Router Advice

Stevie G

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Hi guys

Just wanted to know which are the best on the market i.t.o. wireless connection/streaming, rock solid stats for my attenuation connection to the exchange. i would appreciate brand and model.

looking at tp-link,d-link

price range in the region of R400-R800

thanks
 
That is an awesome router. You can get it cheaper at Uniterm Direct: http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/5191...0Mbps_Ultimate_Wireless_N_Gigabit_Router.html

Just take note that not all routers include ADSL modems, like that TP-Link WR1043ND.

You can easily combine that TP-Link router with like a D-Link DSL-2500U ADSL modem, but it'll cost you ~R800 due to shipping.

Perhaps look at the TP-Link W8960N and D-Link DSL-2750U, but they don't have gigabit LAN.
 
That is an awesome router. You can get it cheaper at Uniterm Direct: http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/5191...0Mbps_Ultimate_Wireless_N_Gigabit_Router.html

Just take note that not all routers include ADSL modems, like that TP-Link WR1043ND.

You can easily combine that TP-Link router with like a D-Link DSL-2500U ADSL modem, but it'll cost you ~R800 due to shipping.

Perhaps look at the TP-Link W8960N and D-Link DSL-2750U, but they don't have gigabit LAN.

Hi Pada

Not worried about the Gigabit Lan
I am either going for the TP-Link W8960N or the D-Link DSL-2750U. just want to know which one is overall the better router i.t.o. best overall stable connection, reliability, wireless streaming.
 
Unfortunately I can't comment on either of them, because I don't own one of them myself.
There are tonnes of myBB members who can vouch for the TP-Link one. I was quite impressed with the D-Link's package contents (my colleague bought one) and I quite like D-Link's web interface more than TP-Link's.

I had way too many issues (due to an advanced setup) with TP-Link WR841ND WiFi AP's web interface at my parent's home. My next step would be to flash their WiFi AP with DD-WRT firmware :D
 
thanks Pada

i will wait for comments form fellow forumites who have these routers. the TP-Link seems to be cheaper though.
 
I can't comment on those two routers, I use a d-link modem connected to a linksys router through the wan port setup.

The D-Link 2500u modem http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/50141470/D_Link_DSL_2500U_1_port_ADSL_Modem_Router.html is a rock solid modem and has really good adsl stats and way too many settings that I have no idea about. The stats include SNR, current synced rate and max achievable rate.

I connect this to a Linksys e2000 router through the wan port which i've flashed with a custom firmware from http://tomatousb.org/, which gives you excellent real time stats on bandwidth usage, and for running custom apps on - like adblocking. The linksys is a bit pricey though (you can only buy these at makro).

I've suffered from many routers being destroyed during a lightning strikes, this way I find normally only the cheaper modem gets destroyed and not the router.
 
I can definitely vouch for getting a cheap ADSL modem and connecting that to a decent, separate router.

1) As said above, it protects the more expensive router from lightning strikes, or any failure really, you can just replace the one that broke.

2) No router with built-in modem supports any kind of 3rd party firmware like dd-wrt so if you want to upgrade your router's operating system to give you new functionality, customisation etc. you can't do that with the integrated ones. Normal wireless routers from e.g D-link, Netgear and Asus support it.

I recently bought the Netgear WNDR3700 "Ultimate wireless networking machine" as they call it. That's a bit expensive but you should be able to get pretty decent ones for cheaper. Bear in mind though that the routers with the best streaming capabilities and bandwidth are the dual-band wireless N routers and I don't think you can get one of those for under R1000. You pretty much need the 5GHz band if you want to stream HD content over wi-fi.

The modem I use is the D-link DSL2500U modem, bargain of the century at R190. It has its own router functions as well but I bypass those and let the Netgear dial the connection.
 
so you saying the D-Link 2500U is the best modem for stable connection and then get a good wireless router for streaming
 
Well, I don't know if it's the best, since it's the only one I've used. But from what others are saying it seems really stable and from my experience the last 2 days it does seem to be. It also dials much quicker than my old Belkin router.

And yes, for best streaming you need a dual-band router and hardware that supports it. You could do it on a 2.4 GHz normal wireless N router but you might get some playback issues with HD.
 
i don't have issues with my current Netgear DG834GU v5 w.r.t. streaming. i just need a router that are stable with connections and have good streaming capabilities
 
The Netgear DG834GUv5 is a terrible ADSL modem. I had to plug in a D-Link DSL-2500U at my church because the Netgear wasn't able to maintain a stable connection, even after downgrading from 6Mbps to 2Mbps.

The WiFi range of the Netgear is OK indoors, but not great either. We still use our Netgear as a WiFi AP and it is fine for that.
 
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so i have to get me proper adsl modem. i am still undecided between the TP-Link and the D-Link
 
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TP-Link W8960N or D-Link DSL-2750U?

sigh...............

dono which 1 to choose

maybe i should flip a coin
 
The Netgear DG834GUv5 is a terrible ADSL modem. I had to plug in a D-Link DSL-2500U at my church because the Netgear wasn't able to maintain a stable connection, even after downgrading from 6Mbps to 2Mbps.

The WiFi range of the Netgear is OK indoors, but not great either. We still use our Netgear as a WiFi AP and it is fine for that.

I have occasional connections drops with the Netgear DG834GUv5 (4meg - attenuation is 49.5 and noise ratio is 11.5). I went and bought the TP-Link WR1043ND(with dd-wrt) and am looking for a modem to plug into it. Is the D-Link 2500U the one to get, and do you think it'll make my line a touch more stable?
 
4Mbps with 49.5dB downstream line attenuation is very risky to begin with. I doubt that you'll get a stable 4Mbps connection even with the D-Link DSL-2500U, but it might be worth a shot.
 
4Mbps with 49.5dB downstream line attenuation is very risky to begin with. I doubt that you'll get a stable 4Mbps connection even with the D-Link DSL-2500U, but it might be worth a shot.

I wouldn't describe my connection as unstable, it just occasionally drops, as in every couple of days, i'd rather keep it like that than lowering it down to 3meg.

Another quick question.

What is the maximum cable length between the two routers given my setup?
 
CAT5e UTP cables has a length limit of like 100m, so you should be fine for pretty much any house.
 
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