What router do you use?

[felixrosbergen]

-->QUOTE(Todd B @ Jul 21 2008, 02:47 PM) [post="92701"][/post]
I've been using home routers since they first gained popularity in 2000, and helped a lot of home users and family set them up... At first I swore by Linksys - not sure why, but just liked them... but started having more and more problems, and after a while, it seemed like I was replacing them at least yearly - both in my house and other peoples'. Then I had a linksys switch that caused me hours of troubleshooting pain - which ended with it finding its demise under the tires of my Suburban.

Since then, about 4 years now, I've been exclusively Netgear... I've installed probably 30 or so of them, never replacing one due to failure. In some instances, they lock up when a new model first comes out until the firmware is straightened out, but the RangeMax WPN824 seems to be pretty bullet-proof.

If you want gigabit, the WNR854T was a pretty good router (until we moved and my wife mixed up the power cords for it and the cable modem and cooked it) - that gets you gigabit. For me, I also threw in a prosafe 8-port gigabit switch just to get the whole house on Gigabit.

What that doesn't address is VPN - so you might be going down the right path with the RV042... as far as wireless, I've been very happy with the range on the Netgear RangeMax (about 10X my old Linksys AP's) - and the WN802T is the RangeMax N AP w/1GB uplink.[/quote]

That WN802T looks like a nice AP with gigabit uplink... are the antenna detachable so i can upgrade with higher gain antenna? Shoud i be worried about this at all? I plan to have this is a centrally located closet on the 2nd floor of a 2800sqf all wood framing/sheetrock house.

 

[86turbodsl]

I currently have a Linksys WRT54GL with ddwrt on it, and it's pretty flaky. I would do a monowall or other linux box and a dumb switch. that's what I'm going to.

 

[sic0048]

I currently have a Linksys WRT54GL with ddwrt on it, and it's pretty flaky. I would do a monowall or other linux box and a dumb switch. that's what I'm going to.

Are you running it as a router or WAP or both? I'm just curious. Have you tried tomato? It is easier to get up and running from what I hear. Not sure if it will help any.

 

[86turbodsl]

I currently have a Linksys WRT54GL with ddwrt on it, and it's pretty flaky. I would do a monowall or other linux box and a dumb switch. that's what I'm going to.

Are you running it as a router or WAP or both? I'm just curious. Have you tried tomato? It is easier to get up and running from what I hear. Not sure if it will help any.

I'm running it as WAP and router. I didn't try tomato. I wanted ddwrt functionality and at the time, tomato didn't have it. I can set it up fine, and get it to do what I want, but it occasionally loses internet connectivity completely although internal traffic works fine, and nothing but two software reboots will fix it. I've checked for overflows and done all the stuff you're supposed to do, but nothing fixes it.

 

[upstatemike]

OK, I think I might be in the market for a new router also. I just tried to consolidate things at the patch panel by removing one of my Etherfast 4116 switches. It was only half full so I fugured I could move those items to the switch built into my RV016 router and shut off 1 switch. Wrong! First I noticed the camera display at my desk was not keeping up with the streams and some of the cameras would lock for 2 or 3 seconds and then catch up. Next the router locked up and I couldn't get to the Internet. The surprising thing is that the PC that I view the cameras on was the only major thing that moved. The cameras themselves and the other devices they stream to were all on the first etherfast 4116 and had not moved, so the router was locking up on the traffic from 1 set of camera streams. I guess if I had plugged all the camera related stuff into the router it probably would have melted or something!

So now now I have everything back on the 2 etherfast 4116 switches and the ports on the router go unused except the 2 WAN inputs and 1 link the the switches. What a waste! I think its time to get a new router that doesn't crash quite so easily and this time I won't waste money on a model with a lot of LAN ports. I think I have learned my lesson and I will NEVER again combine functions: separate router, separate WAPs, separate switches.

This is relavant to the original post because the RV042 was one of the routers under consideration and I would expect that model would likely have the same issues as the larger RV016 that is causing me grief today. I don't think I would consider any Linksys router/switch product at this point. I'm going to look at the Netgear multi-WAN models to see what they have. Any suggestions beyond what has already been discussed in this thread? I need:

Multi-WAN with auto failover (load sharing would also be nice but not critical)
DHCP server
Flexible port forwarding - port translation would also be nice so I can keep stuff at port 80 on the LAN and show it at a different port outside. The Linksys can't do that.
And some sort of clientless VPN (in the unlikely event that I would ever want to leave the house)

 

[felixrosbergen]

Well...too late mike...they RV042 was bought about 2 months ago and has been fine since. We actually have one at our office and it has never locked up to my knowledge. Currently in my temporary place i am using it's LAN ports, but in the future i think i will just use 1 lan port to a gigabit switch.

What i was looking for was a recommendation on a WAP only, not a wireless router...that Netgear WN802T looks interesting.

For the last 2 months i havent' had wireless in the temp house and it's getting on my nerver...when i do work on the couch next to the wife i run a 50' cat5e from the RV042 to the couch....ghetto.....

 

[pete_c]

I quit using HW routers/firewalls. I do have three Linksys WRT54GL's and Buffalo WAP's with DD-WRT installed on them. For router/firewalls I am using two "old" P233 with about 16 megs of memory running Smoothwall Polar edition. These two boxes have been running Smoothwall now for a few years. Never have to boot them nor do they ever get locked up. Great program.

 

[dutchyn]

It's a bit more than just a wireless hub/router. I use a TimeCapsule -- that way my wife's machine is always backed up.