Wireless Router

[fishhuntwork]

I'm in the market for a new wireless router for my house. I currently just have one that centurylink provided approx. 4 years ago. I want one that won't kick me off the internet if I have my phones, 2 computers, and printers on wifi. I think I'm going to go with a dual band but do I really need to spend a lot of money one that I primarily just use for school work and some surfing. No gaming for me.

[delcecchi]

  fishhuntwork said:

I'm in the market for a new wireless router for my house. I currently just have one that centurylink provided approx. 4 years ago. I want one that won't kick me off the internet if I have my phones, 2 computers, and printers on wifi. I think I'm going to go with a dual band but do I really need to spend a lot of money one that I primarily just use for school work and some surfing. No gaming for me.

I don't think so. Wireless N has pretty good bandwidth. The dual band thing lets you dodge interference better.

I got linksys e1200 and it seems to work ok.

[BobT]

  delcecchi said:

I don't think so. Wireless N has pretty good bandwidth. The dual band thing lets you dodge interference better.

I got linksys e1200 and it seems to work ok.

Ditto on the e1200.

[fishnowworknever]

What model/brand is that router you currently have? I use the one provided by CentruyLink (probably 5 years old) and have 4 PC's, a PS3 and 2 Smart TV's connected with 0 issues.

Have you upgraded your firmware on the router?

Otherwise, yes buy a dual band router.

[fishhuntwork]

I have a Westell 7500. If and when I get a new wireless router do I remove the one provided by Centurtylink?

[fishnowworknever]

Nope, I believe that is your DSL modem/wireless router so no you would need to keep that if you're just buying a wireless router.

What you really should do if you're staying with CenturyLink is buy a compatible modem/router that way you don't have to rent one anymore and you're upgrading your wireless infrastructure at the same time.

https://qwest.centurylink.com/internethelp/modem-compatibility-table-q.html

I purchased this one a while back and it's still going strong:

https://qwest.centurylink.com/internethelp/modem-q1000-q.html

[fishhuntwork]

After talking with Centurylink today, they are only providing me 4mgps service. I asked them to upgrade me and they said they weren't able to at this time. So now I don't know if I should contact our cable provider, which is Mediacom and get service from them. They provide 15 mgps. Do you think this could be a speed issue and not a modem issue? Currently we have our Ps3, 2- Iphones, Directv genie, laptop and a desk top that all uses this source.

[fishnowworknever]

Most definitely upgrade to whichever ISP offers the best speed. If they can only offer you 4Mbs that means they do not have fiber optics ran in your area and/or you're too far from one of the hubs to provide quality service.

You'll see a big difference in a positive way if you switch.

Make sure you tell them you want a cable modem with wireless capability (they are usually provided upon request). If they don't offer that, rent their cable modem and just get a wireless router that supports A,B,G,N radios, you can find those for around $50...no need to spend anymore than that.

[Whoaru99]

  fishhuntwork said:

After talking with Centurylink today, they are only providing me 4mgps service. I asked them to upgrade me and they said they weren't able to at this time. So now I don't know if I should contact our cable provider, which is Mediacom and get service from them. They provide 15 mgps. Do you think this could be a speed issue and not a modem issue? Currently we have our Ps3, 2- Iphones, Directv genie, laptop and a desk top that all uses this source.

Without a clear understanding of just what your problem is it's hard to say the right course of action. However, if the main problem is losing wireless connection to the router then it's not really an issue of Centurylink at 4Mbps vs Mediacomm at 15Mbps.

Whether or not you want an increase in speed is a completely different topic than proper function of what you have now.

[Whoaru99]

  fishhuntwork said:

I have a Westell 7500. If and when I get a new wireless router do I remove the one provided by Centurtylink?

Depends. If it's a wireless router + modem combo unit then you may still need to use it, albeit you may be able to just use the modem part and connect that to a different wireless router.

[delcecchi]

If all that stuff is being used at the same time in a mode that uses bandwidth, like watching video or playing internet games, you could be running into a bandwidth limitation.

I don't know what happens in your router when too much bandwidth is being requested, maybe it is dropping connections.

Does the problem occur when only like one thing is in use?

But faster is better anyway. 4Mb these days is pretty minimum. Of course price is a factor as well.

[Whoaru99]

Yeah, 4Mbps connection is somewhat on the lower end these days. But, whether or not that's inadequate of course depends on what you're doing on the connection. It, in and of itself is probably OK for just school work and some surfing as it says in the first post. OTOH, as you elude to, most of the devices mentioned are capable of streaming content.

Hitting the limit of the pipe I don't think should kick you off the wireless connection, but if connection is maxed out and it's just a trickle between all the users maybe there isn't much difference from a practial matter.

With regard to routers, I found a good deal a while back on a reconditioned D-link DIR-655. Seems to work pretty good. I think it was about $30 and shipped free.

[upnorth]

Lower end wireless devices will only support so many connections before bad things start to happen. There could also be other interference issues in your house that cause disconnects. Microwaves are notorious for killing wireless connections. If your Microwave is rather close to your router it could easily disrupt the signal enough to kill the connection. Wireless hand held phones can also cause interference to the signal and disrupt connections. Just some food for thought. It may not be your router, but something else disrupting things.