Looking for a new router need some help
 

K Im sick of Belkin, the last 2 routers of theres ive tried have been broken in some way, so time to get a new one. I was thinking of an apple base station, but they are a tad too expensive. I need something that has n, and at least 1 usb port, for connecting a printer or hard-drive etc, and price wise im looking for under £100. (and no belkin's, unless it comes with a really long warranty)

been very happy with my airport extreme base station!!

I also like the AEBS, though like yourself, I was on a budget. A small budget.

You might consider a LinkSys router that supports DD-WRT. I am not sure about the status of 802.11N on them, but they are working on them. I bought the WRT54GL (I think it is an L) for mine, and flashed to DD-WRT. Cost me all of $60. I am not sure of the conversion to £'s though. I think its something like 1£ = $3USD.

This has been a great router, and allows you to do some really cool stuff that most soho routers cannot do, or do poorly. I did not need USB on mine, but reading their forums, DD-WRT will support USB, and will allow you to do printing and HDD's.

It also allows me to boost the amp in the router, with the stock antennas, I can get (Usable) wifi signal to my laptop 2 houses down. My router is in my Kitchen on the wall. I can see my router from 5 houses down, but my wifi card in my MBP is not strong enough to send a signal back to make the signal usable.

They have QOS for VOIP phones, VPN for Work, multiple encryption methods for whatever you want to use (I use WPA2-PSK since its easy to setup). You can even set the ethernet ports up on vlans.

hmm sounds too complicated, but i'll check out Linksys and see if they have anything over in the uk

Does Linksys provide tech support for Mac users? I read somewhere that they're adding it, but I don't know if that's true.

I'm partial to DeWalt. ;)

Well, I've never had problems with my Belkin Router :p

knowing you its prolly stolen :p

looks waay to expensive lol

Oh and i guess the apple router is out, it doesnt have an adsl port so i cant use it :(

Doesn't matter. As long as it has a uplink port (and I think the four ethernet ports are autodetecting ports, not sure), it'll work.

Unless your ADSL router doesn't use ethernet to jack into a router...

I might, were I you, consider a router from Apple's list of routers that work with Leopard's "Back to my Mac."

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1304

60 U.S. dollars = 30.1856417 British pounds. Many routers are cheaper than that when on sale. Just compare prices. Newegg usually has good stuff.
http://www.google.com/search?q=60+USD+in+GBP

Anyway, flashing the route isn't that hard. Just open the router setup page, select "Update firmware" or whatever, select the file, and your done.

Or you can always stick with the default firmware if you want.

I don't see where an ADSL port means much in this discussion, as long as your ISP's device has an ethernet port you are set.

ADSL - asynchronous DSL (upload/download speeds are different)
DSL (without the A) is synchronous (upload/download speeds are the same)

If you're talking about needing a cross-over cable or not, most these days seem to autosense that, or a different cable is just a couple bucks.

I've switched from DSL to cablemodem with no change to any of my equipment other than swapping the DSL box for the cablemodem box from my ISP.

As for the Dewalt.... I'm not allowed power tools like that. The last time I used something that fancy for a power tool I ended up cutting my leg off.

:( errm maybe its a England thing i dunno? but if your with british telecom, you have a phone cable connecting to a "filter", that then has 2 ports in it, one connects to the phone as normal and one has a (a)dsl going into the back of the router. Only cable customers can use non dsl modem routers, unless i bought a separate modem, but then that would just mean more money (since we didnt keep our isp's standard modem) and how would i set that up

Not quite right.

ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line different up/down speed.
SDSL Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line same up/down speed.
DSL means just Digital Subscriber Line may be any.
VDSL Very high speed
HDSL High bit rate.
And so on

yeah well im guess im adsl (since thats what my router says)

Grr there dont seem to be that many good n routers with a built in modem :mad:

My current setup is a wired D-Link DI-604 router hooked up to an ISP supplied Siemens (forget model) modem. Works fine for me, although I can understand why you might want an all-in-one router/modem.

and the modem connects to your mac via usb? or ethernet?

As far as ISPs go, I can verify baf's definition of VDSL. I'm on AT&T's U-Verse and it's blisteringly fast.

If your going the DD-WRT route, I would not do the above. Its not going to work very well, and most people report back that using the linksys web interface to flash to DD-WRT, brick their router. I believe SOME of the routers you can flash to DD-WRT can be done this way, but most cannot.

If your just wanting to upgrade your firmware from current Linksys to the latest Linksys, it should work. And I believe DD-WRT has this functionality as well, but I have yet to use it.

hmm well ive narrowed it down to 3. I know one of thems a belkin, but its on special offer at a local computer store. The 2nd one seems ok, though apparently it can loose signal, and ive never heard of the last company :s

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...&category_oid=
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...&category_oid=
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...%3ENFINITY.htm

My modem has both, but I personally hate using USB modems, so I chose to use the ethernet port.

The setup is fairly simple:
MacG4 + MacG3 + PC + PrintServer > Router > Modem > Internet

good to know, but we've decided to go with one with a built in modem hence the 3 i listed above