Need New Router, Which One To Buy?

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hi, I need a router. I have two wireless Macs and also a G5 (3 computers total)that needs to be hooked up old school style (ethernet cable). My girlfriend has the little airport but that is only wireless so I can't hook up the G5 at the same time.



What router to buy is the question? I need it to be eaaaasy enough for my grandmother to set up. In the past I notice most company's aren't very Mac friendly with router instructions and I have trouble setting them up.



By the way, my old Belkin died which is why I need this.



Thank you :-)

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    I'd say for your needs you wouldn't notice the difference between whatever router you get. Here's a decent one on ebay for $26 shipped



    http://cgi.ebay.com/NETGEAR-RP614-Ca...QQcmdZViewItem



    that one is bound to work for the next 10 years.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    footballfootball Posts: 47member
    Thank you Progmac.



    Would I go from the Comcast Cable box to this Netgear, then to my girlfriend's Airport Express (to keep her hooked up wirelessly)?



    Do you know if this one is easy to get working?
  • Reply 3 of 8
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Football

    Thank you Progmac.



    Would I go from the Comcast Cable box to this Netgear, then to my girlfriend's Airport Express (to keep her hooked up wirelessly)?



    Do you know if this one is easy to get working?




    Yep. I have that Netgear and it works great for wired and wireless at the same time. It also has 100 mbit WAN connection so it is all set for the higher cable speeds that may be coming from Comcast. It easily handles my 8800 down Comcast connection.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    ppp1182ppp1182 Posts: 19member
    i have always been a fan of linksys. you can pick up a wrt54g on criagslist or ebay for $20. then you can email me and i will send you a link for upgraded firmware to make the thing rock out like a $1000 piece of equipment (but it isn't necessary).
  • Reply 5 of 8
    bentonbenton Posts: 161member
    I've had good results with this Motorola router http://broadband.motorola.com/consum...oducts/br700/, matched with a Motorola modem.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Slightly OT, but I recently went through router hell and I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts.



    Client has old wireless router plus DSL modem, connected to 2 macs wirelessly and one via ethernet, plus one ethernet cabled laser printer.



    They start having problems with dropped wireless connections which generally can be resolved by a festival of reboots and unplugging things for a couple of minutes, obviously not optimal.



    So I figure the router was giving it up and cheerfully bring in a Linksys replacement.



    After a day or two of endless settings tweaking, rebooting, customer support calls to Linksys and Earthlink (DSL provider), and cable swapping, no joy. Damn thing simply will not go online. Computer sees the router, router sees the modem, passwords all good, settings all good, nothing.



    (By the way, while I'm sure Linksys makes a perfectly nice router that pleases when it Just Works, they have absolutely no Mac support whatsoever.)



    So Linsys goes back to Bestbuy, in comes Netgear.



    Same deal. I feel like I'm losing my mind.



    Finally I throw caution to the wind and get an "Actiontec" Router/DSL modem combo thing, because it was what was available at 6pm on a Sunday night and client is beginning to hyperventilate.



    Bingo. Same settings/cabling/everything, it's all good immediately.



    So apparently the problem lay between router and modem, but WTF? It seems hard to believe that the modem was failing in some obscure way just as the router was (which, by the way, revealed a dead wireless card upon IP settings page scrutiny).



    Does Comcast favor idiosyncratic modems? Am I accursed?
  • Reply 7 of 8
    ppp1182ppp1182 Posts: 19member
    comcast updates the modem configs and connected MAC devices occasionally, so you started working when this happened. the way around it is to shut everything off and wait 1 minute. then turn the modem back on, followed by the router.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ppp1182

    comcast updates the modem configs and connected MAC devices occasionally, so you started working when this happened. the way around it is to shut everything off and wait 1 minute. then turn the modem back on, followed by the router.



    I actually tried that (quite a few times).
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