Recommend me a modem router, please...

[heebeegeetee]

Need to replace an old troublesome router, reckon I'll be better getting a modem/router combined. Am baffled by the wide range of stuff, so is this any good or is there better out there?

NETGEAR DG834 ADSL Firewall Modem/Router

www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=2SR0&InMerch=1

I only want to wirelessly connect a lap-top, I don't do gaming.

Thanks guys.

[bigdods]

I have one of those, its the dogs danglies. Easy setup , I use it on 8 meg broadband with 3 wireless PC's 1 wireless laptop and a wired PC.

[David Godfrey]

if you don't need wireless then thats a good product, if you want wireless you will need something like the dg834gt www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3JCZ&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=NETGEAR+DG834gt&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0

[.Mark]

I use the 834PN - very nice piece of kit - not sure what differences the suffix's make though.

[sneakyneil]

834 - no wireless
834g - 54g wireless
834gt - somehow slightly better wireless
834pn - rangemax
834n - how much??

[mcflurry]

Another vote here for Netgear

[bogie]

DG834G is probably the most popular unit in the UK and what I use at home - will do the job just fine

[jimmyjimjim]

Until you start upping your number of connections, and it falls over. As with everything, you get what you pay for. The Netgear 834 is the Ford Mondeo of routers; perfectly competant, reliable, does most things well, but not exactly high performing.
If all you are doing is basic browsing, it'll do you fine.
Start hammering your link (torrents, mulitple pcs, etc), and you'll realise it starts to struggle pretty quickly. IIRC it can handle about 80 concurrent connections, which isn't bad. Until you realise you can get a couple of hundred on a single torrent. The Draytek router I had would handle about 15,000; and that's three years old now.
The Netgear is what, about 80-100 quid? The Draytek will be about 150-160, from memory. More complicated to set up, and more of an enthusiast product; more of the TVR of the router world. Except the engine grenade.

[heebeegeetee]

David Godfrey said:

if you don't need wireless then thats a good product, if you want wireless you will need something like the dg834gt www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3JCZ&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=NETGEAR+DG834gt&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0

Stap me I'm going nuts here . I DO want wireless, and thought that the kit in my OP would give me that, but you've rightly pointed out that it won't.

So, this gear that David has shown me, is this the best for wi-fi? I just want to use a laptop downstairs, thats all.

[m12_nathan]

I replaced my flaky Draytek with the 834N, every time I connected my 360 to the Draytek it fell over and all wireless devices fell off the network.

[R1 GTR]

we use a Belkin thing. Works fine for us

[Dogwatch]

Netgear 834g upstairs in the spare room (with an r/c switch to save my legs) and the laptop downstairs works perfectly well for non-games use.

[SS2.]

PC World were knocking out Linksys wireless ADSL routers bundled with a 54g PCMCIA card for less than £40 recently.

I installed one for my parents about 6 weeks ago. A doddle to setup and it hasn't missed a beat..

[David Godfrey]

heebeegeetee said:

David Godfrey said:

if you don't need wireless then thats a good product, if you want wireless you will need something like the dg834gt www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3JCZ&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=NETGEAR+DG834gt&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0

Stap me I'm going nuts here . I DO want wireless, and thought that the kit in my OP would give me that, but you've rightly pointed out that it won't.

So, this gear that David has shown me, is this the best for wi-fi? I just want to use a laptop downstairs, thats all.

I have a few deployed here and there about 20 in all and so far no issues - they get a very different environment in each location with anything from 512K to 8MB + all good - i;m sure there are better out there for more but the NG tend to be plug and play rather than some other units i have used which could be called plug and pray!

[detchibe]

SS2. said:

PC World were knocking out Linksys wireless ADSL routers bundled with a 54g PCMCIA card for less than £40 recently.

I installed one for my parents about 6 weeks ago. A doddle to setup and it hasn't missed a beat..

Was this one of the little flat square ones, without the external antenna?

In which case - a word of warning - i've had about 3 of them fail on me, and heard of a few more doing the same. The symptoms are it appears to connect but the 'Internet' LED doesn't light. The only way I've got them back working again is to do a hard reset.

[heebeegeetee]

detchibe said:

SS2. said:

PC World were knocking out Linksys wireless ADSL routers bundled with a 54g PCMCIA card for less than £40 recently.

I installed one for my parents about 6 weeks ago. A doddle to setup and it hasn't missed a beat..

Was this one of the little flat square ones, without the external antenna?

In which case - a word of warning - i've had about 3 of them fail on me, and heard of a few more doing the same. The symptoms are it appears to connect but the 'Internet' LED doesn't light. The only way I've got them back working again is to do a hard reset.

Its a Linksys thats giving me grief, sounds like its the one I've got.

[dern]

Have had a DG834PN for a few weeks. Easy to set up, no problems for browsing, games or p2p wired or wireless so far.

[heebeegeetee]

Ta ever so everyone, Amazon here I come.

[heebeegeetee]

heebeegeetee said:

Ta ever so everyone, Amazon here I come.

Wow, just seen their prices.

Dabs, here I come.

[.Mark]

heebeegeetee said:

heebeegeetee said:

Ta ever so everyone, Amazon here I come.

Wow, just seen their prices.

Dabs, here I come.

Try Novatech too - often reasonably priced.