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[rockodile]

Hello,

My Speedtouch 585v6 was going fine until I turned it off to go on holiday.  Since I turned it back on it hasn't been the same (wireless connection can be hard to establish and tends to drop where it was rock solid before).  I've heard bad things can happen to routers when you turn them on, and I guess I need another one to serve as a comparison.  Wired connections are fine BTW.

But which?  I need one that has a decent GUI where I can see what's going on but isn't too hard to work with.  Telnet CLI interaction is the work of Beelzebub.  I need one that is generally tolerant of different wireless network adapters (so it'll work with my current and future laptops).  also need at least 4 ports as I am geeky enough to have wired most of my house (but not enough to be a networking expert, sadly).  I don't need lots of fancy configuration features, just a solid reliable router, if there be such a thing.

Which might be a good all round choice?  Also is there a superior choice of PCI adapter to stick in a desktop PC to talk to it?

[HPsauce]

Keep the Speedtouch as the modem side and wired connections work and just add a wireless access point.

[rockodile]

Thanks, but that leads me to the question as to which, with regard to broad compatibility.  I actually tried that once, with a Linksys one, which turned out to only talk to Linksys adapters (and not even those).

[roseway]

It seems to me that WAPs are actually rather expensive, so I would opt for the all-in-one approach. For a solid, reliable router, I think it's generally accepted that a Broadcom-based product is the best bet, and it's difficult to go wrong with the Netgear DG834GT or (if it's still available) the cheaper DG834G v4 (must be the v4). Netgear routers have a very accessible web interface (much more so than Speedtouch). But that's only my opinion - there's no universal best option.

[kitz]

I'd second the opinion of a Netgear DG834GT...  or a Netgear DG834G v4 if you can get hold of one.

IMHO if youre looking for an easy to use GUI interface then you cant go far wrong with the Netgears.. but they do offer a fairly decent CLI for those who want it.

Unfortunately the price of the DG834GTs seems to have rocketed and are now more expensive than what they were years ago, which is why many of us buy an old sky one and flash it with standard netgear firmware.

If you want new, it may be cheaper to get a DG834N or DG834PN which also have the same broadcom adsl chipset. 
The wireless chipset though is different so if you have older wireless network adapters.. obviously they wont be able to take advantage of the wireless N technology.  But since youre asking about a new PCI adapter for the desktop.. this may be the ideal time to look at upgrading your wireless network... and they are backwards compatible anyhow.

[orainsear]

Is there any chance that while you were on holiday a neighbour has set up their wireless router to use the same channel that yours uses, thereby causing interference?

[rockodile]

Actually (Orinsear) I did notice another one on the same channel, of comparable strength to where I was using my laptop, so that could have been it.  I tried to change the channel, but my laptop then wouldn't see it in its list of networks.  Also, I eventually got it (on 2 machines) so it would connect to the router with 'excellent' signal strength and a connection to the internet according to the network map on Vista, but it wouldn't pass data fast enough to load a basic web page. 

In the end I guess I took a bit of advice from most of you (thanks!).  Nearly all of my internet use is on a wired connection, and I'd rather not disturb that, so I got a Netgear WG602 access point.  It took me about 5 minutes to set it up and it seems to talk down the CAT5 to my Speedtouch no problem at all (a speed test with the laptop on wireless about 6 feet from the WAP gave a download speed of just over 6 Mbps for a nominal 8 Mbps connection, which I'd say is pretty good for where I live. 

OK, it's about the same cost as a new router, but this way I can put it on the end of a long wire downstairs, where I do all of my wirless laptop surfing, and get very good signal strength there.

So, thanks for your suggestions, which were most helpful.  Much appreciated for your time.

[kitz]

Glad that you found a solution.   Thanks for letting us know