNDR3700 in all its flavors is a great pick for *most* home setups at the moment.

 

[97tbird]

I think our home set up is pretty basic:

we will have 2 laptops, 2 iphones, and 1 blu ray player (for Netflix streaming) connected to the net..that's it. we MIGHT upgrade the TV sometime, and it MIGHT be a model with internet connection.

no gaming - probably not in the future, either.

All this won't be accessing the internet at the same time anyway.

 

[Volvohead]

A WNDR3700 should be plenty for that setup.