mrk Reviews Posted July 18, 2009 Reviews Share Posted July 18, 2009 Like myself many of you may not have heard of Sitecom but the reviews convinced me to try it out over my D-Link DIR-655 N Gigabit router as I was experiencing N client issues due to compatibility and some other heavy usage issues (20MB cable with 3x wireless users, 3x wired users using it almost all day with torrents/lan xfers and hd streaming). The Sitecom comes with better aerials, more rugged construction and more discreet LED indicators as well as higher quality packing *which reminds you of a Razer product) not that that matters :p at least you don't pay the premium for the packing like you do with Razer (I had the Mamba and have the destructor mousemat). The firmware needs to be updated first thing as the shipped firmware is old and looks like a Yahoo Free website someone made for /the lols/. Once updated it looks professional and slick and is packed with features so coming from a WRT54GL running Tomato and then the DIR655 I was quite happy indeed to see familiar features all there. Firmware: The various dialogues and menus and naming schema of options are virtually identical to the D-Link router so D-Link users will easily fit right in. Where I found key differences was that the WL-308 has absolutely none of the issues of the DIR-655 I encountered on my network. So much so that I left WISH, QOS and GameEngine enabled. It also has a LAN bandwidth tester built in although I don't know how accurate it is. I will do proper tests once I have upgraded all wireless to N and wired to gigabit (mine only running in Gigabit mode at the moment). In left 4 dead my pings were 55-65 average on 8v8 matches when it gets heavy but now it it's 45 so this is also good. Pics: (flappity flaps are in fashion) It cost ?104 which is what I paid for the DIR-655. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boogerjones Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 Thanks for the review. What differences did you notice between the Linksys/D-Link and your new "gaming" router? What specific features do you get that aren't found on Tomato/DD-WRT? How would you compare the transfer rates of the "gaming" router to wired-LAN transfer rates (EDIT: looks like you said you'd test that in the future)? I get 35-45 ms pings on my 3 year-old WRT54G V2 router that I got for $40. Also, bought it before Linksys started to screw it's custom-firmware customers so I can still put DD-WRT or Tomato on it. Yes, the 54 Mbps is noticeably slower than wired-LAN for transferring files (and for speedtest.net as well), but other than that I've yet to come up with a good reason to upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk Reviews Posted July 18, 2009 Author Reviews Share Posted July 18, 2009 (edited) I mentioend my L4D pings in 8v8 matches (so 16players plus modified config for extra AI hords and everything) because these are the matches where everyone gets higher ping but where everyone else is on mid 50s I was on mid 60s sometimes bordering 75! in all other standard matches (4v4, TF2 etc) I get 15-25 as per the norm with the other routers. My reason for getting this one was brute muscle when it comes to managing all my LAN users at once and catering to me when gaming. The WRT54GL just could not cope on my 20MB line when all LAN users were connected and the router was only 10/100 on all ports whereas the Sitecom is not only 10/100/1000 on the 4 LAN ports but also 10/100/1000 on the WAN port too so this router is with me for a very long time as I intend to upgrade to the new 100/200MB service in the distant future as Virgin are trialling 200MB in Kent. Everything on the Sitecome just feels more solid from hardware to software and the service it delivers to the network. Unlike DLink routers I've used before the Admin pages in the firmware won't lock up occasionally requiring a reboot and the wireless won't ping out randomly then reconnect. I can now remote desktop in from work and be certain that I will be able to remote in and not sit at my desk wondering wtf has my PC crashed or router gone down or what, which has happened a number of time (router, not PC). I forgot to mention, register the router on Sitecom's website (http://www.sitecom.com/warranty_page.php) to qualify for their 10 YEAR warranty, impressive that they're confident enough to give that long a term as it puts my mind at ease should something happen to it :) Edited July 18, 2009 by mrk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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