Upgrading from Belkin N1 wireless router to a more stable router - suggestions?

[calevera]

Hi,

I'd like to replace my 5 year old Belkin N1 draft n router with a fancy new router that is very stable.

I live in a 2-storey house and the signal must go to devices that are both upstairs and downstairs.

Location of the router will be in a central location downstairs, as close as possible to the devices upstairs.

we have about 3 - 6 devices using internet at any one time - some are wireless N while others are wireless G.

I'm looking at either a Linksys EA6500 or an ASUS RT-N66U but I can't find information about which has better range and stability.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[brett1042002]

I recently purchased an ASUS RT-N16 wireless router and love it. I threw DD-WRT firmware on it out of the box.

So, I imagine the RT-N66U would be great too, if not better. The N66U has a little faster Broadcom CPU in it compared to the N16 (600MHz vs 533MHz) and more ram (256MB vs 128MB).

Even so, I barely tax my CPU or RAM in my N16. It supports 8 devices in my house with no issues thus far (smartphones, tablets, laptops, consoles, PCs).

My router is located upstairs, on the south side of the house (not ideal), and covers all of my 2600 sq. ft. home with no issues.

I cannot speak on the Linksys EA6500. Maybe someone else can chime in on it. But I don't think you would be disappointed with the ASUS RT-N66U. It looks like it received solid reviews from hundreds of buyers on Newegg.com.

EDIT: The firmware upgrade was personal choice for myself. It allowed me to adjust signal strength and play with other settings that the stock firmware would not allow. That being said, I'm confident the stock (asus) firmware is adequate for home usage as well.

EDIT2: Correction, the N16 has a Broadcom 533MHz CPU, but is factory clocked @ 480MHz. N66U is clocked @ 600MHz factory still.

 

[bill001g]

This is a interesting site that shows what is actually in the routers.
http://wikidevi.com/wiki/ASUS_RT-N66U
http://wikidevi.com/wiki/Linksys_EA6500

I would expect almost identical performance from these 2 units since the main cpu and at least one of the radios is EXACTLY the same.

I would go with the ASUS mostly because linksys support is going to be in limbo for a while now that cisco sold them to belkin.

A general comment. I would keep your current router and run it as a 802.11G AP hooked off your new router. I lock the new router to run N-ONLY. This should vastly improve the performance of your N devices because the router does not need to support the old stuff.

 

[calevera]

I recently purchased an ASUS RT-N16 wireless router and love it. I threw DD-WRT firmware on it out of the box.

EDIT: The firmware upgrade was personal choice for myself. It allowed me to adjust signal strength and play with other settings that the stock firmware would not allow. That being said, I'm confident the stock (asus) firmware is adequate for home usage as well.

This is a interesting site that shows what is actually in the routers.
http://wikidevi.com/wiki/ASUS_RT-N66U
http://wikidevi.com/wiki/Linksys_EA6500

A general comment. I would keep your current router and run it as a 802.11G AP hooked off your new router. I lock the new router to run N-ONLY. This should vastly improve the performance of your N devices because the router does not need to support the old stuff.

Brett1042002 - So you installed DD-WRT firmware. Is this some sort of custom firmware or is it just a firmware update?

bill001g - so you're saying run 2 routers at once? What if my Modem only has 1 port for a router?

Thanks for the replies, too!

 

[brett1042002]

I recently purchased an ASUS RT-N16 wireless router and love it. I threw DD-WRT firmware on it out of the box.

EDIT: The firmware upgrade was personal choice for myself. It allowed me to adjust signal strength and play with other settings that the stock firmware would not allow. That being said, I'm confident the stock (asus) firmware is adequate for home usage as well.

This is a interesting site that shows what is actually in the routers.
http://wikidevi.com/wiki/ASUS_RT-N66U
http://wikidevi.com/wiki/Linksys_EA6500

A general comment. I would keep your current router and run it as a 802.11G AP hooked off your new router. I lock the new router to run N-ONLY. This should vastly improve the performance of your N devices because the router does not need to support the old stuff.

Brett1042002 - So you installed DD-WRT firmware. Is this some sort of custom firmware or is it just a firmware update?

bill001g - so you're saying run 2 routers at once? What if my Modem only has 1 port for a router?

Thanks for the replies, too!

DD-WRT is custom firmware. It can open up a variety of settings on your router, that stock firmware would not allow. Some of it is advanced stuff, but DD-WRT's wiki and forums are very helpful in adjusting your router settings for optimal usage, as well as a step-by-step for installing it. Tomato is another custom firmware that is well known for its stability. It's good stuff if your a wireless/router enthusiast or just like tinkering with settings, but the stock firmware would still be adequate for normal home usage, and most likely stable as well.

EDIT: If you are not comfortable flashing firmware, or care to adjust a lot of settings, then stick to the stock firmware. But its nice having the option. I didn't see the Linksys EA6500 listed in DD-WRT's database, but the ASUS RT-N66U is supported. Cheers!

 

[bill001g]

bill001g - so you're saying run 2 routers at once? What if my Modem only has 1 port for a router?

You want to run the second device as a AP so you would plug it into the lan side of the new routers.