What would you consider the BEST router (ADSL2+) you can get for less than £150?

Richdog · Jul 29, 2006, 10:28:43

Just wondering what ADSL router people think is the dogs nadgers in terms of stability, strength of signal and performance for less than 150 notes. I bought a Belkin 7633 and have been reasonably happy with it but am thinking about swapping it for something with a bit more of a reputation.

I've been looking at the Drayteks as my boss says they're the shizzle but they I have read conflicting reviews saying they are prone to freezing so not too sure about that.

I have no expereince with Netgear, Linksys etc so would consider these, however after an awful time with a D-link router they are definately off of the cards! Most important things to me are:

*Ability to retain ADSL connection in a house where wiring ain't the best.
*Maintain strong wireless coverage through two pretty thick walls (and sometimes a closed door).
*Decent firewall to cover the whole network.

If I need a good PCI wireless card please also suggest one as i'm not the happiest with my Belkin one of those either lol.

Cheers,

Rich.

tvaughan · Jul 29, 2006, 12:17:58

My general preference is to separate out different networking functions into their own bits of hardware. So my home network has a modem, a router and a wireless access point.

The modem is a Zyxel prestige 600 - IDNet give me four IP addresses so the modem gets one and I just turned off everything (firewall, NAT etc.) so the router gets the other usable address.
My router is a PCEngines WRAP running m0n0wall.
The wireless access point is a bog standard WRT54G running DD-WRT. My router has three network connections so I stick the wireless access point into one and segregate it from my wired network on a DMZ.
Oh, and I have a simple Netgear 8-port switch.

All the above would probably get to about £150 if you were (very!) lucky on Ebay, but I think it's the best setup you can get for the money. It does make cabling a bit more complicated but it's very flexible; no need to buy a whole new router when the next ADSL upgrade comes out, for example, or when the next wireless standard gets generally accepted.

thetrevone · Jul 29, 2006, 18:50:33

Quote from: Richdog on Jul 29, 2006, 10:28:43

I've been looking at the Drayteks as my boss says they're the shizzle but they I have read conflicting reviews saying they are prone to freezing so not too sure about that.

I

I have had two wireless routers both Draytek bought on the advice of a network engineer who helped me set my system up here and noticing them in a few companies I visited. The 2600g I had for a year and then gave it to a friend to help him out. This is still working without fault I bought the 2800g. The 2600g regularly stayed up for well over a thousand hours, only automatically reconnecting with the maintenance that Plusnet was doing at the time or configuration changes I made. The 2800g ran without issue on my Max service with plusnet from April to June. I joined Idnet almost a month ago I had to reboot the router last week at the request of CS as download speed dropped considerably although the sync speed stayed the same. This solved the problem but not sure what caused it. I bought a set of the high gain aerials which improved the signal strength to the laptops. I do not use half of the facilities it is capable of. The manuals are awful but there is a good forum on their website. I am running the original firmware with my 2800g which apparently does not update you have to load a new version (which then can update) and re-enter the entire configuration again. I haven't bothered. Like IDnet it just seems to work.
Regards
Doug

Jeff · Jul 29, 2006, 21:29:15

I would buy one of these from here

90 quid under your budget too

I have no experience of this router mind, though I do own a Netgear and on checking my stats at this very moment, my SNR is very low at 1, but still very stable as router has been up for 43 hours (would have been up for longer but I did a manual reboot after downloading a large torrent) , I`m 2.42km from exchange and synced at 6.848Mbit. Firewall is top notch

Have heard good things about the latest Westell and D-Link offerings also, though as a non-user, can`t comment. Perhaps others can add to the list but for now, that`s all from me

Gilba · Jul 29, 2006, 21:53:35

Jeff you need to edit your link its showing the wrong product, it should be this one.

Still under budget at £121.89.

Slightly cheaper here at £118.49 with free delivery.

Here with free laptop card for £115.83.

could list some more price but cba.

good luck with your choice

Jeff · Jul 29, 2006, 22:06:59

Oh aye, cheers Gilba, I was looking at both I suppose that`s where I made the mistake. Thanks man and sorry, I thought it was bloody cheap

Richdog · Aug 02, 2006, 15:59:47

Any more suggestions guys and gals?

mrapoc · Aug 02, 2006, 16:43:36

i like the speedtouches if they do them in your criteria

pazzaTgreat · Aug 02, 2006, 22:12:11

I was very pleasantly surprised by the USR 9108 ADSL Modem/Router/MAXg access point/print server combo.

Can be bought from broadbandbuyer.co.uk for around £85ish including delivery.

Has been rock solid for months without any reboots other than my programmed ones when changing settings. Print server is ace, 4 port router with wireless. The wireless is unfortunately proprietary as are the all at the moment for the super speed stuff. Typical througput using bog standard 54g devices is between 18 and 22 Mbps at a range of 5 metres through plaster walls and wooden floors. Can be used at a range of 20 metres inside a car and still get a 5 bar excellent signal from my bedroom which is on the other side of the house from the road! It has NEVER dropped the ADSL signal either, but then I'm 500m from the exchange.

Also, if you have any sort of wireless router nous, it can be completely installed including using WPA2 security and printserver in about 15 minutes.

It supports all flavours of ADSL up to 2+

Now - I should get some kickback from USR

Seriously - as I do wireless networks on the side I will now always recommend this kit and will keep using it myself until it breaks, which it has shown no signs of doing at all.

p.s. you need to have at least firmware 1.3 but this is now 6 months old so new kit should have it.

edit ---

Plus I use Edimax (DABS Value) and Intel 2200BG and Buffalo clients with it - all have had zero problems.

If you want the improved range and throughput you will need to match it with a MAXg PCI card but this would still be under £130 in total I think.

Azazel · Aug 03, 2006, 19:53:34

Belkin 7633 router make sure its the V1 models i have heard and seen users get 1mb more speed out of this router it syncs at a higher rate on noisy/long lines and you can set target SNR and you can apply many more tweaks with this baby.

Its by far the most awesome router you can lay your hands on if you can that is, its abit hard to find these days.

VaderDSL · Aug 07, 2006, 16:02:32

Hi Richdog

How's it going?

As per your post, and regarding the Draytek routers ... I personally have used a vanilla Vigor 2600 for a few years now. I remember buying it when I first got ADSL for around £120 iirc ... it has been rock solid for me. Through several ISP's and it has certainly taken abuse over the years, yet it never fails to deliver

I am not sure on the Vigor 2800, but I would be surprised if it's much different ... I can only offer my personal opinion on the only router I have ever owned

mrapoc · Aug 07, 2006, 16:45:16

Welcome to the light side VaderDSL

Azazel · Aug 10, 2006, 15:32:33

Speedtouch 546v6 (if you can get it V5 is just the same hardware, the V6 is smaller and more compact (read hotter) thats all) if you need wireless get the 585, both very stable on long noisy lines plus DMT tool works well with this to tweak the SNR (though the latest firmware has trouble with the tone commands seems they locked them down)

Richdog · Aug 10, 2006, 23:42:44

Quote from: Azazel on Aug 03, 2006, 19:53:34
Belkin 7633 router make sure its the V1 models i have heard and seen users get 1mb more speed out of this router it syncs at a higher rate on noisy/long lines and you can set target SNR and you can apply many more tweaks with this baby.

Its by far the most awesome router you can lay your hands on if you can that is, its abit hard to find these days.

I have that model and while it's decent... it's frankly not great and Belkins support is terrible.

Quote from: VaderDSL on Aug 07, 2006, 16:02:32
Hi Richdog How's it going?

As per your post, and regarding the Draytek routers ... I personally have used a vanilla Vigor 2600 for a few years now. I remember buying it when I first got ADSL for around £120 iirc ... it has been rock solid for me. Through several ISP's and it has certainly taken abuse over the years, yet it never fails to deliver

I am not sure on the Vigor 2800, but I would be surprised if it's much different ... I can only offer my personal opinion on the only router I have ever owned

Hey duddeeeee! Good to see you here man, seems you just can't escape from OCUK'ers on the internet.

Confirms what I thought about the Drayteks... quality gear.

jimc · Aug 11, 2006, 11:48:17

see my post about adsl synch drops
I Have currently bought and am testing the Zyxel P-660H-D1
£52 from broadband buyer, and seems very good, especially for long lines

bogstandard · Aug 11, 2006, 15:17:32

I bought aFritbox Fon on ebay for around £33 and converted it from annex B to annex A Details are available here:
http://www.sipgate.co.uk/voipshop/avm/avm_fritzbox_fon_for_dsl

other models:
http://www.sipgate.co.uk/voipshop

I bought it for it's telephone connections which I find excellent especiallly using http://www.internetcalls.com/en/index.html
Just plug ordianary telephones/dec mobile in and one is away - I was also provided with a normal telephone number ( the sort that don't cost ya to ring)

I use the mains not wireless s- more reliable and increasingly cheap hardware

Fritzbox company site in English:
http://www.avm.de/en/

The company have very regular firmware updates which are easy to install .
Having bought the annex B version in German the only downside is that the menus are in German - though I think something can be done about that too but I aint up to the task

jimc · Aug 11, 2006, 17:01:40

looks very interesting bogstandard, do they do a ADSL+2 version

bogstandard · Aug 11, 2006, 20:12:57

All versions now cater for ADSL+ 2
video:
http://www.avm.de/en/Extern/fritzboxfon_special/fritzboxfon.html

BassoProfundo · Aug 15, 2006, 14:57:08

Just taken delivery of a Netgear DG834N RangeMax NEXT ADSL2+ Wireless Router Laptop Bundle for £121.38 from http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk . Fantastic value, since you effectively get the laptop adapter for free. It's managing a rate of 231Mb/s between the laptop and the router too! Awesome.

Really pleased with it. Nice firewall/router.