US Cable Support > Time Warner Internet Services > Recommended Routers?

reply to DC_Cleveland

Re: Recommended Routers?

reply to motoracer
actually I've found that sticking with the G only routers works so much better that I recomend them over the N series. Everyone else wants the N speeds that there is congestion and guess what, unless you're on FIOS with 100/100 plan, G band is actually fast enough for home use as it can and does hit 25-35 for the home network. If you want a true N band router, you aint buying one of the $50 units - those are still basiclly G band (2.5GHz) instead of the real N band (5Ghz) thus they suffer from all the congestion in the G band.

The other issue is that most i-devices are either 802.11 b/g units - thus no sense buying any N band router since they can't use it anyway. Simply aint worth the money

reply to motoracer
except those so called N routers aren't future proof at all as they're still using the B/G radio's (2.5 GHz Band). The true N routers have dual Radio's to work with both bands (2.5 - 5 GHz) and they cost money. Otherwise get a B/G based router and have better features and throughput then most of the cheap dual band units offer - since most can't do 5GHz w/o dumping the b/g band entirely. Otherwise you're wasting money on trying to future proof something that simply doesn't make a difference - Penny Wise/Pound Foolish as the old saying goes.

reply to Fast Turtle

said by Fast Turtle
As you're using TW, you'll need to talk to tech support (automated systems should handle the issue) to register the MAC of the router **Just went through this as my last router lost it's magic smoke**
[/BQUOTE :

It has been my repeated experience that a power-cycle of the cable modem allows me to connect 'new' devices to the network port on the cable modem. In fact I did it several times last weekend as I was moving equipment around the house while painting last weekend.

reply to DC_Cleveland
People who want N speeds are either doing file transfers over a network wirelessly, have the HSD speed they need (Anything over 30 G wont' do), or just pay for something they don't need.

Fast turtle, I think you're getting future proofing and backwards compatibility mixed up.

It costs the same these days, get an N router. An 802.11 B/G router has a theoretical maximum of 22.5 Mbps. That is getting awfully close to your 15Mbps internet speed. If you are connecting over large distances, through walls or do much intranet work while downloading, your connection will be saturated.

I really do not think that the OP is looking for a router that he can flash with tomato or DD-WRT or a $200 router or a bleeding edge AC router. I say go to wal-mart or target or wherever you shop and buy the cheap N router.

reply to DC_Cleveland
A G router (no B devices in house) will do a theoretical 54mbps which will run a norm of 30mbps. G handles my extreme just fine.

My B/G router will run my 30 mbit connection just fine, but I don't have any B devices in the house.

While G will connect at a 54mbps, it's theoretical maximum throughput without a B device in the network is still only about 25Mbps. You can hit 30 if you have frame bursting. You always lose 50-60% of the 802.11 speed due to overhead, duplexing, etc and encryption takes away even more. I have have seen a G router that is unable to deliver 10 Mbps internet reliably. I have seen this many times in house with lots of obstructions.

N is established and all N devices contain a G radio. N is cheap. G is old, hard to find and has no future-proofing against getting upgraded internet speeds. I see no value in recommending old tech. On the other end, AC routers are not ready for prime time in many ways. They are expensive and can be flaky. N is the sweet spot. For large file transfers it is a necessity.

But none of that matters if you are using wired only. (Not everyone lives in huge houses where they need wireless).

I know plenty of people who live in small houses that want wireless. What does the size of the house have to do with wireless?

Infact, even in a huge house I prefer wired for a myriad of reasons.

reply to Mele20

reply to Fleeced
I prefer wired for everything, but there’s just some things where wired isn’t an option, like tablets. I don’t live in a huge house and it is only one floor plus the basement, but it’s nice taking the laptop or tablet into the kitchen or using them while watching TV. The two desktops, TV, Blu Ray Player, A/V Receiver, DirecTV DVRs, Xbox and PS3 are all hardwired while the two tablets, two smart phones, MP3 Player and printer are wireless. Without wireless capabilities it makes it impossible to take advantage of using the DLNA capabilities to share out pictures and video taken with my phone to my TV, or music on my MP3 Player to my A/V Receiver.

When it comes to my preferences, size of the house is irrelevant when it comes to wireless. Personally in large environments I’d rather run Cat 6, that way you get reliable fast access no matter what part of the house you’re in, no matter what building materials are used instead of having to deal with dead spots or setting up repeaters or whatnot. Since I’m addicted to this stuff, my 9 month old EA4500 will be soon replaced by that new AC router from Linksys.
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Dale Jr, Riding Daddys Coattails Since February 18, 2001!