Does it matter what wireless router I use?

[admin_exported]

Hello,

I currently have the BT home hub 2 and I stream music/data to hifi/backup drive via the hub. I find the BT hub a bit unreliable as it oftern drops out. I am changing broadband providers shortly and have the opportunity to use a wireless router of my choice. Does it make much difference having a top notch router (whatever netgear do for about £100) over using whatever quality router an ISP dish out?

 

[professorhat]

Yes different brands of routers will affect the wireless signal. I switched to a Billion a while back and it provided me with a much better wireless signal in my flat than before and is generally a lot more stable (previous router needed rebooting every couple of weeks, but this one just runs generally).

They are quite pricey though.

 

[avnut]

this is my problem,Ive tried all the broadband providers and all the drop out with annoying regularity what is the answer.is it just pay more for a better router,All though sky told me I could only use their router.It actually lost connection while I was typing this post.

 

[jockey.wilson]

I had issues with my homehub2. I bought a used Airport Extreme off fleabay, and piggybacked the Airport onto the Hh2. I disabled the wireless on the HH2 and then just used it as the router. All connections are now through the Airport, used as a switch and it works flawlessly. The added benefit is that Internet traffic is isolated from the audio LAN connected through the Aiport...

 

[Xanderzdad]

I'll +1 the Billion 7800N router. Brilliant bit of kit and worth the money.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks all,

I'll probably do the Billion. I like the idea of keeping all my tech with apple, but the airport is a bit more expensive and they both sound like they will do about the same in performance

 

[Paul.]

The Airport Extreme gets played down a lot , but its actually a very powerful piece of kit. If you live in a crowded area, I would advise against the billion as it is not dual band. The 5ghz band is much less congested than the 2.4ghz band. If you don't want to go as steep as the Apple, the Netgear N600 is fantastic (but not quite as quick).

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/7919336/art/netgear/n600-dual-band-wireless-r.html?srcid=11270&nopopup=1

 

[Paul.]

Ooh, did you specifically want an ADSL2+ one? If so, this is a better bet...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004TR5HF8/ref=asc_df_B004TR5HF88814208?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B004TR5HF8

 

[professorhat]

If you live in a crowded area, I would advise against the billion as it is not dual band.

I can count 17 available wireless networks currently in my flat (and I know there have been more than that at one stage), and don't have any issues with the Billion.

 

[Paul.]

I didn't say it would stop working, its not bad by any means but throughput will be affected. Unfortunately you cant prove it without a wifi sniffer and the ability to turn off every one else's wireless!

 

[professorhat]

Fair enough - it may have been that the Airport Express I was using previously was so bad compared to the Billion that it just seemed vastly better!

 

[Paul.]

The billion is a good router, it can theoretically* do 300Mbps, the Netgear I pointed out can do dual 300Mbps. The current AE can do dual 450Mbps, but its up to its 5th generation and apparently its nearly 3x more powerful than its predecessor so no doubt the older AE was a disappointment in comparison to your billion.

*I say theoretically cos you will never get near these speeds in the real world unless you rub your wireless devices together Manufacturers quote throughput but rarely transmission power, so are hard to tell apart.

 

[professorhat]

It was a series of 1st and 2nd gen Airport Express units I had (rather than the Extreme). They were okay and got me up and running, but the Billion has been about a billion times better. Fnar fnar.

 

[cheeseboy]

If you have an android device I can highly reccomend this free app - wifi analyser https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer

it will give you details of all the wireless networks nearby and show you the overlap and which channels are the most congested.

 

[michael hoy]

I find this tool useful -

http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider-wifi-scanner/?utm_expid=190328-1&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.metageek.net%2F%3Futm_campaign%3DSoftware%26utm_medium%3Dinssider2%26utm_source%3DAboutForm