Good ADSL Router? Do they exist?!

[Gr44]

Hi all,

I'm really, really getting fed up with swapping my ADSL routers every 13months or so, why do they all seem to fail a little over a year in one way or another?

I've got a Belkin that bit the dust, 2 Linksys, 1 D-Link and now the Thompson router that BE provide has died after ~15 months ish.

Why, oh why.

I want to change the BE router anyway as it has problems with some games I play (heavily documented it's caused by that model of router).

So, question is, what is a good ADSL router to buy? My connection is around 15Mbps and I do download a fair amount so something that can support a large number of connections is a must.

Not too fussed about wireless, don't care about DHCP or firewalls or IDS etc... I just want something simple that WORKS.

Ideally something I can buy through Paypal as I have cash sat in there at the moment !

Thanks,

Sean

[abaxas]

My cisco 837 was used for 3 years, now it's been farmed out to my dad.

My current 877W has been in service for about 2 years and has crashed once in that time.

You get what you pay for.

[Jay]

I find the sync on Cisco is always less than other routers

[LuckyNV]

I use a Netgear DG834GT with my Be connection, the Thompson provided was quite poor for games and generally junk for usage.

Anyway, picked up my Netgear for a pittance on Ebay, was a recovered/reflashed Sky unit, was thinking about getting one of those expensive Draytek jobbies, but I'll consider it if/when this router gives up the ghost.

I've had a Belkin, that died after a year, but Belkin warranty was quite nice, I RMAed and they gave me a nice upgraded model that I didn't use because I bought a DG834G as a quick replacement that lasted about 3 years (still works I just switched to this DG834GT)

So yea... DG834GT, nice and cheap, sturdy with great features.

[jim]

So yea... DG834GT, nice and cheap, sturdy with great features.

Yeah, that thing's been going for so long now I think pretty much all bugs have been ironed out and there's loads of community support.

I got my dad a DG834G for about £30 from Ryman on the high street, so they're hardly expensive.

[Repressor]

I have Be* and a DG834G v4. It works well apart from when I tried to set it up but then I found this which indicates all the settings you need. Works a charm .

http://beusergroup.co.uk/technotes/index.php/DG834

[TS || Slick]

yeah i know what you mean you can find loads of great dsl routers, gigabit ones etc, but very few decent adsl ones. On the up side my Belkin N+ as reviewed and loved by PC Pro, has lasted for over a year and is still pretty solid, dont forget about firmware updates with the routers mind you that usually fix a number of problems.

[Gr44]

I've paid over £100 for 2 of the routers I've owned, one of which was a Linksys and died in a year, it doesn't power up any more so I can't use it at all.

So I really don't think it's a case of 'you get what you pay for' - tbh the free BE router has been better than the Linksys I had.

Is this the one to get then?

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...ProductID=1407

or...

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...ProductID=2266

Want to order one today as this BE one is doing my head in, have to reboot it every couple of hours!

[Bugbait]

If you have the budget, I recommend the Draytek Vigor 27xx or 28xx (personally have the Vigor 2820Vn). Lots of bells and whistles you may or may not need but a very solid router. This is my latest and best router so far. Didn't even bother with the Be/O2 router as I've used the Speedtouch before and it's a piece of junk. Netgear 854G (think that was the model) faired okay for a while but overheated constantly in summer and had to be rebooted often, even in winter. Most of the time a soft reboot wasn't even an option since it would loose connectivity with everything.

EDIT: Never had to hard reboot the Draytek and it's never lost connection with the devices in the network. The Netgear would last 2 weeks at most before it would need a hard reboot so things would even connect to it. I generally soft booted it every 2-3 days to keep it reliable. WiFi dropped out a lot over summer too. Considering the Netgear was about £80 and the Draytek was close to £180, the Draytek is still a far superior purchase in my eyes.

[abaxas]

I find the sync on Cisco is always less than other routers

Strange but maybe true. I think the cisco adsl firmware airs in the side of caution.

Good kit though, and quite cheap 2nd hand.

OP : do you need wireless?

[smargh]

Consumer routers are often quite poor.

I use a Netgear DG834GT, but modified somewhat: all the crappy Teapo capacitors have been replaced with nice Rubycons. The Teapo Netgear caps often don't last more than 3 years. There are now heatsinks on the hot chips, the case is filled with a grid of lots of small holes for air circulation, and I changed the power supply to an expensive Mascot brand.

Heat is the main enemy of consumer equipment, closely followed by poor quality cheap components, primarily capacitors, then wonky software.

[edit: and dgteam firmware, of course]

[Zak33]

http://www.draytek.co.uk/

[Gr44]

Hmmm, those Draytek's seem a little too pricey - and I don't need half the functions on it - I just want something that can provide a solid DSL line and NAT - then I'm happy!

How about - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cisco-800-seri...item3efaf43dea

Not sure if eBay links work but it's a Cisco 857 for £120

Is the Draytek worth the extra money?

Choices thus far then are....

Netgear £50 - http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...ProductID=1407
Cisco £120 - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cisco-800-seri...item3efaf43dea
Draytek £170 - http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...ProductID=5267

What do you think folks? I could ask for it for Xmas I suppose, bit of a boring present though!!

£170 does seem a lot for a router

[LuckyNV]

You can pick up Netgears for dirt cheap on Ebay, usually they are recovered units supplied by other ISPs, my GT was originally a Sky brand.

They go as low as £20, I got mine for about £25, just pick a UK seller with a good number of good ratings and you'll be fine

[peterb]

Have a look at this

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...ProductID=8106

Similar spec to the 2820, but minus the features that you probably wouldn't use anyway. (The only thing the 2820 does have is a second WAN port, so you could use it with a simple cable modem if you ever went cable)

Are Drayteks worth the extra? I think so. I have been very pleased with my 2800. However I had a cheap MRI which was also good, but very fiddly to set up anything out of the ordinary.

[gss03]

It is also worth noting that the Draytek 2820's have a USB port that can be both used as a USB type NAS box or for a 3G USB failover internet connection.