Canadian Broadband → Re: Looking for some router recommendations

Consider that if your router is not capable of simultaneous N and G, it'll be effectively locked to one or the other permanently. In practice, especially when comparing 5 GHz N to 2.4GHz G (you always want to run 802.11n on 5 GHz if possible due to the much greater spectrum available), you're not going to log into your router and reconfigure it, cutting off all your 5 GHz devices, just to occasionally play your wii.

We bought a TP-Link simultaneous dual-radio 3x3 MIMO router recently for $65 (TL-WDR4300), and it's been working quite well for us. Unfortunately, that sale is over, so the price is back up to $80.

However, if you don't need 3x3 (450 Mbps), they have a gigabit 2x2 router (300 Mbps), the TL-WDR3600, for $62, or a non-gigabit TL-WDR3500 for $48.

Those are all simultaneous dual-band. Some (all?) of them support, to varying degrees, custom firmware, but some of the support from dd-wrt or open-wrt is extremely early.

I always understood that the router would just drop the N to G automatically if it detected a G device connecting, and then go back to N afterwards. If it's manual, I guess I would be better off getting a simultaneous one then.

Are the TP Link WDR series good overall? Hardware wise, the 3600 and 4300 seem to fit what I would need and the prices are decent.

That's pretty much it. Some routers might have a "N-only" mode which might squeeze a little more performance but it is usually not worth it given that your legacy G devices won't be able to connect.

These seems good recommendations