I've been using my netgear 'G' router for years now, along with edimax USB 'N' adapters (after the G adapters failed) and its been fine. I decided to upgrade to an N router on a whim and got myself one of these.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/sitecom-x3-n300-wireless-adsl-modem-router-529687Thus began a day out of my life that I'll never get back.
Has anyone else had experience of these, because unless mine was an iffy one they are best avoided.
Looked promising enough. Seemed well made. Disappointing signal range though.
It wasnt an issue for me but anyone hoping to use one of these while out in the garden would be sadly disappointed. I eventually found a location that suited it for use within the whole house.
While it worked it was fine. Slightly better than the dg843, but the damn thing locks up after about an hour. A quick off/on and away it would go again for a similar period.
Downloaded the later firmware. That seemed to improve the signal slightly, but did nothing for the reliability.
Despite the fact I chose 'N only', my adapter software tells me its radiating 'b' and 'g' as well, but that could be down to my adapter software.
The menu system is nowhere near as intuitive as the netgear. For example the wireless ACL on the netgear allows you to put a device name next to the hardware addy of each adapter you're allowing. The sitecom only has a list of mac addys. I have best part of a dozen in there to cope with visits from extended family, with a variety of net devices, so having a real-world name next to each MAC address is pretty useful.
The thing had WPS enabled by default, which most of you will know is bad news....for those who don't, WPS enables wifi security to be breached in about 20 mins, so is best turned off.
Took it back this morning.
I'm open to suggestions for a reliable 'N' ADSL wifi router.
If anyone is looking for a new adapter I can recommend the Edimax ones.
