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AR15.COM
2/7/2010 4:01:27 AM EDT
I've had a trusty Linksys BEFSR41 for the past 9 years, and it's finally crapped out.  Friday morning, I woke up to no online capability.  At first I thought it was the modem, until I saw the red diag light on the router.  I tried doing a hard reset of the router several times, but to no avail.  So here I sit, in the market for a new router.

9 years is a solid run for a router, IMO.  So what's available these days that would be a good replacement for the BEFSR41?  I play a lot of online games, both on my PC and with consoles (I have a PS3 as well as an XBox360), so low latency is a pretty big requirement.
2/8/2010 5:30:49 AM EDT
[#1]
Try checking the Router Charts here:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/

They have charts for both LAN/WAN throughput on copper, and Wireless throughput.

Good Luck!

FluxPrism
2/8/2010 6:08:27 AM EDT
[#2]
Funny thing is that I just bought a brand new BEFSR41. I was having all kinds of trouble with my wireless router. I had a D-Link (don't remember the model) and I kept losing the wired connection. I got tired of it and replaced it with a Linksys. I wouldn't lose my connection as far as the computer was concerned (no errors or anything) but browsing, emailing, etc would just grind to a halt. After battling this for a couple of months I finally decided to break the network up into multiple devices. I now run a BEFSR41 for my desktop computers in the office and use a D-Link DAP-1522 wireless access point for my laptop and iPod.

One point of interest: A friend at work gave me his BEFSR41 but it sucked horribly. I couldn't update the firmware and the best I could do on speed tests was about 5MB down. When I put the newer model in I was back up to 24MB.

I haven't had ANY trouble since splitting the network devices.
2/8/2010 11:23:19 AM EDT
[#3]
Linksys (post Cisco takeover) is garbage.  Look at the D-Link DGL-series of routers (4100, 4300, or 4500) for reliability and low ping times.
2/9/2010 4:46:10 AM EDT
[#4]
In the spirit of ar-15.com, roll you own!

Get an old box with 2 NIC’s, and install a UTM free disto.

Untangle
Ebox

There a few others.  Unified Threat Management is a all in one type device.  Only thing else you would need is a $30 switch from Ebay.
2/9/2010 1:54:23 PM EDT
[#5]
Weird, I just had to replace my ~9 yr old Linksys wireless router about three or four months ago too. Mine started having timeouts in the browser, network slowdowns, etc.

I replaced it with Netgear WNDR3700 router and have been very happy with the performance so far.
2/9/2010 1:55:05 PM EDT
[#6]
9 years!  You'd be amazed what they do now....
2/9/2010 3:57:43 PM EDT
[#7]
Quoted:
9 years!  You'd be amazed what they do now....


2/9/2010 6:24:22 PM EDT
[#8]
Quoted:
In the spirit of ar-15.com, roll you own!

Get an old box with 2 NIC’s, and install a UTM free disto.

Untangle
Ebox

There a few others.  Unified Threat Management is a all in one type device.  Only thing else you would need is a $30 switch from Ebay.


Guess I shouldn't have thrown that old Win98 machine away today.