I'd appreciate some advice on a router

[Fat.Clown]

WNDR3700 is the one I've been looking at also... but short on cash

seems like the current king of routers at the moment.

 

[Santuzzo]

WNDR3700 is the one I've been looking at also... but short on cash

seems like the current king of routers at the moment.

Thisd router probably total overkill for my purposes, but the old router keeps dropping out, so I figured it's better to get a very powerful one that can handle 2 PCs, IP phone and Laptop with ease.

 

[FusIonX]

Depending on how you plan on powering your IP Phone, if you have a regular power cord or if you use the RJ45 jack.. If you are using the RJ45 as the power as well, your router needs POE (power over Ethernet) capability

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

The PC's and laptop isn't a problem, any wireless router will do for that..

With the IP phone, how are you planning on using it? Do you have a VOIP service through which you will be using the phone? If that is the case, just make sure to get a router that can handle QoS so that you can give the phone packets a higher priority than the data, or there could be issues with calling.

If you are planning on working remotly from home, I am not sure if simply connecting a phone to the router will do the trick. I don't have much knowledge with that, but I know that my old man is on call 24x7 through work, and he has a VOIP phone set up in the basement that he can have his calls routed to rather than the phone at his desk in the office. This phone doesn't connect directly to the router though, there is another piece of hardware between the two that it must connect to in order to work. He is using a Linksys router that is about 6 or more years old...

 

[Santuzzo]

Depending on how you plan on powering your IP Phone, if you have a regular power cord or if you use the RJ45 jack.. If you are using the RJ45 as the power as well, your router needs POE (power over Ethernet) capability

Thanks!
The IP phone has it's own power cord, so that's not a problem.

The PC's and laptop isn't a problem, any wireless router will do for that..

With the IP phone, how are you planning on using it? Do you have a VOIP service through which you will be using the phone? If that is the case, just make sure to get a router that can handle QoS so that you can give the phone packets a higher priority than the data, or there could be issues with calling.

If you are planning on working remotly from home, I am not sure if simply connecting a phone to the router will do the trick. I don't have much knowledge with that, but I know that my old man is on call 24x7 through work, and he has a VOIP phone set up in the basement that he can have his calls routed to rather than the phone at his desk in the office. This phone doesn't connect directly to the router though, there is another piece of hardware between the two that it must connect to in order to work. He is using a Linksys router that is about 6 or more years old...

Thank you. Well, I don't know too muhc about this, since my girlfriend is the one using the IP phone for her work. She has been using it already but our present router keeps dropping out sometimes when we are both online at the same time and she is using her IP phone.
Right now her IP phone is connected directly to the router and it works fine, but like I mentioned, the only problem is that the router sometimes drops out, so I think it's just that we need a more powerful router.

 

[MindoverMaster]

I own that Netgear myself. A friend who recommended it has it as well.

I also have a WRT54GL, but it was failing on me. 5+ years of noble service, though. The wireless works fine, but the ports were failing.

If you are not familiar with changing the firmware, I'd say get the Netgear. It updates the firmware automatically every time you log into it. The firmware updates are avaible a few times a month. The default firmware is 10x what the WRT54GL was.

 

[Santuzzo]

I got the Netgear WNDR3700 today and I just installed it.

Thanks to everyone for your advice!

Lars

 

[Apokalipse]

unrelated to the OP, but dang that router has 33 awards lol. i thought the corsair dominators had alot (8)...

it must be a good router then

The main reason the WRT54GL is so popular is for its ability to run open source firmware, such as Tomato or DD-WRT.
They generally provide much more features and customisability than the stock firmware.

 

[DBB2010]

i'm not really crazy about netgear, i see a lot of them returned to my shop. linksys has easily been the greatest routers i have ever owned.

the older ones like the wrt54g's are super reliable and have a new firmware that give them some stronger features you can download from dd-wrt.com. now i have a new one that's N with a usb port for nas...sweeeeet.

 

[Santuzzo]

Another related question:

Do you guys switch off the router at noght or when you don't use a computer? Or do you leave the router on 24/7?

Would the router last longer if switched off when not in use?

thanks,
Lars