Best router brands to choose and avoid?

[webmaster111]

This coming Cyber Monday I am going to be looking for a new router. The one I have right now is probably like 6 years old or maybe a couple years older... and I think the signal drops out more than it should. I figure they get old and go bad.

Anyways, I am not spending a ton, probably $50 max, but I would love it if you experts could share a few brands that I should buy, and if you will, what brands I definitely should not buy.

Thank you for the help!

[Shinma]

... I am not spending a ton, probably $50 max ...

Within stated budget, least of evil selections, e.g. TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND might suffice.

[4breezes]

I'm far from being an expert on any of this, so I learned long ago to rely on people better than myself.

I went through this same thing not long ago, and received excellent help and advise here.

The best I can do is refer you back to my thread. I think this will save you, me, everyone, time and effort. At the very least, it will widen the base upon which to build. I started out asking about my cable modem, and ended asking about my router.

My New Router

[wonderinguy34]

Within stated budget, least of evil selections, e.g. TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND might suffice.

Being cyber Monday ,there may be awesome deals so OPs budget may not reflect usual price of product. I love my Belkin ,but I'll let others state best of best and then you can see if there is a deal on it anywhere.

[SpywareDr]

Hate to say it but, for $50 I seriously doubt you're going to get anywhere close to the "best of the best".

[Midknyte]

At $50, it'll be tough to get a really good router. You can't just go with brand names; you need to look at the individual products. The high end Netgears are great, but the budget models suck. Cisco/Linksys and DLink can be good.

Look for reviews of the specific model or post back before you buy.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/

[falcon2000]

I actually DON'T recommend the big three: Cisco-Linksys, D-Link and Netgear for home users. In the past, they were excellent but in recent years, my experience is that they scarify quality for features and looks. Yes, they look nice and pack a ton of features but they either don’t perform or they do perform but don’t last more than a year (often times just months). Nowadays, my preferences are Asus and TP-Link, and for the basic needs, Rosewell and TRENDnet.

[webmaster111]

Features? What kind of features can one want from a router? im kind of being serious but also a bit confused... maybe I let technology slip past me too much but I wasnt expecting a lot from a wireless router beyond just a strong signal that doesn't drop...

[falcon2000]

Features? What kind of features can one want from a router? ... I wasnt expecting a lot from a wireless router beyond just a strong signal that doesn't drop...

That may be your requirement and frankly the requirement for most home users. But it isn’t what the MARKETING department tries to make you think you need.

maybe I let technology slip past me too much

Nowadays, routers may come with USB ports for data and printer sharing; propriety QoS implementations, speed boosting, range boosting and all sorts of boosting you can imagine; multiple modes selectable; multiple SSID, all kinds of fancy names and functions for media streaming and cloud stuffs, etc. etc, etc, etc. Just go to their sites and check them out. Most of these “features” are not needed for most home users and many of these “features” are nothing but fancy marketing terms. But this is EXACTLY what I mean. These days, manufacturers increasingly focus on these stuffs instead of built quality - so much so that the quality of their products suffer big time. And I find that the big names are doing this more than other brands. Your experience maybe different from mine but I am sticking with my opinion on the 3 brands I cited. BTW, I am NOT a fan boy of any brand and I DON'T benefit from bad mouthing any brand. Just telling my experience.

[Midknyte]

It depends on what you are looking for, but the "big 3" does make some good routers. Although, some of the lower/budget models kinda suck. The WNDR3700 series from Netgear have performed well for me, but that's out of your price range.

Asus has some good features, but they are on the pricey side. Don't see too many TPLink or Trendnet around here, so I won't comment on those.

Like I said, read some reviews on the model you are looking at. Don't just go by brand name.

[dneilson]

Just my experience for you. Like you I don't need any fancy bells and whistles, just want to relax in my recliner with my notebook. About 9 years ago I bought a basic Netgear and in 9 years I never had ONE problem with it. With that original Netgear and Windows 7 I couldn't get adequate security. I recently found out a dude named "Charlie" was using my wireless so it was time to stop that. I got a basic Netgear N150 at a local Staples for 35 bux, installed it and set up good security and "Charlie" is gone and the Router works like a champ.

[SpywareDr]

I second Midknyte's WNDR3700. Works great, but, it's $90.

I use it with a WNDA3100 adapter.

Both are solid, fast ... no complaints.

[falcon2000]

Asus can be pricey but their N10, N12 and N13 series of basic routers are just about $30 - $50. Nothing fancy but they perform well. I use many of them in customers' systems.

[pattinson]

this cyber monday i buy Linksys E2500 router its very speedy and proper working and also good vpn support i buy this from amazon and get this offer from review website my hobby is to read first review and then buy the product i read the Linksys E2500 review from here. I think most of the people first read the review before buy product