help, could u give some suggestion about dsl router

[cleaner]

i really confuse by lots of different dsl/cable router. could u give me some idea that which one is better. i just want it use at home. thers are 5 laptops in my home. 3ks

[YeOldeStonecat]

Linksys....very popular, average performance, incredibly easy to use and setup, easy firmware upgrades. They have an 8 port model...BEFSR81, which would work well in your setup..5 laptops.

Netgear....somewhat faster performance, a bit more stable, easy basic setup, difficult advanced setup for advanced funtions such as if you wish to run a webserver behind it.

Nexland....higher performing routers aimed at those who want speed for gaming...easy to configure web and setup all around, a little more expensive.

For the home market, those are the ones I prefer.

As you choose your router....it's good to try to think ahead to what you intend to do....how you plan on using your network. For nothing else but internet access....then any brand will do. If you wish to run game servers, or websites, or if you work from home and have to VPN to the office, or do other more advanced features, you will want to choose your router more carefully, perhaps stepup a notch to a more robust router than the "average home use broadband router"...because you'll find the entry level routers don't work so well with things like VPN to the office, etc.

Laptops...perhaps go wireless? On top of the brands above, I like Microsofts (yes...Microsoft) broadband wireless router.

[neo960]

The advantage of buying a Linksys is that you can buy it at a retail store like BestBuy or CompUSA. So if you have a problem with it you can return it easily. But Nexland can only be bought online either at Nexland website or at some obscure sites like provantage (which does not accept returns on the Nexland products). So if there is a problem with Nexland router, the return process can be a bit messy.

Speaking from bitter experience...

[cleaner]

thanks very much, we usually just surf internet, but we also use the msn to transfer the files and netmeeting. One of my friends has ADSL router, but he just can receive the files by msn, and he can¡¯t use the netmeeting at all. He tries to use FSGS setup a starcraft battle server, but it does not work. But if it connects with ADSL modern directly, it is ok.
So as these problem, could u give more suggestion.

[WCprof]

I have a netgear router. very easy setup on a webinterface.
and i have no problems playing online (exept hosting).
but even if i would have a problem you could just do some port forwarding! :)
It's even possible to host with port forwarding, but only on one computer in the network.

so i would recommend netgear through i have never tried any other routers i think most of them should be quite ok (most of them have the same stuf in em anyway).

but if you have an old computer then you can try something like
http://soho.sygate.com/products/gate_ov.htm I tried it works at a realy good speed. If that's a bit expensive you can use linux to make a masq server, thats what im trying through it's
not as easy (you should have a bit of expirence with linux and a LOT of time and patience.

Good luck!
:D

[p2ii]

I have a linksys at home and at a bunch of clients they work pretty well.Installed a netgear rp614 at a client site today and it was real easy to setup.It was my first netgear install and I would recommend either brand,linksys or netgear.

[cleaner]

Originally posted by p2ii
I have a linksys at home and at a bunch of clients they work pretty well.Installed a netgear rp614 at a client site today and it was real easy to setup.It was my first netgear install and I would recommend either brand,linksys or netgear.

tks p2ii, i have order the linksys xdsl/cable router with 8 port switch(BEFSR81). but i do not know if it support the UPnP. i heard from my friend i can't use msn unless if the switch support the UPnP. i checked some website, tBEFSR41 they said BEFSR41(with 4 port switch) support the UPnP, but BEFSR81 not. so can i update the firmware to get this function.

[p2ii]

I'm pretty sure that the only difference between the the 81 and 41 is the amount of built in switch ports ie;4 versus 8.The feature set should be the same.So upnp should not be prob.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Originally posted by p2ii
I'm pretty sure that the only difference between the the 81 and 41 is the amount of built in switch ports ie;4 versus 8.The feature set should be the same.So upnp should not be prob.

Feature sets are a bit different, the 81 has QoS amongst other things.