He said the computer was 7 years old, so it would likely have a USB 1.1 port and I assumed he meant a PCMCIA USB 2 adapter, which I also use on my 7 year old ThinkPad. While I haven't used that adapter for WiFi (which is built in to my computer) I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Of course there's the question of why he isn't going for a PCMCIA WiFi card. That way, he wouldn't have to worry about USB.

I only have the one card slot which is used for the USB 2.0 adapter, so I must use the USB adapter for the wireless (unless I am missing something). Of course, if I use the slot for a wireless card, I lose USB 2 speed for picture downloads etc. The salesman was implying there would be some type of bottleneck at the motherboard (total BS?)

Yes, that is total BS.
It depends on your slot type, but type I is ~20MB/s I believe and type II are ~128MB/s, both more than sufficient for your internet needs.

(I think.. it's been years since I've known anyone that uses them :p)

Well, after looking at the options I am choosing another route after all. The house we just moved into has Cat-5e ethernet lines running from 2 of the upstairs bedrooms to where we are putting the office. The laptop has an ethernet card, so I will run another ethernet cable from the family room before they drywall the basement and go wired for now. I will get the DIR-655 to connect to the modem in the basement office and link to all the ethernet ports we will use. Then when we upgrade the laptop we will have both wired and wireless options.

Thanks for the input. I always ask here before taking the word of a salesman anyway:rolleyes:

Try this, the D-link link: http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?board=129.0 ,read the sticky topic: 300Mbps Connection Requirement. It doesn't have to be Dlink Wireless card, my Laptops connects at 300mbps with no drop. Hope this helps.

Although I don't se a lot of value in it for the majority of the people out there (the speed difference is minimal for multi-band units), I chose to keep my original B router, then added a B/G router (set to G-only) and have recently added a B/G/N (set to N-only). I figured selling the old ones was pointless so I may as well use them.

I am looking to buy a router but unsure of the different brands and specs.

I will be connecting a personal laptop, wii, ps3, 2 blackberries and a work laptop wirelessly, as well as a desktop via wire. I basically just surf the internet or maybe download music or youtube, some online gaming, but nothing hardcore.

I do plan to use the ps3 to stream music in the future.

I am currently with telus and have the 2 wire modem/wireless router that seems to be working fine. I am moving my internet service to shaw extreme and I need to have something to take the place of that. The router will have to broadcast to the room above it, but not anywhere else in the house.

Can someone please give me either a few good choices or the basic specs I should be looking for and some reliable brands.

Budget would be $100-$150.

Thanks

D-link DIR-655.

Perfect. Thanks.

+1 on the DIR-655.

things to consider are whether your current devices are G or N ... no point in getting an N router if you aren't going to be broadcasting on N wave.

Gigabyte is also good to have but if none of your receivers are gigabyte then you aren't going to benefit from the extra bandwidth.

Sometimes the cost to upgrade wireless cards and the router don't make sense and you just need to stick with something simple.

Also, if you're looking at streaming media from one device maybe a router that has storage link built would work better since the media would be making one less wireless hop.

The DIR-655 does B, G, and N. Furthermore, I recommended it because of the stability I have achieved with it, compared to previous routers. I also think "future proofing" should be considered to a degree when purchasing. Based on the original poster message, I don't see why he would have to upgrade any of his current components to accomodate the router. The DIR-655 has a "SharePort" storage feature along the lines CrazyCDN recommended, although I don't use it.

I used D-Link routers, not the 655 though, for many years and found the signal dropped for no logical reason, even when i had a laptop etc, within 15 feet of the Router, I just accepted this as normal. Prices dropped and I bought another D-Link Router, after a few months, the same problems were happening yet again, had the Router replaced under warranty, new one was fine for 2 months, then guess what, same again.

Anyway, about 2 years ago, I picked up a Linksys Router, this has worked great, never dropped a thing. So I would vote for Linksys.

@BrownBullhead - I wasn't trying to suggest that the 655 wasn't a good choice just trying to highlight some areas I've been thinking about as I'm also considering a new router in the next little bit if the firmware update I did the other day doesn't fix the issue with my 5 yr old router which has until very recently opperated without a hiccup. I apologize if it came off that way.

---

While I personally have a Linksys and will purchase another Linksys when the time comes I think most people would agree the choice of router comes down to Linksys vs D-Link. Each are just as good and will have people from either camp touting the virtues of their favourite.

I'm a Linksys guy all the way. We bought a G some years ago, and had no problems whatsoever. I eventually replaced it with a Netgear N, and had nothing but problems. Now we're back to Linksys (N, of course) and it's just as good as the first one (though faster).

I would vote for Linksys - particularly the WRT54GL - the L stands for Linux which means the firmware is upgradable so you can use other firmware like DD-WRT to add functionality to your router. I am not sure if any of their N routers have upgradable firmware. Check out this wikipedia article for more on this router http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linksys_WRT54G_series#Third-party_firmware_projects

Just a sidenote/rant on the DIR-655 - I got one of these last month and it does what I need it to do, connect my netbook 2 floors up. Installation was easy and signal is great. However, last night it hijacked my computer with a reminder that my 1 month free trial of Securespot was ending and I should buy now. I couldn't access any other webpage, and every tab would go to this reminder page. It was infuriating to say the least, and I will let D-Link know what I think of their aggressive marketing tactics. I am certainly not going to purchase their Securespot service!

Buy a DD-WRT compatible router http://www.dd-wrt.com/. I own 2 Linksys and with the use of DD-WRT, I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

As for N router, make sure they use the 5ghz to get the added benefit, if not any G router is sufficent enought for day to day use except for big file local transfer. For the odd time, just use Ethernet.

Stef...

Lots of recommendations here for the DIR-655 so thought I'd throw my comments in as well. I just replaced my DIR-655 with the new Netgear WNDR3700 a couple of months ago. After a couple of less than stellar firmware updates on my D-Link coupled with the fact that I needed some additional capabilities I upgraded to the Netgear.

Be forewarned though if you're looking for the WNDR3700... they are scarce as hen's teeth both in Canada and the U.S. and they're relatively expensive compared to single band units but well worth it! (I paid $160 Cdn on sale) They are constantly out of stock everywhere and the demand is high. After checking out a fantastic review at smallnetbuilder.com I decided to take the plunge.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/30925-start-your-buying-netgear-wndr3700-reviewed

The DIR-655 is only a single band radio at 2.4ghz so everything that connects to it either in B/G or N modes will be affected by the lowest common denominator. I have several devices including 2 x iPhones, Netbook, iMac, HTPC, AppleTV, PC's, etc. that all have to connect and I was losing top speed to my N devices when my iPhones were online.

Enter the WNDR3700 with dual radio goodness! Both 2.4ghz and 5.0ghz radios and up to N mode on both. I've locked the 5.0ghz radio to just "N" only and my iMac and AppleTV have exclusive access to that band and nothing to slow them down. Everything else shares the 2.4ghz band up to N speed as well and no issues. The latest firmware update for the Netgear has been rock solid as well.

Please also keep in mind that not all routers are created equal which a few comments in this thread seem to suggest. FWIW, there are a lot of variables involved in a good router and one of the biggies is how fast is the internal routing engine. If you have a mixed environment of wired and wireless devices you'll need to know the router can easily and quickly handle the routing traffic between all the devices. This is where the Netgear simply shines and is documented in the review link above. I no longer have speed issues using wireless to talk to my wired NAS storage array for instance.

Another one is wireless range. The D-Link DIR-655 was actually very good in this respect but the Netgear is better at least in my home.

Bottom line, the DIR-655 is still a good unit and excellent bang for the buck but it's not the be all to end all and there are better devices out there if you require the additional capabilities. I did need dual radios and no regrets so far on the Netgear. Now I know why they're so hard to find! Cheers!

P.S. For those of you using N mode on your routers, use WPA2 encryption with AES only, not TKIP. AES only will give you the best throughput speed available.

James

I have a WRT310N wireless router and it is fantastic! Built in GB switch and great range. I would highly recommend one, I have always used Linksys and now that they are owned by Cisco I can only see things getting better.