Which wireless router?

[user12]

Hi folks, Thanks to the members here I've finally ordered my new laptop a ACER 5634. Now I'm after my first router and aftera little research I've come down to both of these:

Netgear DG834G
Belkin ADSL Modem With Built-In 802.11g Wireless G Router

From your experiences which one should I go for. Thanks in advance.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

[Dr. Lucien Sanchez]

Buy the Ozenda 11g Wireless ADSL Firewall Router. (www.ozenda.com) It's a extremely easy to setup and the built-in firewall is very, very strong. Plus it's reletively cheap but don't let that put you off.

Review 1 (http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/hardware/2013599/ozenda-11g-wireless-adsl-firewall)
Review 2. (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/69303/ozenda-11g-wireless-adsl-firewall-router-ar4505g.html)

[screamer]

User12,

I've used Netgear & Belkin routers, (only wireless) but nonetheless the support from Netgear is horrible. Belkin is much better, at least you get an answer. Personally I refer on the forums for my answers.

Netgear works, when it works, when it doesn't... On the other hand, I've never had an issue w/ the Belkin. If I were you I'd do some further research into these units. Why not drop by DSLReports.com and check out the forums for each brand you're considering. The guys at DSLReports do through testing and I've found it to be the most reliable site around for Router / Modem issues.

hth,

...screamer

[user12]

-{ Quote: "Plus it's reletively cheap..." }-
Thanks but the netgear is around the same price atm. So it now depends which one is more durable and offers more features and security etc.

edit... thanks screamer I'm looking at thinkbroadband.com (http://www.thinkbroadband.com/reviews.html) reviews. I'll report back after I've read them

[user12]

apparently the belkin modem routers offer lifetime warranty as opposed to others manufacturers is this true?

[Meriadoc]

Dont know.
If they pretty much match up take the cheaper option, I think both have Nat, firewall. Standard for me would be stateful packet inspection, denial of service, virtual private network for secure access to part of the network and DMZ.
Netgear if I remember comes with Trend Internet Security2005 and parental controls that governs everyone - so you'll have to look into it so you dont get any surprises.

I like routers that also come with storage.

[user12]

I can get both (new) for around a similar price, but for the price Belkin includes a Wireless USB Network Adapter (I don't need it). The netgear seems to be able to control outbound traffic (don't think that's too important).

The Belkin USA site shows lifetime Warranty but nothing on their UK link.

Belkin Features

Auto-negotiation
DHCP support
DoS attack prevention
Dynamic IP address assignment
Firewall protection
MAC address filtering
NAT support
Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI)
URL filtering
VPN passthrough


Netgear features:

Auto-sensing per device
Auto-uplink (auto MDI/MDI-X)
Content filtering
DHCP support
DMZ port
E-mail alert
Firewall protection
NAT support
Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI)
VPN

[user12]

Wooops, almost forgot about this thread.

Update I eventually bought the NetGear DG834 v3 for a good price (1/2 the price charged on the High St) brand new on eBay.

So far no probs, got it up and running within minutes, even upgraded firmware (easy). thank you all!