Wireless Router Buying Advice

[fouadbakht]

I have two options available to me:

1. Apple Airport Extreme Base Station 802.11n
2. Netgear RangeMax Next (WNR834B) Non Gigabit Version 802.11n

Which one is the better choice as I live and have to operate the router in a two-storyed house with lots of walls. As usual, range and speed matter the most. Please reply soon.

[miniconvert]

Personally I'd go for one with gigabit as you're bound to eventually want to hook up machines via wired networking for the increased speeds.

[Pleiades]

The newest Airport Extremes have gigabit also, so that's not really a consideration.

Personally, I prefer the Apple routers, as they're well made, and the setup is much easier than many others. However, they are more expensive.

As for range, and signal quality, it's going to be hard to judge. Unless you can find a website that's reviewed both models, it's going to be a shot in the dark.

One more feature of the Airport models is that if your signal strength really blows you can always install an Airport Express somewhere to repeat the signal.
_________________
MacBook Pro 1.83GHz Core Duo, 2GB RAM, 250GB HD, Dell 802.11n card, 1.4TB external
MacBook 1.83GHz Core Duo, 2GB RAM, 60GB HD
iMac 1.83GHz Core Duo, 2GB RAM, 160GB HD, 1TB external, EyeTV Hybrid

[fouadbakht]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll settle for the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station mainly because of following reasons:

1. Gigabit support as compared to the non-gigabit Netgear model.
2. Availability of USB port.
3. The ability to operate on both 2.4GHz as well as 5GHz frequencies.

And your valuable replies of course

[devo]

I bought a Belkin N1 Vision last weekend. I used it for two days and returned it to Best Buy. The wireless performance and range was really lackluster. I also noticed that it ran extremely hot. That can't be a good thing over the long run. I'm going to pick up Airport Extreme this weekend. My local Best Buy only had the older model (sans Gigabit), so I need to head into the city to pick one up at the Apple Store. I'll let you know how it turns out fouadbakht if you're still sitting on the fence.

[dungeon92]

[miniconvert]

In theory 802.11n is supposed to be quicker than 100MB/s but my experience with the other 802.11's is that you rarely if ever see those speeds with consumer grade stuff.

If 802.11n can exceed speeds of a 10/100 network then yes, using a 10/100 switch will cause your wireless speeds to be slower than their potential because the 10/100 port then becomes the bottleneck.

[fouadbakht]

@Devo,

Thats a great idea. I think I'll wait anxiously for your take on the Airport Extreme base Station.

[devo]

[SlipperyRock]

You guys may find this video of interest. I saw it on Chris Pirillo's blog the other day. He has some nice things to say about the Airport Express Base Station.

http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/10/02/apple-airport-extreme-base-station-review

[fouadbakht]

Hey devo, I'm still waiting for your take on the AEBS. Time is running out.

[Sipper]

For what it's worth guys, I bought a Buffalo G54 wireless router which has been excellent. It has good wireless range and easy to set up.

I also found a linux firmware upgarde for it which converted one of the lan ports into a second wan port, perfect for connecting my two cable modems to. I don't use the QoS function but it's available, as are various flavours of WPA encryption. See http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Installation for more details.

The best part was the router only cost about £35 ($70 ish in foreign folding stuff).

Hope this is of some use to someone out there.

Sipper

[fouadbakht]

Now thats something new and interesting