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Hi everyone...

I need to buy a new router. I used to swear by my linksys (I have a WRT5G right now) after 2 of my netgear routers gave me problems.

Now, my WRT5G is having some minor problems and I believe it needs to be replaced. Plus, it's about 5 years old right now anyway haha.

I went to the store to buy a linksys router, but to my surprise, there were SO many selections and many different prices... I compared them all and I was shocked at the labeling: some of them can only support 2-3 devices or wifi, and others can do 5-6, and the premium one can do more.... my WRT was able to handle more without problem!

I have about 11 devices currently hooked up to my router wirelessly, and 1 wired connection and it's been running fine 99% of the time. I have 4 laptops, 4 iPhones, 1 iPad, 1 xbox360, and 1 desktop computer connected to my router in my house, and my guests can come and use my wifi with no problem.

So now my question is, can the cheaper linksys router really handle ONLY 2-3 devices??? If so, which router should I buy, linksys and non-linksys, without breaking my wallet? I need something with decent range also. I'm so disappointed at linksys because the router that seemed to fit my needs is like $150 or something at walmart. I paid $50 for my WRT.

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I have a ea6500 that I am "testing" and so far it is pretty good provided you know your devices caveats. For some strange reason apple devices do not like tkip but like aes encryption. Fewer drop offs and what not. Range is improved normally with my old router I would get 0 to 40 percent and now I am getting 50 to 90 percent coverage. Need to do better tests but that is what I am seeing with the crappy wireless meters built into the devices.

Also out of the box not only can I prioritize applications but devices. I can tell it to allow my sons iPad priority because there is no Netflix application enabled (I can create one, but that isn't the point...the point is for users who don't know squat about anything tech).

There are a few other areas that I haven't touched yet but they have really simplified this device and really made it perform. It better for the price tag they are giving it. Need to do some torrent testing while streaming against prioritized devices. That will come when I have some more time to play.

I have the e4200 v1 as well. I bought it cause it looked great and ddwrt or tomato could be used on it. Ive had it for about 8 mo ths now, still running on cisco firmware. Didnt see the need to use thrid party firmware. Works just fine for me. I was using the wrt54g on tomato before this.

I have the Amped Wireless R10000 and it's really good. very nice coverage and stuff like guest networks, QoS. access control, pretty good firewall, etc... The R20000G (around 170 USD) is better though (dual band,usb sharing). I just got mine cuz it was cheap (100USD at microcenter) and I didn't need dual band or USB sharing. Very easy to setup as well. Huge upgrade from my Netgear WGR614.... Netgear is ok, but I'm seeing more reviews that are bad for thier newer stuff and that kinda irks me.... :(

now if you want something like enterprise grade stuff for a lower price then cisco enterprise get a pfsense box and for wireless just get an access point. that is something I wanna do eventually

  • Like 2

"some of them can only support 2-3 devices"

Where did they say this?? Lets think about who they are wording this for, and who they are trying to sell too and what they want to sell. They want to sell you the their top of the line model.

You could say any wireless device can only handle 1 wireless client if what you want is the FULL wireless bandwidth to that client. Wireless is shared. You have X amount of bandwidth, now depending on how many concurrent clients you have and how much bandwidth you want each client to be able to have -- do the math. If I want all of X to 1 client, then it can only support 1. If I am ok with X/10 then it can support 10 ;)

But I am curious to where your reading that sort of statement? I have never seen a router list a specific number of clients. Looking on the website of the different wireless routers and sure don't see any sort of statement about how many clients

http://homestore.cis...64VVviewcat.htm

Here is a compare page - where does it say this one is 2-3 and this one is 4-6?

Here is specs on one - where does it say number of clients?

http://homestore.cis...6VVviewprod.htm

Any advantages over the stock firmware for normal use?

It's much easier to configure and has a lot more features. Tomato-specific (I think) features I use: use WAN-port as LAN, use 5Ghz radio for 2.4Ghz (I have two completely independent 2.4Ghz networks), VPN host (so I can log in to my network remotely), ... I also have my WiFi on GreenField and some other things that basically only allow WiFi-N and optimize for it (by leaving out a lot of backwards compatibility - everything I use is N anyway).

I never really bothered with the standard firmware. It looked so much like my WRT54G stock firmware I wanted to get rid of it right away :D Tomato is mainly just much easier and more fun to configure.

My ea6500 has that crap but I don't need to sign in with any Cisco cloud account nor do I need to link it with any account. While I don't doubt that it sends my browsing history to Cisco, so does anything u connect to. Your Dns server you connect to knows your browsing history, your search provider knows the searches you perform and can cross reference against your ip, the sites you go to know where you have been based on the cookies you have and will send you personal adverts based on them. You are more monitored than you even know. You are free to be monitored on the Internet, like it or not.

Might of well said, don't use the Internet.

Hi everyone, thank you soooo much for the suggestions, reviews, and warnings. I really appreciate it!!

"some of them can only support 2-3 devices" Where did they say this?? Lets think about who they are wording this for, and who they are trying to sell too and what they want to sell. They want to sell you the their top of the line model. You could say any wireless device can only handle 1 wireless client if what you want is the FULL wireless bandwidth to that client. Wireless is shared. You have X amount of bandwidth, now depending on how many concurrent clients you have and how much bandwidth you want each client to be able to have -- do the math. If I want all of X to 1 client, then it can only support 1. If I am ok with X/10 then it can support 10 ;) But I am curious to where your reading that sort of statement? I have never seen a router list a specific number of clients. Looking on the website of the different wireless routers and sure don't see any sort of statement about how many clients http://homestore.cis...64VVviewcat.htm Here is a compare page - where does it say this one is 2-3 and this one is 4-6? Here is specs on one - where does it say number of clients? http://homestore.cis...6VVviewprod.htm

That makes a lot of sense, thank you! I was skeptical too when I first saw it... I was thinking "Can this router really not handle more than 3 or 4 devices??" I tried to google some info while in the store but not only did I not find any info, but my aging iPhone 3GS was being too slow and laggy and so I stopped searching in frustration, haha. I believe I saw those numbers on the actual box that the router came in... I'll try to take a picture tomorrow when I go to the store and upload it on here.

Whatever you buy, DON'T buy Cisco routers....

http://tech.slashdot...heir-discretion

I don't believe you are a "news reporter" on Neowin and say this bull****.

1: You don't have to sign in on that crap

2: A 3rd party firmware (which everyone should run) removes this

3: From the backlash it got, Cisco released a new firmware with that future disabled/removed.

So please STFU.

Back on topic, first, the router has to run a 3rd party firmware (personally DD-WRT but Tomato is also great). Next, I recommend a mid-high end Cisco/Linksys. Their routers are still amazing (if you can spend that extra dollar)

  • Like 2

just so anyone that finds this and has questions - here are two different apologies from Cisco for their mistake

http://blogs.cisco.com/home/answering-our-customers-questions-about-cisco-connect-cloud/

http://blogs.cisco.com/home/update-answering-our-customers-questions-about-cisco-connect-cloud-2/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=update-answering-our-customers-questions-about-cisco-connect-cloud-2

As mentioned this is no longer the case where you have to use the cloud connect feature if you do not wish too.

Almost forgot to upload the pic...

So pic was taken of the N600 box, which is classified as "Capacity Group B" and then you have other capacity groups as well.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/mujjuman/IMG_7067.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/mujjuman/IMG_7068.jpg

Sorry I didnt resize...

Almost forgot to upload the pic...

So pic was taken of the N600 box, which is classified as "Capacity Group B" and then you have other capacity groups as well.

http://img.photobuck...an/IMG_7067.jpg

http://img.photobuck...an/IMG_7068.jpg

Sorry I didnt resize...

That home user marketing is appalling really. I guess they try to simplify it and make try to convince people to buy their higher priced equipment.

I'm yet to see any basic router not be able to keep up with demand. I've seen many small businesses use a basic ADSL router. Your limiting factor tends to be the internet connection itself rather than your internal devices.

And what routers is in group D?

And what are the sqft of those houses there on the left? What if my house has 4 windows in the front? is that one looks like a workshed with that roof.

Where is the listing of groups the routers are in - I did not see that group membership anywhere on their site?

Maybe its only a UK thing?

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    • Sihoo Doro C300 Pro V2 Ergonomic Office Chair review: The Ikea of chairs by Steven Parker I've reviewed a few gaming chairs over the past three years or so and generally found them to score well in our reviews. SIHOO reached out asking if I was interested in taking a look at their flagship chair, the Doro C300 Pro V2. I never got the chance to check out its predecessor, but the V2 is described as an "Adaptive Ergonomic Chair." It became available to buy in April of this year. Let's get things rolling with a closer look at the specifications and features. Specifications Doro C300 Pro V2 Model Ergonomic Materials Mesh Back and Seat; Soft PU Coated Armrests Height adjustability 45.5 - 53 cm / 17.5" - 20.9" Seat (w+d) 52 x 43 - 47 cm / 20.5" x 16.9" - 18.5" (adjustable) Backrest 52 – 60 cm / 20.5" - 23.6" (adjustable) Lumbar support Mesh built-in (adjustable) Armrest adjustability 8D Bionic Armrests Rocking angle 105°, 120°, 135° (fixed) Neck support Mesh built-in (adjustable) Net weight 27.3 kg / 59.64 lbs Weight support 150 kg / 330 lbs Colors Black, White Warranty 5 years (upon registering) Price $499.99, $539.99 Introduction At first glance, it looks like a chair that in another life wants to be a Herman Miller; It certainly looks like my Aeron Remastered, but the Doro C300 Pro V2 has quite a few more features and costs quite a bit less. SIHOO says that it is made up of a "DynaCore" system that tracks your movement and synchronizes the headrest, backrest, lumbar support, and armrests as you shift, twist, or recline. 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In the box, there is a folded sheet that explains the 12 steps to assemble it; they are: Remove the bottom cover on the aluminum base; Insert the five legs into the aluminum base and use ten screws to fasten them; Insert the castors into the legs; Replace the bottom cover on the bottom of the aluminum base; Place the Class 4 Hydraulics gas cylinder into the aluminum base; Screw the bottom part of the arm rests, taking care of the orientation using two screws on each side; Use three torx screws to fasten the footrest to the bottom of the seat; Fasten the backrest to the seat using four torx bolts; Fasten the armrests to the backrest using four Torx bolts (two on each side), taking care to note the orientation; Place the chair onto the Class 4 Hydraulics gas cylinder; Insert the headrest into the top of the backrest; Use two torx screws to fasten the headrest to the backrest. There's also an online guide you can refer to. Carefully unpacking the two boxes took around 15 minutes because almost everything is wrapped in plastic and protective foam; the chair assembly itself took around an hour. I say in the above assembly steps to take note of the orientation, because it's not obvious which way around the bottom portion of the armrests go, and although there is an L and R on the bottom of the armrests, it also wasn't clear from the instructions which was actually left or right, facing the chair, or in the seated down orientation? Anyway, I ended up putting the bottom portions on the wrong sides, and after securing one of the armrests, I discovered that although it was on the correct side, the armrest base could rotate a full 360°, but not when bolted to the chair, so I had to remove it, rotate it, and then bolt it back on. Truly an Ikea experience! Also, to complicate things further, although all the parts are labeled from A to X (yes, that's 24 parts) unhelpfully, these letters do not appear on the parts themselves or the package with the bolts, screws, and washers. There's also a pair of protective gloves in the box, but I think they were made for much smaller hands than I have. Even my friend, who is 5.1, had difficulty putting them on. Once assembled, I needed to sit down. Anyway, as I said, it looks quite similar to my Herman Miller. And here is the back of it. If you look at the product page and on Amazon, it seems like a lot of thought has gone into the chair itself and what it's capable of, but there is no mention at all about the castors, and this is an area where I think the chair trips up quite quickly. I found it difficult to move the chair in any direction. I asked a friend who came to visit me earlier this week to test my findings, and she said that the wheels were "no good," so it definitely isn't just me. 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Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
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    • The only reason I want to know where you from is because if you are not from the U.K, then why should you care what we in the U.K do or don't do? Racist I am not, I am fed up with the amount coming over here and feel they can come over here and think we need to support them. Do you know how much it costs this country to support these people coming over here? Even when we give them a place to live it is not good enough. We had a barge that was being used to house immigrants, oh but that was not good enough. A mate said to me at the time, when he was homeless, he would have been happy to live on the barge, instead of ending up sleeping on a bench on the beach. I am not scared to say what my family heritage is, unlike you who is scared to say where they are from or where they live. Father side U.S, mother side Wales, still have family living in the U.S. A mate who sadly died a few years ago, had a load of people from different races recording in his studio, I got on with all of them. Skin colour don't bother me, where they are from don't bother me. Religion don't bother me as long as they don't push it onto me and it is not crazy stuff. I am not religious. But if you are not living in the U.K, then why should you care if we are in the E.U or not? This the problem, too many people poking their noses into where it don't belong. But you believe what you believe, if you think I am racist, then be it, I really do not care. Just grow a pair
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