Broadband Tech > Wireless Networking > Time to get a router.

Time to get a router.

smallnet builder is a good site to do research. The fastest with reasonable wifi is the ASUS rt n56U but they have a new one coming out n66u that is supposed to have really good wifi...

reply to Mospaw

Thank you both! Now that my query is in the right forum (you'd think a mod would know all the right places to post ) I've been looking around and seeing good things said about the ASUS RT N56U.

I also looked at the WNDR4500 and it had some really bad reviews, but I suspect that it simply doesn't sell as many due to the price different. Forgive my ignorance, but what's a "true" 3x3 system vs. false(?) systems.

If it makes any difference, there are only four devices that are on the network on any consistent basis: my wife's old Thinkpad, my iPad, and our phones.

reply to Mospaw
When looking at router reviews, keep in mind that a lot of the complaints will be aimed toward the factory firmware. That's relevant if you plan to run the factory firmware, but not so much if you plan to flash it with dd-wrt or other.

Personally I've been very satisfied with Tomato and recommend it exclusively for small networks. Thus I like the ASUS routers that support it, such as the RT-N12 and RT-N16 (the latter having GBE ports and 3x3 MIMO). The RT-N66U also runs Tomato but they seem to be scarce yet and probably overpriced for the hardware you're getting.

The WNR3500L is good value for the money, but wireless range is pretty poor.
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db

reply to mozerd
When mozerd was at the last MIMO convention he was drugged and had 3 diodes planted under his skin and every since then whenever he thinks of saying the work MIMO, the word true is triggered in his brain. He cant help it, poor SOB.

The truth of the matter is that there is a finite set of selections for hardware for wifi routers, be it the wifi chip or the antenna setup.
The hardware folks provide drivers and firmwares to use with the components (or third party folks if its open source stuff, can code it to do magic tricks, given it its with the design or intergrated design of the components).

The latest is not always the greatest but they tend to have better specs (including more ram and wifi range and.........)
What clark nova said is important in that vendors are trying to make money and thus only fund a stock firmware that has features X,YZ. Wherease third party developpers are kewl and spend gazillion hours providing functionality A, B, C and D as well. Plus they support or update it and remove bugs more frequently.
So if your not happy with stock firmware on a product or if its limited in features (which is probably the case for 99.9 % of consumer side routers) then looking at a unit that can have 3rd party support is probably a wise investment. The ASUS RT 16 does, the 66 is supposed to have but the n56U does not - typically based on hardware components and drivers available.
I am aware of one chap that got the asus 56U code and tweaked it the linux for a specifi fibre op function in our local area..... works great, so if your soinclined anything is possible.

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Ain't nuthin but the blues! "Albert Collins".
Leave your troubles at the door! "Pepe Peregil" De Sevilla. Just Don't Wifi without WPA, "Yul Brenner"

LlamaWorks Equipment

I'm NOT a fan of 3rd party firmware -- far too many issues with customization +++ .. It's ok for a very small group of people who love to pretend that they understand what's going on --- and then an even smaller group of people who actual do understand whats going on

Factory firmware is just fine for 98% of the wireless population. People run into problems with stuff because they do not follow recommendation insofar as PLACEMENT [as high up as possible and centrally located] and have zero understanding between capability and compatibility especially in the new 'N' world that renders the 'b','g','a' world into the trash dumps of silicon junk.
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David Mozer
IT-Expert on Call
Information Technology for Home and Business

Well I will give you that. In other words most of the folks at Best Buy and Future shop buying a router will get whatever the drooling sales person will tell them and go home and use the stock firmware. However that is rare to find here. Most visiting have some itch to play with their devices LOL. I have never used third party myself, touch wood, buts thats because I am using fully featured business class appliances. However if I were to get an ASUS I would probably play with 3rd party firmwares. Mozerd your bringing in your business risk adverse bias into a home router where it may not belong Besides I have to tip toe that fine line between you and the other knowledgable giant Clark Nova. I know squat compared to you guys but its fun anyway.
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Ain't nuthin but the blues! "Albert Collins".
Leave your troubles at the door! "Pepe Peregil" De Sevilla. Just Don't Wifi without WPA, "Yul Brenner"

LlamaWorks Equipment

reply to clarknova

I've never laid hands on the 66U, but the general consensus among Tomato users is that the 32K of nvram is becoming quite a limitation in dual-band routers, and not enough space to store the necessary user config.

The other big complaint is that apparently ASUS had at one point announced that these would have 1GB of RAM, but by the time they were actually released this had been reduced to 256MB. IIRC, the CPU is 600MHz, which is great if you need it but a) I don't personally know anybody who does, and b) it's not a whole lot faster than the RT-N16, which sells at just a hair more than half the price.

But at the end of the day, if you're somebody that wants to push a whole lot of pps, or run torrent clients and file servers off your sub-10W device, then I guess only the best will do, and make sure it's shiny and black.

As for me, if a router can push 50 mbps and run stably for a year at a time, all at a good price, then it's worth looking at, and Tomato fits the bill. So much more so now that vlan functionality has been integrated.

edit: the other major complaint being aired about the 66U is that with the initial release the firmware wizard, which runs automatically when connecting to the web GUI, had a bug preventing it from completing. Folks couldn't even get into the things and ASUS tech support was reportedly advising consumers to return them to the store. Ask me again why I prefer free software
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db

Thanks for the info. I don't want to hijack this thread, so I'll start another one. Please comment there--I'd like to hear more.

reply to Mospaw
I'm also looking for a new router to replace my WRT54GL/Tomato setup. For me the routers in contention are the RT-N66U and the Linksys E4200V1.

The RT-N66U is definitely not perfect at the moment, with issues like Javascript errors in the GUI in the shipped firmware (fixed with an update), small NVRAM (even the E4200V1 has 60KB), and antennae with loose swivel joints. Plus, due to the current tight supply, it is rather expensive for what the RT-N66U delivers. In Canada the only store with actual stock is selling it for $209.

However in the high end of the consumer wireless router market there isn't that much of a choice at the moment. The obvious competitors (in addition to the E4200V1 which only offers 3x3 in 5GHz) are the E4200V2 with the DD-WRT incompatible Marvell chipset, the locked down Apple AEBS 5G, the Ralink based TP-Link, and the Broadcom based Netgear WNDR4500. All of which have their own peculiarities and drawbacks.

Actually the E4200V1 might be a reasonable option for you as it does have a reasonably well tested "official" firmware, it is DD-WRT and Tomato compatible, reasonably fast, and should be available for only slightly more than 100USD. The drawbacks are that it has a slightly slower CPU than more recent models leading to slower NAS speeds, 2 stream only 2.4GHz, and not particularly stellar wireless range (which is predictable given that integral antennae).

I considered all of those as well, and the 66U looks like the best of the bunch. The 32MB NVRAM is annoying though.

reply to decx
Coverage doesn't need to be that strong, fortunately. In fact, I'd rather it wasn't too strong. We're right next to a public park and have a small enough home. (I don't think there's any point here that would be more than 30 feet from the router.)

I really appreciate all the input and discussion.