View Full Version : Router recommendation
Friday next week I'm having my Virgin Media cable modem upgraded to 50Mbit and in the process am saving the company the princely sum of £1/month. Bargain.
At present I'm using a Linksys WRT54GL running Tomato and until about 3 months ago it had performed flawlessly but lately it seems to get its knickers in a twist and stops routing. I can fix it by logging into the web interface and doing an release & renew of the WAN IP address but it's not ideal because I've got a Slingbox at home and it's a pain when the router throws a hissy fit and I can't watch the Slingbox from whatever crap hotel I'm in. I could schedule a reboot but I'd rather solve the problem than work around it.
I've seen reports that despite having a 100Mbit WAN port the WRT54GL won't give more than about 30Mbit so I'm looking for a new one.
Virgin Media will give me a router as part of the installation but I need nice things like PAT, bandwidth monitoring and so on so whatever thing they supply won't be of much use.
Any suggestions? I like the way Tomato is extremely easy to configure so I'm wanting to keep something GUI based if possible. I could use one of the spare Cisco 1712's or similar that I've got at work but away from work I don't want to faff about if I want to change an ACL or whatever.
I've got a PIX501 sitting idle at home but that baulked at the 10Mbit I originally had from Virgin. Maybe I'll give that another try first of all.
I forgot to say that I don't care if it has GigE or 10/100 LAN ports. Same for wireless as I've already got something else doing the switching and a couple of AP's handing the wireless stuff.
I've always liked linksys stuff... but I've had quite a lot of luck with Draytek stuff if you've ever used it in the past.
Dlink is flakey. Netgear is ok I think. Cant's stand belkin stuff :p
I like Linksys stuff too but AFAIK none of the Linksys kit that'll cope with 50Mbit will let me run a 3rd party firmware (like I do today) which gives me a lot more features.
D-Link stuff is generally crap in my experience and Belkin is utter garbage!
Not sure if Draytek stuff allows 3rd party :/
It's all a bit beyond me really - I just thought I'd give you my thoughts on dlink and belking though :p
I have a Draytek 2910vg (http://www.draytek.co.uk/products/vigor2910.html) in the garage, if you want to try it? :) No third party firmwares but it does do a lot of stuff(tm)
Briggykins
02-09-2009, 13:52
Not expecting anyone to buy one, but I've had Netgear and a couple of other makes I can't remember now, and my Belkin router is the only one that's worked consistently well. It's not all-singing all-dancing but it does the job fine. Just wanted to put some love in for my little router.
I have a Draytek 2910vg (http://www.draytek.co.uk/products/vigor2910.html) in the garage, if you want to try it? :) No third party firmwares but it does do a lot of stuff(tm)
That'd be awesome - ta. I'll drop you a PM :)
I was gonna suggest a WRT54... I've got one running DD-WRT and its perfect. however I never push that much bandwidth so don't know how that particular firmware would coap, I do prefer it to Tomato though.
I've got a crappy ebuyer-special-rebranded-Safecom that's never let me down in 4 years, but then again I don't ask much of it.
Have to say I do like Draytek stuff. My only gripes are two things that won't bother you - ADSL throughput (it's a known problem with the ADSL chipset on this model and forgiveable - ADSL2+ was very much in its infancy), and wi-fi range (which probably has more to do with where the router is located than the router itself).
PS - currently showing an uptime (of the hardware, not the line) of 1922 hours. I've had it higher than that before. That's why I like it - set and forget.
Wow I recommended good hardware!?!! :shocked: I need to go back to being a non-geek, I hate knowing about computers!! :o
Let's call it a fluke, Will :)
I think it's best... euugh almost felt geek-like then!
PS - currently showing an uptime (of the hardware, not the line) of 1922 hours. I've had it higher than that before. That's why I like it - set and forget.
My O2 supplied Wireless Box II is sat at 1200 hours so far and counting and i'm fairly sure last time it was reset was me and wasn't really required :p
My O2 supplied Wireless Box II is sat at 1200 hours so far and counting and i'm fairly sure last time it was reset was me and wasn't really required :p
Speaking of the O2 router, this (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/01/buggy_o2_routers/) may be of interest.
To counteract that, it does have to be said that that's not a particularly useful hack. It has to be initiated locally and obviously it only works for O2 (or Be) customers who use the O2 box. Fail on both counts for me. :)
However, good uptime on an O2 box is more likely a result of the fact that the firmware is so basic (though it does have a telnet interface that's a bit more useful).
Chap here has nailed an Airport Extreme into his Virgin broadband but I very much doubt that'll give you the functionability you want.
Burnsy2023
03-09-2009, 13:50
I've always liked linksys stuff... but I've had quite a lot of luck with Draytek stuff if you've ever used it in the past.
Dlink is flakey. Netgear is ok I think. Cant's stand belkin stuff :p
I've had mixed experiences with Linksys, I tend to go proper Cisco when I can. Dreytek is well featured and usually reliable. Agreed on the rest though.
I don't know how to drive a cisco - it's too complimicated. Unless it's got a gui which spells everything out then I know nuffink ;D
The GUI on Cisco routers are utter pap and definitely best avoided.
The GUI on Cisco routers are utter pap and definitely best avoided.
That's because Cisco routers are professional bits of kit that are best driven from the command line.
:D
That's because Cisco routers are professional bits of kit that are best driven from the command line.
:D
Yep, that's why I do just that.
Bunch o' geeks :p
Please, I prefer "IT Professional".
:D
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