Are there any better routers then the D-Link DGL-4300 gaming

[therealchrist]

OK Im getting a router soon , and I would prefer it to be wireless ,so that my brother can connect his DS to it. And i might try connecting the downstairs pc to it wirelessly. Anyway Im looking for the best preforming router and out of what i have seen this one looks quite good.

Note: I know very little about routers. So if people could give me their oppinions , or point me towards a better router ,please do.

cheers
chris

 

[CmdPT]

I would go for Linksys since its what everyone recommends because its very easy to set up, you shouldn't have too much trouble with it.

 

[blue68f100]

I would stick to Dlink, since Linksys messed up their firmware moving away from linux.

But I use all seperate componets. Wired router (netgear),AP USR, Dlink switch. So I generally don't play favors to brand. They are constantly changing them and every now and again they change them for the worst, Linksys.

 

[kugi]

I got the 4300, its a great router. i also have a DS 8)

 

[christoefar]

New hear guy's...

I have had a few D-link routers, and some other bits of D-link hardware, and have had nothing but problems. It was mainly the wireless, I could never get it to work, so in the end, got an Edimax router, which I have found to be very good no problems what so ever.

Thats my opinion anyway!

 

[Madwand]

The DGL-4300 is a good router with a decent GbE switch, but its wireless is not special. If you need really great wireless range / connectivity / etc., you should look for something else. If average wireless is sufficient, and you can take advantage of the GbE for local transfers, and want a generally superior router, then the DGL-4300 is a good choice.

The wireless landscape is a mess, and the latest & greatest draft-n is expensive, not always that great, problematic for interference and compatibility, and also likely to be even more obsolete than 802.11g down the road. Even Asus's former guarantee for future standard support has currently expired. Hopefully they'll refresh this guarantee; it made them unique. D-Link's pretty explicit about lack of guarantee for future standards compatibility.

http://event.asus.com/2006/wireless/pren/

The coolest routers should be the next gen GbE-capable ones with real 802.11n wireless; IMO they're not really ready at this time, and the DGL-4300 is a good partial preview. (Although if I had money to throw away, I'd be tempted to blow it on a DIR-655 for example, crossing my fingers for future compatibility. This gets to be a bigger risk however if you also buy matching wireless cards, which you must to really take advantage of the greater speed potential for local transfers.)

Edit: To be clear, unless I really wanted to throw the money away, I wouldn't get a current draft n router. I'd look for "draft 2.0" to come out shortly, and for more guarantees on forwards compatibility.

 

[therealchrist]

Cheers for the replies guys. Im still thinking of getting this, My main use for teh web is gaming browsing and torrenting, Will this router be good for torrents? By the way I will not be gaming wirelessly , dont worry , i will have a wired connection for that.

So is this the best router out there at the moment?

 

[amdx2]

I have the DGL-4300 and find it worked well when I used it. I hardly did use it, but it worked good. I think the QoS feature for gaming is a cool feature and should suit you well. I don't think there'd be any issues with bt or gaming.

 

[therealchrist]

oK thanks man, Just wondering why you dont use it anymore, did you find a better one?

 

[amdx2]

Yeah sure. I got it because it was compatible with Xbox 360 gaming. My current Sonicwall was not. They are higher end security so it wasn't fully compatible. the 360 has 3 modes, open, moderate and strict and my Sonicwall was strict firewall. The dlink was open as it is compatible. I just decided to stay with my Sonicwall because it has the security i need. Gateway antivirus, ips, content filtering and much more. the dlink is awesome in my opinion, I just wanted to stay using the sonicwall for its security. Also if I ever want to get a new router that is wired only, i might be able to use the dlink one i have for wireless. The UI for the dlink is really cool in my opinion. I think it's fairly easy to use and it looks very clean. I also think the dlink router itself looks cool too.

 

[therealchrist]

but cant you increase teh security to the same level on the D-link?

 

[therealchrist]

but cant you increase teh security to the same level on the D-link?

 

[amdx2]

No, dlink has no devices that have high end security features. I've never seen one anyhow. The DGL-4300 has no security features like virus, ips or any of that stuff. the only thing it does have is content filtering from bsecure which is a crappy service anyhow and totally not as easy to set up as it should be. It cost extra too.

 

[the_taker]

I just skimmed over this post but I do have my own recommendation:

to get the exact same router as the DGL-4300, but for a little cheaper is the Zyxel X-550 MIMO router. i got it on sale for 30 a few months ago at Compusa, and then found a 20$ rebate after that. 80$ router for 10 bucks. I can't help you out with the rebates or anything, but it got excellent reviews on Toms Networking/SmallNetBuilder.

The only difference is the ethernet switch is 10/100 instead of 10/100/1000. They have the exact same wireless chipset, which is really well thought of.. Ubicomm something something.

I researched it for a few days on some multiple websites before purchasing. It doesn't have the Draft-N junk. I got it because my Linksys was being very flaky with my Cable internet, and heard other co-workers having the same issues on multiple cable internet companies.

that's my 3 cents.

 

[JackM]

I am currently using the D-Link Gaming router and like it. I had this one and the Netgear one that THG recommended. THG said the Netgear had better wireless. Based on the Netgear package, you'd think you could surf a mile away with it.

I have a difficult wireless setup in my 3 story house. The router is in the basement in one corner and I like to surf in my bedroom on the third floor on the opposite corner and side of the house. The signal goes through solid concrete garage floor and kitchen besides being on different levels.

I found that the D-Link router gave me a better wireless connection than the Netgear one with the smart extended range feature. My personal belief is that the Netgear had an internal antenna and the D-Link had a larger than standard (5 dBi I think?) antenna. At least it had a bigger antenna than my old D-Link 624. From what I've researched, the more powerful the antenna, the better and LOS (line of sight) does matter.

As for which router does the better routing, I don't know. THG says that the Netgear is better with lots of simultaneous connections, but I don't think that really applies to the way I use the router. Also, if you don't have anyone else sharing the network at the same time and you don't have any other web access apps running, I'm not sure you'd need the gamefuel feature. You can always physically plug in your cable to the gaming machine when playing games since many ISPs now use DHCP instead of static IPs attached to one MAC address.

As for bit torrents, I don't use it, but did see somewhere (manual, box or router configs) that it supposedly did give it priority. It also claimed priority to certain VOIP, too. Of course, this is the manufacturer's claim and I haven't been able to confirm it.

Bottom line, I'm happy with the router. I bought it to improve my wireless range foremost and for playing CSS. While bouncing one to two-three bars upstairs, the connection has been much more reliable over the DI-624. If your ISP isn't fast, it won't matter how good the gamefuel is. It only controls variables within your own network. It's hard to say how effective the gamefuel is. There are so many other variables. Honestly, the best improvement I saw with CSS was when I changed LCD monitors from an older NEC 16ms to a 6ms Samsung and that was only slight. On Friday, I am building a new E6600 rig with 8800GTS and 2GB 800 RAM and am interested to find out how much it improves my scores over my P4 3.0, ATI 9800 Pro, 1GB PC3200. I'm only an average CSS player.

Another thing to consider is the mess of 2.4Ghz spectrum. You could be suffering from interference from within your own house, neighbors, or some big ass microwave tower nearby. I have a video baby monitor that completely knocks out my wireless connection no matter what channel I use. If you want to fork out $99, you can get a 2.4Ghz Wi-Spy spectrum analyzer that will tell you everything you need to know about your local interference.

 

[therealchrist]

lol i got the router. its alright, Internet is faster (slightly) without it and I still havent go my torrents running properly yet.

Your talking about interfearence?? I have a 2.4 ghz wireless mouse aswell as being within 200 metres of a radio staion, but most of the pc s have a decent enough connection, although the distance is nowhere as bad as a 3 story house .