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Just thinking back about some of the connection issues folks have had and with a lot of the new tech being released I thought I would create this thread to help some folks now and in the future.
A router is a device that moves information between computer networks. So you get the information from this website's server sent to your IP address assigned by your ISP which is where your router lives at. The router takes that information and sends it to the device that asked for it through an IP address that the router itself assigned. That's basically how it works.
Routers can handle either or both a wired (Ethernet cable) or wireless (radio signals) form of routing.
Wired is usually done with Ethernet cable. There is fiber, but we won't discuss that here. Ethernet is usually named with something like Cat 4 or Cat 5 or even Cat 5e. It's complicated and we really won't get into it here, but the Cat stands for Category and the Number is the version so the higher the number the newer the version. The little letter following the Number usually has to deal with an update to the version Currently Cat 5e is the standard and is getting replaced by Cat 6. So keep that in mind.
If you're building a new house or plan on rewiring your house try and do it with Ethernet cable. You can even use Ethernet for your phones. Only difference is you need a telephone cap and you use a couple less wires.
Wireless is what it says it is wireless. Currently Wireless is standardized at 802.11n (2012). Before that we had b/g as the standard. The older standard maxed out at about 54 Mbps. N will max out at 300 Mbps. So there is a big difference in speed there. The newest standard come up is ac which you are all ready seeing and it is 1000 Mbps.
When deciding any type of router you need to decide a few things first. What are my current needs? What are my near future needs (less than 5 years)? Once you've gotten that thought out you can think of things like physical problems; lead walls, can't run cable, who knows what else. Then you can think of fun things like price.
With your current needs it's always good to look at what devices you have and visit their manufacturer's site and see if they have any compatibility lists for routers.
Future needs are a little tougher because this is technology and it changes quickly. So if you know you might purchase a new laptop in a year and you see ac used by Dell or HP for some of their laptops now you know a year from now you might see more laptops with ac wireless so maybe a router with ac is a better choice for you.
Physical is tough and easy at the same time. Ethernet cable is really cheap. If you can't drill and run cable through your walls you may be able to run it through your air ducts. You can also run it along your wall at the edge of the carpet and it'll be just about invisible. Now if you live in a multi-floor structure and you get a weak wireless signal there's easy fixes for that too. You can get a wireless repeater or even turn your electrical outlet into an access point.
Now we've gone over the basics and I hope that has helped some. Routers like any product will change over time with who makes a better product. Before Linksys was great with routers. I had one and loved it. Right now they aren't the best in my opinion. D-link has always made a decent router; sometimes the best and sometimes not, but usually always in the running. Netgear and Trendnet are usually hit and miss. With their misses being bad, really bad. Currently I will say Asus has the best router on the market now with the AC66U.
I have the Asus N66U which is a great router. The software that Asus uses is fairly powerful yet really simple for anyone to use. It manages two cell phones, a tablet, laptop, PC, 360 and PS3. I've had no problems with it at all.
So for now I would recommend the Asus router. Like I said things will change so do your research.
Some things that are pretty cool with today's routers. Before routers were pretty bare boned with what they could do. It was just your basic routing and that's about it. There was software like DD-WRT and Tomato that you installed on your router to give it a few new features and give you a lot more control over your router.
Now-a-days the software is usually more advanced with some companies giving the consumer more features and more control and others not. Some of those features include the ability to plug in something other than a PC to your router. Like a printer for instance. You can buy a printer, plug it into a router and make it a wireless printer. Some you can plug in a hard drive. This will give you network storage that you can access from you home or even from outside.
So look at features like that when deciding and see what sort of things extra it can do.
The last thing is price. I say this is last because if price is your first thing none of what I said above will really mean that much to you. With a router you do get what you pay for. The newest tech and more features will always be the higher priced router. Also I believe quality has something to do with it. I'm not saying best quality equals highest price, but generally cheap routers suck. You have to look at it like this, $200 for a router that lasts 5 years will cost you $40 a year. So is that $40 a year worth a stable network and less/no headaches or not?
So good luck and I hope this helps some. If you are happy with your router great! If not and you are in the market to buy feel free to ask what we think.
A router is a device that moves information between computer networks. So you get the information from this website's server sent to your IP address assigned by your ISP which is where your router lives at. The router takes that information and sends it to the device that asked for it through an IP address that the router itself assigned. That's basically how it works.
Routers can handle either or both a wired (Ethernet cable) or wireless (radio signals) form of routing.
Wired is usually done with Ethernet cable. There is fiber, but we won't discuss that here. Ethernet is usually named with something like Cat 4 or Cat 5 or even Cat 5e. It's complicated and we really won't get into it here, but the Cat stands for Category and the Number is the version so the higher the number the newer the version. The little letter following the Number usually has to deal with an update to the version Currently Cat 5e is the standard and is getting replaced by Cat 6. So keep that in mind.
If you're building a new house or plan on rewiring your house try and do it with Ethernet cable. You can even use Ethernet for your phones. Only difference is you need a telephone cap and you use a couple less wires.
Wireless is what it says it is wireless. Currently Wireless is standardized at 802.11n (2012). Before that we had b/g as the standard. The older standard maxed out at about 54 Mbps. N will max out at 300 Mbps. So there is a big difference in speed there. The newest standard come up is ac which you are all ready seeing and it is 1000 Mbps.
When deciding any type of router you need to decide a few things first. What are my current needs? What are my near future needs (less than 5 years)? Once you've gotten that thought out you can think of things like physical problems; lead walls, can't run cable, who knows what else. Then you can think of fun things like price.
With your current needs it's always good to look at what devices you have and visit their manufacturer's site and see if they have any compatibility lists for routers.
Future needs are a little tougher because this is technology and it changes quickly. So if you know you might purchase a new laptop in a year and you see ac used by Dell or HP for some of their laptops now you know a year from now you might see more laptops with ac wireless so maybe a router with ac is a better choice for you.
Physical is tough and easy at the same time. Ethernet cable is really cheap. If you can't drill and run cable through your walls you may be able to run it through your air ducts. You can also run it along your wall at the edge of the carpet and it'll be just about invisible. Now if you live in a multi-floor structure and you get a weak wireless signal there's easy fixes for that too. You can get a wireless repeater or even turn your electrical outlet into an access point.
Now we've gone over the basics and I hope that has helped some. Routers like any product will change over time with who makes a better product. Before Linksys was great with routers. I had one and loved it. Right now they aren't the best in my opinion. D-link has always made a decent router; sometimes the best and sometimes not, but usually always in the running. Netgear and Trendnet are usually hit and miss. With their misses being bad, really bad. Currently I will say Asus has the best router on the market now with the AC66U.
I have the Asus N66U which is a great router. The software that Asus uses is fairly powerful yet really simple for anyone to use. It manages two cell phones, a tablet, laptop, PC, 360 and PS3. I've had no problems with it at all.
So for now I would recommend the Asus router. Like I said things will change so do your research.
Some things that are pretty cool with today's routers. Before routers were pretty bare boned with what they could do. It was just your basic routing and that's about it. There was software like DD-WRT and Tomato that you installed on your router to give it a few new features and give you a lot more control over your router.
Now-a-days the software is usually more advanced with some companies giving the consumer more features and more control and others not. Some of those features include the ability to plug in something other than a PC to your router. Like a printer for instance. You can buy a printer, plug it into a router and make it a wireless printer. Some you can plug in a hard drive. This will give you network storage that you can access from you home or even from outside.
So look at features like that when deciding and see what sort of things extra it can do.
The last thing is price. I say this is last because if price is your first thing none of what I said above will really mean that much to you. With a router you do get what you pay for. The newest tech and more features will always be the higher priced router. Also I believe quality has something to do with it. I'm not saying best quality equals highest price, but generally cheap routers suck. You have to look at it like this, $200 for a router that lasts 5 years will cost you $40 a year. So is that $40 a year worth a stable network and less/no headaches or not?
So good luck and I hope this helps some. If you are happy with your router great! If not and you are in the market to buy feel free to ask what we think.
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