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Arghoslent
join:2007-12-25
Scarborough, ON

Arghoslent

Member

[Cable] WRT54GL decided its time to kick the bucket. Suggest a replacement

My WRT54GL died today morning inexplicably . We had a good 6 years together. After I bury it today or chuck it into the bin, what should I get to replace it?
I use the tomato firmware to get past rogers throttling or whatever it was way back when.

What do you suggest I get.

My home is ~1000 sqft
moofo
join:2004-02-04
Montreal, QC

moofo

Member

Get a Mikrotik Router. Powerful, cheap and small.

Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON

1 recommendation

Mike2009 to Arghoslent

Member

to Arghoslent
Asus RT-N56U.
Mango
Use DMZ and you get a kick in the dick.
Premium Member
join:2008-12-25
www.toao.net

2 recommendations

Mango

Premium Member

+1 for Asus. I've been using an RT-N16 for years, with Tomato firmware, and love it.

XxAjithxX
join:2014-03-12
Scarborough, ON

XxAjithxX to Arghoslent

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R.I.P Mr. Router

I'm still clinging onto my D-Link DIR-655, solely for the fact that I want to see how far I can push it before it breaks down

Anyways, if I was in the market for a new router... I'd go with 'Nighthawk X6 Tri-Band WiFi Router' | Model# R8000.

Product page: »www.netgear.com/home/pro ··· 000.aspx

Seems pretty future proof.

anon234
@69.165.139.x

1 recommendation

anon234 to Arghoslent

Anon

to Arghoslent
I'm quite happy with my Asus RT-N16 / Tomato as well. Rock solid, fast and the wireless has pretty good reach. No problems anywhere in a 2000 ft house (though it's old wood frame, no metal).

A couple questions for you so people can narrow down their recommendations:

1. How many devices do you intend to connect wired and wirelessly?
2. Do you have a budget in mind?
Arghoslent
join:2007-12-25
Scarborough, ON

Arghoslent

Member

2 Laptops
1 Desktop
1 TV
2 iphones

100-150$ is my budget. Is that enough to play with?
reiyu
join:2014-01-08
North York, ON

reiyu

Member

spend a little bit more and grab yourself a netgear r7000.

Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON

Mike2009 to Arghoslent

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You can get something great with that budget.
Arghoslent
join:2007-12-25
Scarborough, ON

Arghoslent

Member

Why is no one recommending Linksys? Are they bad?
vzm
join:2013-04-15
Ottawa, ON

vzm to Mike2009

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to Mike2009
I would say get an Asus n66u at a minimum
dual band is mandatory if you live in an apartment

»www.smallnetbuilder.com/ is a good resource

Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON

2 recommendations

Mike2009 to Arghoslent

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to Arghoslent
said by Arghoslent:

Why is no one recommending Linksys? Are they bad?

Because Asus is better.
decx
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Vancouver, BC

decx to vzm

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to vzm
said by vzm:

I would say get an Asus n66u at a minimum
dual band is mandatory if you live in an apartment

I agree. If only 802.11a/b/g/n are needed, go with the RT-N66U. It's compatible with third party firmware like Tomato, Merlin, or DD-WRT.

If AC support is desired consider the RT-AC68U or the upcoming quad channel RT-AC87U (which might be a bit overkill).
joebob2000
join:2013-09-27
usa

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If you are on a budget, the TP-Link TL-WDR3600 is dual band an+gn with 2 USB ports, external antennas, the usual open firmware available (I like the OpenWRT build, very easy to install and maintain) and also very affordable. For a smaller area, the WD MyNET N750 is a great choice (they don't make it any more but you can ebay it near-mint for under $30) and it is an+bn with USB and open firmware.

digiwth
join:2012-09-21

1 recommendation

digiwth to Arghoslent

Member

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Can't say enough good things about my RT-N66U, I haven't even bothered putting a third party firmware on it yet because stock is pretty powerful.

fluffybunny
@69.172.160.x

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Anon

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asus RT-AC68U with shibby tomatousb. nothing else compares.

Chris 313
Because It's Geekier
Premium Member
join:2004-07-18
Houma, LA
·AT&T FTTP
·Comcast XFINITY

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Premium Member

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said by Arghoslent:

My WRT54GL died today morning inexplicably . We had a good 6 years together. After I bury it today or chuck it into the bin, what should I get to replace it?
I use the tomato firmware to get past rogers throttling or whatever it was way back when.

What do you suggest I get.

My home is ~1000 sqft

Asus for the win.

»www.amazon.com/RT-N66U-D ··· +rt-n66u (I have one of these and it works great on a 125/10 connection.)

If you have need of Wireless AC or will soon, try this: »www.amazon.com/RT-AC68U- ··· +rt-n66u

Good luck. I had a 54GL too and for the 5 years it was in service, it worked great.
vincom
join:2009-03-06
Bolton, ON

3 edits

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im using a previously used asus ac66u which i got it for under $95 from busy ebay seller that mislabelled it as a n66u, i figured it out because pics were showing the ac66 and not the n66.
anyways its a nice unit, loads of memory, fast mips processor, 2 usb ports, external ant., dual wireless, choice of custom firmware, easy to flash custom fw, fairly hard to brick, decent wireless range, imho asus is the way to go if u can get it for a decent price or if money is not an issue since asus routers are priced on the high side

Mashiki
Balking The Enemy's Plans
join:2002-02-04
Woodstock, ON

Mashiki to Arghoslent

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said by Arghoslent:

Why is no one recommending Linksys? Are they bad?

Probably because in the later years after Cisco owned them out the quality took a massive nose dive, and they started pumping out cheap crap. Especially after the success of the WRT54G series, it really hasn't improved since belkin bought them. Anyway, makes me wonder how much longer my 54GL is going to keep going, it's nearly 8 years now.
i_pk_pjers_i
join:2007-04-20
none

i_pk_pjers_i

Member

said by Mashiki:

said by Arghoslent:

Why is no one recommending Linksys? Are they bad?

Probably because in the later years after Cisco owned them out the quality took a massive nose dive, and they started pumping out cheap crap. Especially after the success of the WRT54G series, it really hasn't improved since belkin bought them. Anyway, makes me wonder how much longer my 54GL is going to keep going, it's nearly 8 years now.

Why not make the switch to an ASUS router? Any of the flagship ASUS routers with Merlins firmware work great and are perfectly stable.

airshark
--... ...-- -.. . -. -.... .-.. -.--
Premium Member
join:2003-05-20
Hollister, CA

airshark to Arghoslent

Premium Member

to Arghoslent
+1 for the RT-N66U running Merlin firmware.

Rock SOLID and GREAT range, especially compared to that Linksys crap that is engineered to look cooler by sacrificing range.

WRT54G was king of 802.11b, but the brand is not what it used to be. Buy Asus.
Expand your moderator at work

Mashiki
Balking The Enemy's Plans
join:2002-02-04
Woodstock, ON

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to i_pk_pjers_i

Re: [Cable] WRT54GL decided its time to kick the bucket. Suggest a replacement

said by i_pk_pjers_i:

Why not make the switch to an ASUS router? Any of the flagship ASUS routers with Merlins firmware work great and are perfectly stable.

Well for one, I'm on a grandfathered 28/10 plan, so I don't need the extra throughput at least right now. The second is the router is still working perfectly fine, it covers the entire house and part of the backyard as well as the front yard with no issues. And that's over the 15 other wifi signals it's competing against.

I'll probably replace it like my old netgear router, when it dies...probably in a lightening strike. Which is what happened to my old switch too, it fried in a lightening strike the server however survived.

I guess it boils down to this: If it's still working good, and isn't causing me problems--then there's no point in replacing it just because newer tech is available.
reiyu
join:2014-01-08
North York, ON

reiyu

Member

28/10? what parent ISP are you with?
the1bobcat
join:2011-11-06
Brampton, ON

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I am in love with my Netgear R7000 I can put DD-WRT on it if I want to or leave it stock. I do both. It it lightning fast and it keeps up to speed. I haven't yet used the VPN on it yet put soon just to give it a whirl. To me it was worth every penny.
abugg046
join:2010-04-02
Orleans, ON

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I heard a lot of suggestions about the RT-n16 and I followed them and bought 2 for different applications.

Both failed on me after about 1 year. I was able to repair them on my own by replacing a dried out capacitor. Many people have identified this issue and tt's fairly well described online. Just remove the old purple capacitor with one of the same uF and slightly higher voltage and you will be good for years.

If you're not up the the challenge of replacing the caps, I would go for a different model.

Based on two of these routers bought at different times, one operating in a high demand 200+ user environment and another in my own home with 3-4 users, they are guaranteed to fail...

Rambytes
join:2006-05-27
Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, QC

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Don't forget about the little sister, the Asus Rt-N12(D1). I have this router with ShibbyTomato inside and run great, never had to reboot, coverage is good, No problem connecting my WiiU, 2 tablets, 1 ipod, 2 laptop, 1 computer, 2 VoIP module, 2 WiFi multimedia box (Western Digital Live)... The N12 eat all without a glitch, and is very cheap (40$ max)

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

2 edits

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said by Arghoslent:

....What do you suggest I get ? ....

 
If it worked properly in that amount of floor space, I suggest looking for another of the same - used, naturally, these days.

My WRT54GL still works fine (with Tomato), and you CAN'T have it.

The only reason to upgrade is if it did NOT serve you well due to the speed of your service (or if the WiFi performance was insufficient), or if you plan to go to a faster service than 30 Mbps any time soon.
Liberty
Premium Member
join:2005-06-12
Arizona

1 recommendation

Liberty to Arghoslent

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If the WRT54 met your needs well, why change?

I buy same router from Amazon, 10 at a time and sell them to my new subs.
(I sell rural internet)

I find that model a dependable work horse.
$50 at Amazon
reiyu
join:2014-01-08
North York, ON

reiyu

Member

said by Liberty:

If the WRT54 met your needs well, why change?

the lack of gigabit ports and wireless N. maybe that's why?