In need of a new router

[Djinni]

I've been looking around recently to see if I can replace my old BTHub3 router with something a little more... robust and versatile and preferably doesn't do self updates every 20mins and restarting making people think its conked out again and go and reboot it making it loose the update and start all over again!

Anyway back on point :-)
Requirements:

• Suitable for LAN Streaming (HD Movies etc..) I can't think of a single router would ever not support this but needs to be said.
• Able to handle lots of simultaneous connections. (I've noticed a lot that toerrenting regardless of bandwidth caps throws everything else on the network out, just because of the number of connections it makes)
• Preferably supports OpenWRT (just so that I can have a bit of fun, but not really a requirement. It's something I'm going to be using a lot at work in the not too distant future and it'd be nice to get some prior experience)
• Modem ADSL 2+
• Must not have a built in filter! All of our wall sockets are filtered on the socket, no external or additional filters are required.

Price range: £50 - £120 should be acceptable and give a good enough range to get something decent.


I have been looking at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-DSL-N55...2+modem+router

But its had so many bad reviews I think I'd swerve it.

[MrGhostlore]

I just bought this router last week, so can give you some first hand reviews on it. I play online games (WOW / Hearthstone / SimCity) while watching NetFlix's, and my wife goofs off on just websites.

From my old router (Netgear N600), I didn't not a huge speed increase (less than 2MB down and up faster), but where I noticed the increase is when you load the router down. When we are running both our PC's and iPads, ect...the speed doesn't drop down like my old router did. So overall I'm very happy with it, and I recommend it.

[Djinni]

Any alternative suggestions?

[The Dwarf]

I didn't not a huge speed increase (less than 2MB down and up faster)

Anything even close to that would be insane. Your connection speed isn't determined by your router, but by whatever you pay for from your ISP. More expensive routers will allow you to have more devices connected, but it will do nothing to remedy a slow connection because you're using up all of your bandwidth. They will also give you dual band, which may offer a slightly cleaner signal if you use the 5GHz band, but your receiver needs to support that as well.

OP, are you saying you want a modem and router combination? Because that will definitely limit your options. Also, what is your connection speed? If your connection is faster than 54mbps, make sure you update all of your receivers to at least 802.11n. My suggestion would be this one from Asus. I'd recommend buying a router and modem separately.

[Djinni]

Anything even close to that would be insane. Your connection speed isn't determined by your router, but by whatever you pay for from your ISP. More expensive routers will allow you to have more devices connected, but it will do nothing to remedy a slow connection because you're using up all of your bandwidth. They will also give you dual band, which may offer a slightly cleaner signal if you use the 5GHz band, but your receiver needs to support that as well.

That's the plan. The main idea being that no one can hog the connection by flooding it with a large number of connections.

OP, are you saying you want a modem and router combination? Because that will definitely limit your options. Also, what is your connection speed? If your connection is faster than 54mbps, make sure you update all of your receivers to at least 802.11n. My suggestion would be this one from Asus. I'd recommend buying a router and modem separately.

The reason for wanting a modem router is that splitting it into two devices is just asking for trouble.

• Uses more power (or at least the perception of using more power)
• Creates multiple points of failure increasing headache when troubleshooting
• Takes up more space
• Potentially creates further problems. (Not a lot of point spending £100+ getting a router that can handle 300k simultaneous connections if the modem can only handle 50)
• It is also extremely unlikely we would ever not have a need for the modem since as a family we tend to prefer being at least a few miles out from the nearest town. Which tends to preclude the possibility of "cable" connections that wouldn't require a modem. Creating a greater chance of splitting them up and loosing part of it in any move.

In summary having two separate devices is just plain inconvenient.

Connection speed somewhere between 2mbps down/0.5mbps up and 30mbps down/2mbps up (BT are currently in the process of upgrading the connections in the area and enabling fibre to the cabinet.) Most of the wireless adapters in the house are n anyway, and the 1 that matters which likely isn't will be hardwired soon as I get off my butt and finish crimping the cables.

I'm not hugely bothered by having limited options. It would be quite an achievement to get something worse than what we have now (The standard BTHub3) And really, I only need the 1. So it doesn't really matter if there's a selection of 50 or 500.