SG Broadband Community

Hi. I bought a Linksys BEFSR41 router a week ago before I found this forum. Great site and very informative! I have no problems with the Linksys but I have read here that the Netgear is faster and a better router for under $100. I paid $69 for the Linksys and I was wondering if the Netgear RP114 for $79 would be a better router? When I get more experienced I will go for the Nexland but for now should I exchange the Linksys for the Netgear RP114?

IF it ain't broke...

If you aren;t having any problems then I would wait and get the nexland. The netgear is generally considered faster and better for gaming but the configuration is not as intuitive as with the linksys. Many of the advanced features require telneting to the router.

SKye

Like Skye said....

I've installed many of each. Linksys is the easiest to use, setup. Firmware over the past year had matured to make a pretty stable unit. The Netgear is a little faster, but not as easy to admin...very dry and limited web admin, unlike the Linksys. The old fashioned telnet is needed to configure advanced features....it's tough to find documentation there. The Nexland ISB SOHO....has a web admin about as easy and full featured as the Linksys....so it's very easy to setup, good documentation too. Costs a bit more....but the Nexland flies!

What speed increase you will see depends on your connection...on a very fat and fast broadband connection, such as the 6000/384 DSL pipe I'm on, you can really see the difference going from a Linksys to a Nexland...but on a slow sub-1000 down broadband.....you may not see a huge speed increase, and you'll wonder why peeps call these routers fast.

Also single users wont tax a router as much as having a large LAN.

So sometimes it's hard to compare evenly, as the weak link varies from user to user.

Thanks guys for your help. I think I will stick with the Linksys for now until I get more experience, though I would really like to learn how to set up a router by telneting into it. But all in due time! I looked alittle on the Netgear site but didn't see much on instructions. I will do a google search later. But I wanted to thank you for your help.

Nothing too exciting about the older fashioned telnet way of configuring routers.

About as exciting as installing non-plug 'n play ISA networks cards in early Windows 95.

Even Cisco routers are going GUI.....drag 'n drop graphical configuration utilities.

But for someone getting into the field....yeah, good to learn them anyways.

Originally posted by YeOldeStonecat
Even Cisco routers are going GUI.....drag 'n drop graphical configuration utilities.

Yeah...they're doing for Network Admins what Microsoft Front Page did for Webmasters. Use the drag-n-drool interface so that nearly any clown with a PC can pretend that they know what they're doing. (Jeez, I'm a pessimist today...)