[RndTbl] wireless N router recommendations?

[Gilles Detillieux]

Thanks, Adam, for both your recommendations - Buffalo Tech and 
pricebat.ca (which I hadn't heard about before).  The WHR-HP-G300N is 
the one I'm interested in now.

BestDirect seems to have the best price on it.  Anyone have any 
experience with them, good or bad?

On 09/03/2010 10:31 AM, Adam Thompson wrote:
> [This isn't specifically about 'N' routers, but...]
> 
> I've used the Buffalo Technology (www.buffalotech.com) routers a fair bit, 
> and have been consistently impressed by them.  They also tend to get 
> excellent reviews.
> 
> Their "high-power" models give consistently better range than stock 
> WRT54Gs (for example) *without* burning out the radio.
> I found you can get the same range out of a WRT54G simply by turning up 
> the transmit power and adding a slightly better antenna, but then the 
> WRT54G burns out within a year.
> 
> The Buffalo units (I think) keep the standard Broadcom reference design 
> that everyone uses, but they add a separate RF amp on the RF output to 
> boost power and sensitivity.  (Yes, that boosts noise as well, but it 
> doesn't seem to be a problem.)
> 
> The unit I've used is the WHR-HP-G54, which among other features can run 
> modified firmware (DD-WRT, for example) but for simpler cases also has a 
> physical SWITCH on the back to turn it into an AP.  The single antenna 
> provided was always good enough for my use cases.
> 
> Read all about it at 
> http://www.buffalotech.com/products/wireless/routers-and-access-points/airstation-wireless-g-high-power-router-access-point-whr-hp-g54/.
> 
> I don't know of any retail stores carrying it, but it's widely available 
> online in Canada: http://www.pricebat.ca/search.php?q=WHR-HP-G54, starting 
> at around $55.
> 
> Their 'N' models also (with one exception) can run custom firmware (again, 
> using DD-WRT as my reference, see 
> http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database for details) but I 
> don't have any personal experience with those (yet).  Following Consumer 
> Reports' methodology, "reliability is predicted to be better than average 
> based on this brand's repair history".
> 
> -Adam

-- 
Gilles R. Detillieux              E-mail: <grdetil at scrc.umanitoba.ca>
Spinal Cord Research Centre       WWW:    http://www.scrc.umanitoba.ca/
Dept. Physiology, U. of Manitoba  Winnipeg, MB  R3E 0J9  (Canada)