need help finding a good cheep router

[Prox]

My parents are finaly getting dsl and so I am looking for a deacent router, but cant afford to spend more then $40, Waterb found me a good one but it sold out, and now the best I can find is a Netgear MR814 for 29.99, so any advice on what to do would be wonderfull

 

[Diesel]

Netgear's are excellent routers for home. Good throughput, and excellent security. Can't go wrong with them. I had an older RP114 that was so good, we got one for the office to secure the web server.

 

[Yoda117]

I dunno where you got the price for that router, but if it helps Best Buy will be having coupons for 10% off this weekend

Hey Diesel, do you have any experience with the Microsoft MN-500? Other than it being an MS product, I've actually (frighteningly really) heard some good things about it.

I'm just a bit in shock that it might be a half-decent product coming from MicroSoft

 

[Diesel]

I don't trust Windows to secure my stuff... why would I trust any other Microsoft product?!?

The reason the MS routers are popular are because they're a) cheap, and b) have brand recognition behind them. Mom & Pop who don't know anything about computers will be more willing to buy the MS router than a better model by SMC, Netgear, or D-Link.

I didn't include Linksys, because frankly, their routers are crap. They have many more recognized problems than the other brand. But again, they have brand name recognition, which is why they're the most popular brand on the market right now.

The ratings I've been reading have been very mixed. The good reviews are very questionable, since they avoid things like network performance, and focus on things like setup. The bad reviews are typically from the more popular outlets like PC Magazine, etc. that actually put some work behind their reviews.

 

[Prox]

Thanks Dan, I think Ill go with the netgear, and yes linksys routers suck majorly, we were getting dropped repeatedly at my old appartment untill we changed routers

 

[Yoda117]

I've seen both good and bad about the MN-500 series from various magazines.

But, I got to try one out for myself the other day... they suck. The speed from both wired and wireless connections was atrocious. To be honest, even the installation software didn't work properly. The nice thing is that the router installed properly without the software properly, lol!

Still... even compared to older 802.11B capable routers, the speed was really poor.

Here's the amusing part... apparently doing some high bandwidth surfing managed to burn out the router after about 6 hrs.

Better to learn this at the IST lab, than to actually have bought one and found out the hard way.

Though to be honest, the nice thing about work is that I get goodies every so often... like the Cisco WAPs that they decided to replace. :nod:

 

[dealsguru]

Wireless router is around 14.99

If you are looking for wireless router you can get it for $24.99 or so. I have seen routers for FREE After rebate as well. Check sites like dealsofamerica.com, which lists deals on electronic stuff. They have listing of Wireless pc card FREE after rebate offered by eCost. As of this time,posting is still there check it out.