Looking for a stable router to buy.

[fabrizziop]

Hi. I'm looking for a stable wireless router. I had a WR641G that hanged about 2 times a day, requiring power cycling, when used in router mode (AP mode didn't cause fail). Then I got a WR741N, borrowed new in box from a close friend, and it also hangs requiring power cycling about once every two days. Power supplies were changed, router was configured by myself and everything. I'm really tired of these crappy TP-LINK routers stopping my mining at night, although I don't blame the brand, I may have got two lemons.

I'm looking for a nice router to buy. I prefer stability over Wi-Fi speed, I'd prefer at least 802.11N 150M, but 802.11g will do (there's a lot of RF pollution over here caused by having a lot of wireless networks nearby, I may need that wallpaper that reflects 2.4GHz RF). My price range is preferably 50$ or less, although I may get up to 75$ if it's really worth it.

I'm looking for models that are in newegg/amazon, not looking for used stuff right now. Please tell me your personal experiences with your routers, and recommend me some  .

[theymos]

I've been using a WRT54GL with Tomato firmware for several years. It works very well. I was running blockexplorer.com behind it for a while, getting over a million hits per day.

[blakdawg]

At that price point I think WRT54GL + Tomato firmware is the winner. I've heard a lot of people like the Apple Airport Extreme but that's more like $200.

[phantitox]

WR1042ND + dd-wrt  is a killer router for less the 50$

[JoelKatz]

I've had good luck with refurbished E3000's. Gigabit switch, simultaneous dual-band, and can run DD-wrt or Tomato. There's only one hardware version, so you don't have to worry. You can find them for $60 or less.

http://www.compuplus.com/Network/Cisco-Linksys-Refurbished-E3000-High-1166620.html

http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-Refurbished-High-Performance-Wireless-N-Router/dp/B003VY83HO

The WRT610N is usually the exact same router. However, the WRT610N exists in two hardware versions, so I prefer to order the E3000 so I know what I'm going to get.

[fabrizziop]

I just flashed my router(WR741ND) with DD-WRT, to check if stability is improved. If not I think I'll get a WRT54GL. Thanks to all for your advice.

[check_status]

The title of the presentation, "How to Hack Millions of Routers," gives a clear indication of the scale of the potential issues. Popular router models from Netgear, Linksys, and Belkin were found to be vulnerable, including models used for Verizon's FIOS and DSL services, as were widely-used third-party firmwares such as DD-WRT and OpenWrt. About half the routers tested did not appear to be vulnerable.

http://arstechnica.com/security/2010/07/millions-of-soho-routers-vulnerable-to-new-version-of-old-attack/
Tested vulnerable routers:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0Aupu_01ythaUdGZINXQ5Vi16X3hXb3VPYkszNXM0YXc

pfSense includes two built in methods of protection against DNS rebinding attacks.

http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/DNS_Rebinding_Protections

[fabrizziop]

The title of the presentation, "How to Hack Millions of Routers," gives a clear indication of the scale of the potential issues. Popular router models from Netgear, Linksys, and Belkin were found to be vulnerable, including models used for Verizon's FIOS and DSL services, as were widely-used third-party firmwares such as DD-WRT and OpenWrt. About half the routers tested did not appear to be vulnerable.

http://arstechnica.com/security/2010/07/millions-of-soho-routers-vulnerable-to-new-version-of-old-attack/
Tested vulnerable routers:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0Aupu_01ythaUdGZINXQ5Vi16X3hXb3VPYkszNXM0YXc

pfSense includes two built in methods of protection against DNS rebinding attacks.

http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/DNS_Rebinding_Protections

Well, I don't really care, if we get confirmed cases of the attack I'll just disable telnet & SSH to my router by dd-wrt, change the password to use a more secure one, disable UPnP and vulnerable features, and hope I don't get targeted. Also I think that with current secure browsing you can detect that sites are using self-signed certificates and not trusted-authority-signed ones. And, plus, my router is behind two load balancers plus a web cache server plus a hotspot server. And, I have a firewall in my computer, and wallet's encrypted. And, all of that just reduces the chance of my router/bitcoins getting targeted, if some of these black hat guys really want to get me, they will do so, this isn't the FBI nor "cyber-police" nor anything of that.

Meh, if it becomes true I'll just pay a VPN service from a trusted provider with fixed IP and browse through that, although vulnerabilities are always found on windows. I'm screwed

[KIDC]

+1 on WRT54GL and Tomato firmware. I've used it as the router for the main house/tenants for years and it's worked fine and only needs power cycle about once a month or two.

http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato/

On sale right now for $50 w/ free ship @ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190

The downside is that it's an older generation model that's only 802.11g. G should be fine for mining though unless you have signal problems.

[GernMiester]

Look for DDWRT compatable models.

[QiVX]

Make sure you have good range.
Personally I prefer Cisco Small Business Routers, as they are designed to run 24/7 and usually have a great wifi range.

But if it all depends on money, pick one which CAN run 24/7. I've had my Cisco on for 8 months non-stop doing all the house's wifi + my mining machine.

[Garr255]

I got a refurbished Netgear WNDR3700 about 6 months ago, and its awesome. No DDWRT compatibility, bit it gets the job done.

[atomicswan27]

the best way to go is with a direct wire hookup

[rjk]

the best way to go is with a direct wire hookup

Yup, I prefer to use my dedicated fiber link that jacks into the local ISP's SONET ring directly. (true story, actually)