Ask Slashdot: Good Gigabit 802.11N Home Router?

nukem996 writes "This week I will be moving into a new apartment with a very fast Internet connection (100M with the possibility of 200M in the future). I'm used to running OpenWRT on my Linksys WRT54G router and would like a well supported router to replace it. While researching routers I found most reviewers were using the default firmware and since I'll be putting on OpenWRT I'd like to know how well it works when using that. My requirements are gigabit LAN and WAN, 802.11N at 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz, well supported by OpenWRT and/or DD-WRT, and USB support would be nice. I was thinking of going with BUFFALO WZR-HP-AG300H but some reviewers say there are range and dropping issues. My ISP suggests the Apple Airport Extreme which isn't supported by OpenWRT or the D-Link 825 which has connection problems as well and a few friends told me to stay away form D-Link. What does slashdot think?"

Asus RT-N16

[Anonymous Coward]

Ive got an ASUS RT-N16 running DD-WRT and found it to be a solid workhorse. Supports all the functionality you require as well.

Netgear WNDR-3700

[Anonymous Coward]

It supports 802.11N at 2.4GHz and 5GHz, has a USB port, and supports gigabit LAN. The default firmware is a modified version of OpenWRT, and it is supported by both OpenWRT and DDWRT. It performs quite well.

Apple Airport Extreme and Cisco E4200

[jmcbain]

The best 802.11n home routers right now are the Apple Airport Extreme and the Cisco E4200. The key feature to look for is dual-band: you want to keep 802.11a/b traffic on 2.4Ghz and 802.11n on 5.0Ghz. That will allow you to achieve 802.11n's upper bound of 450 Mbps without baggage from 802.11a/b. If you want the most effortless setup, get the Airport Extreme; the accessory Airport Express devices will also allow you to extend the wireless range of your network.

Re:WNDR3700

[iamhassi]

really slashdot? Slow day?

Agreed. Aren't their better places to ask for the best gigabit 802.11n router supporting DD-WRT and OpenWRT? Not really "News for Nerds" or "Stuff that Matters". I'm sure any number of a hundred forums would be better, maybe the dd-wrt forum [dd-wrt.com] or openwrt forum [openwrt.org] would good places to start since you require a router that support both of those.

Re:first poster has no problems with dlink

[gregrah]

Are you running BitTorrent? I tried out two separate D-Link routers about a year ago, when I was looking to replace a dying wrt-54G. Both of the D-Link routers would crash in a big way within minutes of firing up BitTorrent. I ended up buying another wrt-54G from Newegg, which still works perfectly, and vowed never to buy another D-Link product again.

To answer the original poster's comments - I actually ended up buying a refurb Linksys E2000 on sale for cheap (less than $30). I continue to run my 54g, with my E2000 running alongside it in 5ghz mode. I would recommend this approach of running two separate routers for 2.4ghz and 5ghz access, as It's a lot cheaper to buy 2 selective dual-band routers than a single simultaneous dual band router. Also, if one of the routers should die on you, you'll have a backup.

Re:Apple Airport Extreme and Cisco E4200

[Cimexus]

Yep. The Airport Extreme is one of the very few consumer-grade routers than can actually route at 100 Mbps on the WAN side. Many so-called gigabit home routers can manage gigabit switching on the LAN side, but start choking on the WAN side once you get to about 50-60 Mbps.

Personally I use a FritzBox 7390 [fritzbox.com.au]. Can route at something like 400-500 Mbps on the WAN side so won't break a sweat doing 100 Mbps. Heaps of features in the firmware (QoS, VPN, SIP VoIP, DECT, traffic monitoring and blocking, line diagnostics blah blah) and compared to DLink and Netgear and all that other rubbish, and stable to boot. It is actually a combined DSL (ADSL2+/VDSL) modem and router but you can turn the modem part off and just use it as a plain old router. Has dualband 2.4 Ghz/5 Ghz WiFi too. Reason I picked this over the Airport Extreme is basically because the Airport Extreme doesn't have a web interface (you have to use Apple's proprietary configuration tool), and this does. Otherwise they are both excellent devices.

Netgear WNDR3700

[anethema]

Dual band, well supported OpenWRT. Decent DD-WRT support. USB. Great performance, gigabit, meets all your specs.

CPU, RAM, and Storage are listed right on the box.

There is no fancy reflashing to other OS proceedure. Pick any image of any OS you want and flash. No protection at all.

Hell the OS it ships with is (I believe) an OpenWRT derivative!

It is this generations WRT54G(GL in later years).

Re:Asus RT-N16

[Anonymous Coward]

Same here. I went from a WRT54GL with tomato firmware to an Asus RT-N16 and i still feel i'm not taking full advantage of the router, despite having my printer plugged into one of the USB ports and an external USB HD plugged in the other port.

Been an year, and so far no complaints at all. Can't say for the other dd-wrt capable routers, but I have no reason to move from the RT-N16.

Benchmarks

[ciantic]

There is some benchmarks at SmallNetBuilder [smallnetbuilder.com] you might be interested in, I've been eyeing on those for my next router.

Re:first poster has no problems with dlink

[X3J11]

I have been using a D-Link DIR-615, wireless N single channel router for a few years now, and have never experiences any problems with it. That includes torrenting while up to three others are browsing/gaming and another is playing on XBOX Live. Granted I'm not running on a 100 Mbps line, but it works just fine.