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What Wi-Fi-Ready Wireless Router Is Best for Me?

by Jon Chase on January 21, 2010 at 12:45 PM


A reader writes: "Well, it has finally happened: My (un)trusty warhorse Linksys WRT54G finally gave up the ghost and I'm in the market for a new wireless router. The thing is, I use a ton of differing Wi-Fi devices – an old Win XP laptop with a B card, a desktop PC with G, a new Mac laptop with N, an Xbox 360, an iPhone, whatever it is the neighbors are using to leach off of me – and also have interference issues from the dozens of other wireless networks nearby. I don't have the patience to troubleshoot wireless networks anymore, so just tell me what to get!"

Dear Reader: With sympathies to your old Linksys, consider its passing a welcome point in the cycle of life. After all, it means you get to upgrade to a zippy new dual-band wireless router!

As you amply noted, Wi-Fi comes in a bevy of flavors. Older B/G routers (and even a few newer B/G/N ones) typically operate on a single 2.4-GHz band, which carries with it a few important implications. The first is that when running on a single band, your router is forced to accommodate whatever device is slowest on your network. Thus, the moment a B device logs-on to your network, your router will only transmit and receive signals at pokey B speeds and your G and N devices won't be able to use their much higher capabilities. The second issue with the 2.4-GHz band is that it also hosts many other devices: cordless phones, wireless cameras, Bluetooth devices, microwave ovens, and other Wi-Fi networks. Therefore, it's highly susceptible to interference issues; even when you're receiving a full signal, your network is still likely to experience delays and hiccups that bog it down.

The solution for you, then, is one of the newer dual-band routers, which can simultaneously broadcast at 2.4GHz and 5GHz. These routers offer several advantages over their single-band brethren. Most notably, they're clever enough to detect the optimal setting between a router and device, and instantly adapt to it. So, if you're running a B machine and an N machine, the router can automatically split the signals to separate bands and allow them to work at different speeds. These routers are also able to detect an interference issue or weak signal, and switch on the fly to whichever band is most efficient (though only N devices can use the 5GHz band). You're also able to manually set up your router so that, say, all N devices only use the 5GHz band (though 2.4GHz has a longer range and sometimes is preferable). Another added benefit is that most of these newer routers allow for connecting a printer or USB drive as shared storage on a network. Plus, because they're many times faster than older routers, they're ideal for streaming media.

So, all that said, if ease-of-use is your primary criteria, we'd recommend the slightly pricey ($180) but stable Airport Extreme. Before you network guys start typing up your missives, hear us out. Though offerings from Linksys/Cisco, D-Link, and Trendnet may offer a little better range, or are more configurable, the Airport Extreme is simple to set up and causes fewer headaches in our experience than do the other brands. (Just read the user reviews and support forums of those brands' best-selling models. You'll find scores of posts complaining about manual firmware updates, the need for frequent resets, oddball range problems, and/or the inability to get standard functions to operate correctly.) The Airport Extreme is fast, easy to set up, works over a good range, and plays well with both PCs and Macs.

If you're relatively tech savvy, though, we'd recommend the $160 D-Link DIR-825. We'd also recommend that you check for firmware updates before you start configuring your network and banging your head against a wall. The 825 offers excellent range and speed, has loads of settings to tweak, and can be found online for $125 or so.

Either way, we're sure you'll see a huge benefit. Godspeed!

Tags: 2.4ghz, 5 ghz, 5Ghz, airport extreme, AirportExtreme, apple airport extreme, AppleAirportExtreme, dir 825, Dir825, dlink dir825, DlinkDir825, dual-band, features, linksys, routers, top, wi-fi, wireless router, wireless routers, WirelessRouter, WirelessRouters

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