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I wasn't sure where to put this post, but I figured that this could come close. I want to find a wireless router that is very efficient (cost/work), while providing the ability to be configured to be extremely safe.
I'm looking in the price range of 50-100 (US).
So far been looking at 802.11g with WEP & WPA2.
Also, does anyone have a tutorial about wireless routers and their attributes?
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper
I have a linksys router and im very satified with it. as for the tut, try looking under the tutorials here.
I have had a lot of problems with Belkin routers over the last few years, overheating, constantly needing power cycling etc, so I would not reccomend them to you!
Allthough it may just be a case of me getting shitty ones, i dont know!
I've been hearing a lot of good things about the Lynksys router. The fact that they are owned by Cisco makes them sound more appealing. What model do you recommend?
I would suggest this : http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper
thats the one I have, and i have had no probs with it... I did update the firmware just as a precationary measure
fyi: I also had a netgear router before this one and never had any probs with it either.
Just my $.02:
Linksys Router: The WRT54G and GS are very popular since they open sourced it. Two 3rd parties that have written firmware for it that expands the capabilities are Sveasoft's Talisman / Alchemy and OpenWRT. Just dont expect Linksys to cover it if you install 3rd party firmware. You get a lot of functionality for around $50-70, comparable to some of the few hundred dollars. Just dont expect too much reliablity. I junked mine after resetting it a lot of times ( I think the count was probably around 30-40 ). I'm currently using the WET54G, very very nice piece of hardware for the money. But its not a router :p.
D-Link: Cant really say I like them. The one that I had kept rebooting and in general was pretty annoying. I didnt really like the user interface either.
Belkin: Currently using the Pre-N router. Lots of range, user interface is decent. Didnt have the issue with power cycling and what not. Had it for about 2-3 months? Havent had any issues with it yet. Interface is clean and simple.
Cisco: Currently using the 877W. What can I say, its a Cisco. Top notch reliablity, havent had any issues yet ( aside from misconfiguration, but thats because of me not the hardware ). The web interface is simple enough, but doesnt really show the true capabilities of what it can do. I would probably only go along this route if you're in the computer field and want to learn IOS or if it offers the features you need ( which is quite extensive ).
I just picked up a Netgear WGR614 from Circuit City. Not impressed so far. It worked for a few hours, then stopped all of a sudden. It got to the point that I couldn't even log into the router. I had to just use my modem. I'll give it another shot tonight. I'll update teh firmware and see how things go. If they don't go well, at least I can bring it back.
Unfortunately, I've noticed a trend in the Netgear devices becoming slowly but surely less dependable, as we forray deeper into the field of rf-networking. D-Link hasn't seemed much better in my opinion.
My Belkin has worked great, but I have heard complaints, as others here have mentioned. I'd suggest the Linksys by far.
I would have gone with the linksys that people have been mentioning, but I read that the versions that they have are great, but the one that is currently out for sell isn't all that great. I read that v5 doesn't support firmware and has many issues.
I read about a few Netgear routers having powering issues. They consume too much power and tend to overheat. Didn't see anything about the one I purchased, but it does feel pretty hot in comparison to other routers. I'll download the firmware and give it another shot tonight.
If not, I think I'll boost up the amount I spend on a router so I at least get something with better quality. I originally had one of them Westell wireless router/dsl modem deals. The thing was horrible. It went out, tech support was horrible; took three shots with their techs on the phone to send a request for someone to look at it; took him a week to come over to say it was a bad; waited a week and then found out he forgot send the request for a replacement; requested a replacement and given a modem to borrow and then finally sent a regular modem. Well, of course I complained like crazy and was told I would get 1 month free and was given an extra 2 months because I told them I wanted to get my own wireless router.
thats ridiculous, i have a netgear from a while ago, with wep and wpa, works great, its a model MR814v2 and ive updated the firmware. ive had no trouble. have wep and passwords set, check logs, and ive found its been blocking any attacks ive mounted testing.
for a while i had neighbors mooching off my connection, at first i just blocked a few ports and hoped theyd get off, thought about access control. then they started going to sites that weren't appropriate (showed allowed connections on my router) so i set up weps and no more problems.
any port scans friends have done or trojans they try to connect to have been blocked, except a very few, so it works great in my opinion
ive heard good things about linksys and cisco who apparently owns them, so i guess it comes down to risk (although a very low risk, which apparently u've hit on your first try) of getting a potentially bad netgear or paying the extra for a perfect linksys
warriorfan808,
The newer v5 Linksys routers are no longer Linux based, last I heard it was VxWorks. You might still be able to find an older version at the store. I know I was fooled by the new version. I went down to the local BestBuy because they had them onsale for $40 after rebates. Got it home and couldn't flash it. This wiki has a ton of info on it WRT54G. If you don't mind looking at the serial number of all the routers in the store, here is a nice list of version numbers and the first 4 characters of their serial number. I also saw a WRT54G on eBay about a week ago that someone had already preloaded Sveasoft's Talisman firmware onto, so that might be somewhere else to look.
Your netgear is from a while ago, so it might not have the same issues as the newer ones. I have a netgear at work that works just fine. Nothing ridiculous about a bad product. Like I said, I'm going to update the firmware tonight and see how it goes. If it doesn't work well, then it could either be a bad design or more likely a bad individual router. Just because one router works, doesn't mean all of the ones of the same model will. Defections exist.
Linksys Not Pulling Linux Entirely
Courtesy of Slashdot
Yea, the Linksys WRT54G v5 runs VxWorks, previous versions run Linux. I got my hands on a WRT54G v4 really easy. Just went down the nearest computer store ( J&R ) and got one. Of course they had no idea what version firmware was running. But I guess I lucked out. :D I'm sure there are still lots of version 4's on shelves. I think the version 2's and 3's are better because theres a trick to downgrading the firmware.
True, but they're still offering the v4, rebranded as model WRT54GL. That was the point of the article. Also, the v5 has less flash memory and RAM.
I've only had 2 problems with my linksys.
1. It overheated occasionally. I fixed this by unburying it.
2. I had to change the MTU.
I have never had any real problems with Linksys... Love their products.
I'd go for the WRT54G. I love it.
Hello to the forum!
I have had very good experiences with ASUS WL500 Deluxe which is also OSS. It has all the capabilities I need like VPN traversal, Bandwidth allocation (with updated firmware) and, of course, SPI.
The only, but big, drawback is customer support. ASUS usually makes good stuff, but their support is non existant
I recently build my own AP using FreeBSD 6.0's new wifi support and a linksys WPC-55AG dual band PCI card.. You can use 5.x too but it'll only support WEP. 6.0 also supports WPA.
http://www.freebsdmall.com/~loader/e...s/article.html
The added bonus is I can use any one of FBSD's firewalls, you can make it as clean or as feature rich (dhcp, dns, vpn etc) as you want it... and tcpdump gives some nice info :) :
tcpdump -i ath0 -y IEEE802_11 -n
tcpdump -i ath0 -y IEEE802_11_RADIO -n
Haven't figured out how to run kismet and still keep the AP's functionality though..