Which wireless router to buy

[moviefan]

I'm buying my first wireless router and need advice for best possible. It'll be connected to Toshiba Satellite A665-S6090 Windows 7 laptop with 4 GB RAM.

I've narrowed it down to the Netgear WNDR3800-100NAS N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router - Premium Edition IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n.

I'm going to be using this router to run a wireless printer, a pair of wireless speakers, and a Seagate Wireless External Hard Drive. I want to also be able to stream movies and clips from either a hard drive or web site to a TV a couple of rooms over that's about 900-1000 ft. away on the same level through a couple of walls.

Here is the link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122434

I'm going to need to bridge my CenturyLink 660 modem/router since it appears to create NAT problems. According to these links, http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r25952726-Embarq-Embarq-Century-Link-660-series-modem-keeps-loosing-conn and http://www.ehow.com/how_2283354_bridge-centurylink-660-dsl-modem.html. There was also a post in another forum by a CenturyLink tech support rep that stated that their modem/router needed to be bridged to avoid NAT problems and pointed to these two links. I just can't find it anymore.

I'm not sure I can do all this and all this wouldn't necessarily be going on at the same time. I've researched as best I can and am in a state of confusion and exhaustion. Is the above router good enough? I noticed that reviews on Newegg and other sites say that it drops wireless, but this seems to be a common complaint with newer routers. Also, do I need to buy some other equipment such a a repeater or can I put that off or do I really need it.

Any help is appreciated and happy holidays to all.

moviefan

 

[Emerald]

I would recommend the Netgear 3700 since Netgear seems to have quite some problems with 3800

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122326&Tpk=netgear%203700

also 900ft is to fare for inside a building you will probably need to use a repeater

N-wireless range is about 250ft inside and 850ft outside

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122376

 

[osmak]

My experience with Netgear is very bad. I tried 3 different Netgear routers (the last was DGN2000), and each one of them lasted for around a year before it was faulty. look for the same specs in different brands. D-link or Linksys may be more reliable brands.

 

[Routersforhumans]

Well, I was always optimistic about getting a whole new router with something different which I didn't have in my mind. Thanks to this Taiwanese company Securifi who have made the world's first Wi-Fi router with a LCD touchscreen called 'Almond', wherein first of all you do not need a computer or a browser to configure as it can configure its own. It comes with pre-configured security and you can change your SSID, your passkey etc, without even logging into the routers page as 192.168.1.1 etc. from its LCD screen.

Here are the key features of the router:

(1) It has a 2.8" LCD screen with 320x240 pixels

(2) It supports the IEEE 802.11b/g/n standard and gives the speed upto 300Mbps with the MIMO technology

(3) It has a faster processor of 384Mhz with MIPS architecture

(4) This router called 'Almond' supports all the latest wireless encryption algorithm such as WEP, WAP, WAP2 etc.

(5) It gives the range upto 25 meters and can connect upto 50 users at a time.

(6) It has a pre-confured security as it prevent Google Street View or other intruders from accessing your wireless data.

(7) The interesting thing is Securifi claims that this router is gonna be available under $70 which is a great news.........Isn't it?

You can check their official website as : www.securifi.com

 

[totalknowledge]

I just got the 3800, and there is a supposed fix for the problems listed on Newegg. Simply download and upgrade to the new firmware.

The 3700 on the other hand is plagued with dropped connections with no such fix in sight. I haven't had very much luck with any N router I have had including Dlink, Belkin, Linksys, and Netgear.

Good luck in your search.