Sometimes you don't need anything fancy to share an Internet connection. Did you take the low road when buying a router?

Well, I have a Linksys WRT54G that I picked up at Wal*Mart for around $30 or so...I had  a little trouble with the installation, but Linksys has a great support department. They went as far as to get on a conference call with Dell, my laptop manufacturer, to get it working. I get good signal strength pretty much everywhere. I will almost always have 'Very Good' to 'Excellent' strength at 54Mbps, even between multiple floors. Good router, good price.  
 
I do have some of the weird connection problems that people are having in the thread below; but I'm not sure if I can pinpoint that on my router...
 
It is bad for gaming, though. I used to get pings of like 60-70, but with the router it is a "kicked-off-server" high of around 90+, somtimes in the hundreds! More than once, I've just bypassed the router, much to the anger of my family on the laptop.  
 
Anybody know of a good gaming router? I'm willing to spend $$$, but only if it is the best thing since sliced bread or of similar importance.
 
~Ibrahim~

6 years ago, I got a $40 DLink 604 router...
Just replaced it with a DLink 4300 Gigabit/Wireless router... $100

I've always wondered. Do you get any type of speed increase when using Gigabit over regular 100Mbps? Just wondering. (And thanks for, finally, booting that guy at Graphics)
 
~Ibrahim~

Yes you really gain a good deal of speed over 100Mb

Ah, OK. Thanks! I was afraid it was one of those technologies that sound great, like 64-bit, yet they are somewhat useless. The most common words in technology always seems to be "cannot fully utilize".
 
~Ibrahim~

Just to add to the topic and to my vote. I have been using a cheap DLink 624 for many years and have recently switched to a Netgear FVL-328. I love the switch and have tons more management over my network now although the DLink was not bad. I guess it just depends on what you need it for. If you are just sharing a Internet Connection and do not need superior security then why not spend 30 bucks?? It works right?

Very true.....The only security is a WAP key so my nieghbors don't steal my internet...
 
~Ibrahim~

 
 
HEY HEY HEY!! who said this router aint for gaming
 
me: ping -t 192.168.1.1 (my router)(WPA ENABLED)
 
THE LATENCY IS 16 ms (8 each direction)
 
the reason it lags cuz it has to code/decode the data
 
this test was done thru 2 walls and on intel pentium M wireless b/g connectivity (the network adapter on the p M cpu die)
 
version 5 might be slower BUT it wont be that slow
 
remember that your internet connection might be the laggard

What server were you pinging with 16ms ping? I'd love to get that ping. I have Bellsouth Fast Acess 3Mbps up/ 384k down. What I am saying is that I have pings in the 60's and 70's without the router and pings upwards of 90 with the router. The router has to be the problem.  
 
I've heard this thing called QoS. Does this router have it? Did you enable it? How do you enable it?
 
~Ibrahim~

 
3mb up.. That would be sweet!!!  

eh 3mbs up....
 
i think he meant 3mb down and the other one is up. if not then my rents are switching to bell south from comcast

Thats for sure.    

Haha, yes, I'm sorry. 3Mbps down and 384k up. Sorry, got them confused!  
 
So, how are you getting 16ms?
 
~Ibrahim~

The last router I purchased was a Trendnet. Newegg had a special on a $15 Trendnet 4-port that had a $10 mail-in-rebate. I couldn't pass up a $5 router.

$5? What a steal!
 
~Ibrahim~

I got the Cisco SOHO 91 Router.   Mostly because I was learning CCNA at the time and I could play with the IOS on it, and it had a partially implemented version of the Cisco PIX firewall built into it.
 
I didn't really need a router, but I DID need a good stout hardware firewall.
 
That weighed in at $200 after shipping.

Now that is a good deal. How was the CCNA test? Was it hell? Im too scared to take any cert test's.  

 
Well I failed it the first time because I was told there would be no switches on it.  Got it the second time after studying catalyst switch commands.
 
CCNA is easily the hardest cert I took and possibly the hardest I ever will take.  CCNP from what I understand is easier, mostly because you already have to have your CCNA to try for it.  Microsoft exams are a joke.
 
If you are interested in getting a Cisco router for home, just keep your eyes open on ebay.  The Cisco SOHO series are pretty good and actually have a web based configuration tool if you need help getting it going and the command prompt is proving difficult.
 
Now I've taught CCNA about 5 times to various classes so everything makes a lot more sense now than it did when I was first studying for it.
 
The two fastest ways to learn IT are Tech support and teaching.

Getting that chance to do some cisco level tech support is the key though.  

I've owned many routers over the last many years since we've been online. First it was a Linksys 1 port cable dsl router the BEF or something that just was one broadband port and one lan port. Then I went up higher because it just didn't do anything at all. So since then I've had several over $100 routers. Honestly all have been over $200 retail except I didn't pay that for all. Currently I'm on a Sonicwall TZ170W which is over $500 retail for the hardware itself. Then I'm using the subscription service for gateway virus, intrusion protection, content filtering which is the categories you get to select to block etc and some other stuff. Those alone are retail over $325 for all of it pert year, but my sonicwall reseller is cheaper. Then they have SonicOS Enhanced which makes it do more stuff. That is $500. I got it for free because of some issues I had with the units I've owned from Sonicwall so my reseller got it for me free.  
 
I find no soho device does anything close to what I like. So to get what I like you gotta spend a ton, and even then it won't do everything I'd like. So currently I'm looking for something else maybe.