Wireless routers that don't suck

[trains are bad]

I have a Linksys WRT45G, I think, anyway, Bittorrent locks it up under serious anime filching, and even otherwise it likes to drop down to 24mbps and my music on this laptop cuts out even though I'm only 15 feet away in the same room. So, what's a good router?

 

[Zorander]

Could it have something to do with your wifi adapter instead? My own Netgear router has been working flawlessly for more than 2 years (and still counting). Any bandwith-related problems have always come from their crappy adapters and the fact that I am more than 10m (30ft+) away - plus a thick layer of furniture and clothings - from the router.

Cheers!

 

[LeChuck]

There's a few things you might want to try first:

Try switching your SSID channel. If you have radio interfearance it won't matter how good your router wireless router is. Try hooking up with a LAN cable and see if you get the same problems.

Most routers have a reset button somewhere on them, which flashes all the settings to the factory defaults. Give this a try if your router supports it.

Upgrade your firmware.

As mentioned by Zorander, your network adapter itself might be the problem.

 

[trains are bad]

I'm using an Acer 8104 which has always gotten fantastic reception. Bittorrent still locks it up though. Tight. And that's on the wired connection.

 

[Goofy]

I would say that it locks up due to too many connections. I doubt it has much to due with bandwith. I had the exact same issue and after researching a bit, I found that it was an issue with wireless routers in general - and not the specific access point/router.

A "fix" is to limit the number of concurrent connections in the peer to peer programs ... But it still sucks!

 

[device manager]

There are several versions of the WRT54G, and the only one that doesn't use Linux firmware is the v5.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrt54g

The first 4 characters in the serial number reveal your version, so check the bottom of your router. The v5 has been known to have connection issues.

http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/0..._lousy_router/

Quote:

Since the complaints I saw about the V5 included packet loss and problems with P2P, I figured that I would see how the GL and V5 performed with my simultaneous connection test. I can't say for sure that the V5's inability to support more than 16 simultaneous connections is at the heart of what ails most unhappy purchasers of this product. But I do know that for a router to be successful in today's market, it had better be able to handle as many simultaneous connections as its design will allow and the higher the number the better!

You can still purchase the Linux version (WRT54GL) that accepts 3rd party firmware.

 

[trains are bad]

I have that version, that is known to have issues. Lucky me. However that wiki said that it could be fixed by power cycling it, so I can just do that when it gives me problems. That sucks, but it's about like everything else I own

 

[krmathis]

I highly recommend the Apple Airport Extreme!
The last 2 1/2 year I have been using one, and not even once it has dropped out or caused me any trouble.

 

[Fryguy8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trains are bad I have a Linksys WRT45G, I think, anyway, Bittorrent locks it up under serious anime filching, and even otherwise it likes to drop down to 24mbps and my music on this laptop cuts out even though I'm only 15 feet away in the same room. So, what's a good router?

That linksys is probably one of the best units on the market, so if you are having problems with it, you probably need to change channels, get better antennas, or rethink what you are doing with your network. The situation isn't going to improve by getting a different router.

 

[RichardCory]

I can almost guarantee that what Goofy said is correct. You have too many connections open with your torrent client. I have personally experienced such a problem with my wireless dropping out due to running too many connections on my torrent client (Azureus in the past, currently using uTorrent). Just cut your current allowed global connections in half, and slowly increase the amount over a long stretch of time until either: (a) you have maxed out your download speed, or (b) your wireless fails again--in which case you drop down to the last working setting.

 

[fyleow]

Yes, the Linksys WRT54G V5 really is a lousy router.

The WRT54G used to be an excellent router but the newer versions have been pretty bad. I suggest you get the WRT54GL version and try a 3rd party firmware. I've been using DD-WRT with mine and I have never experienced any lockups.

I do heavy Bit Torrent and DD-WRT reports having over 1000+ active IP connections. I've never had to power cycle and it is rock solid with great features like quality of service.

 

[star882]

Have you tried installing high gain antennas on it? Also try installing heatsinks on the chips inside (even small pieces of scrap metal will work).
For broadband, use IPCop. When it comes to memory and CPU speed, it's hard to beat an IPCop...

 

[fyleow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by star882 Have you tried installing high gain antennas on it? Also try installing heatsinks on the chips inside (even small pieces of scrap metal will work). For broadband, use IPCop. When it comes to memory and CPU speed, it's hard to beat an IPCop...

IMO, IPCop is better suited for SOHO environments or if you have really fast broadband. It requires a dedicated computer and might be a good idea if you already have an old one lying around but if not it will be more expensive to set up. Using the WRT54GL with a custom firmware would be easier to setup, take up less room and power and is potentially cheaper. I think IPCop is great and you can't go wrong with it but it might be overkill for this situation.

 

[Fiola]

If you have v1-v4, id suggest you try some thirdparty firmware.
I had the exact problem you had, except, it was far more annoying because it wasn't me who was downloading, it was my roommate! I initially tried dd-wrt, a popular firmware that i used at home with my wrt54gs, but i guess without the extra memory of the gs version (my landlord has the old g version) it still locks up after a while. Power cycling every 2 hours gets really frustrating really fast. So, i tried Hyperwrt Thibor, so far, so good. been running it for 2 weeks now, only had to power cycle once. good enough for me. Give it a shot.
http://www.hyperwrt.org/

 

[star882]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fyleow IMO, IPCop is better suited for SOHO environments or if you have really fast broadband. It requires a dedicated computer and might be a good idea if you already have an old one lying around but if not it will be more expensive to set up. Using the WRT54GL with a custom firmware would be easier to setup, take up less room and power and is potentially cheaper. I think IPCop is great and you can't go wrong with it but it might be overkill for this situation.

IPCop doesn't need a very good computer - an old Pentium is enough. In fact, there might be someone in your area who might give you a suitable computer for free. Then add another network card (about $5-$15) and that's all that's needed for hardware. And since an IPCop needs no/little physical access once set up, you could put it under your bed, in a closet, etc.