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[Russcos]

Hello folks,

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a wireless router, It's for my partners house and she's with Virgin Media. Think the only 2 i have heard of are a Netgear and a Linksys.
Any info would be much appreciated.


Russ.

[kitz]

Firstly - Just checking that it is adsl?  (Virgin Media also do cable).
Any particular price range?
Is it a long line (far from the exchange)?

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The over-whelming majority of users on this site would recommend the Netgear DG834G due to its stability and ability to cope with long lines and retain sync on problematic lines.  Its easy to set up and configure which makes it a firm favorite with many.

If you want another good router to compare with then perhaps look at Speedtouch.  The x76 series have a very good reputation and can also do a few things that the dg834g cant if you like to tweak and have a little bit more control.
The Netgear DG834GT also lets you perform some additional tweaks.


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Finally if you are buying then check out the prices via the Amazon shop.  For example the Netgear is currently about £30 cheaper than buying from PCWorld.
Please dont feel that you are obliged to, but if you were going to buy a Netgear anyhow then Amazon are normally the cheapest, and because this site is an amazon afilliate a small % will be paid by them which goes towards maintaining the site costs.

[Russcos]

Hi Kitz,

It is a cable connection, a bit unsure of which router tho?




Russ.

[kitz]

>> It is a cable connection,

Good job I asked

Ignore all the above since the routers mentioned are all adsl and arent what you need.  Most of us on here use adsl so therefore are far more familiar with adsl routers. 
TBH I dont have much personal experience of cable routers, although Buffalo is one of the favourites that Ive seen mentioned elsewhere.  Netgear also do cable routers but I dont seem to have seen much mention of them in the cable world.  Draytech is another name that seems to have a fairly good reputation.

I'll wait see if anyone else has anything further to add who has more experience than me with cable routers cause I dont want to give you duff info.

[havelock]

Hi russcos.

TBH if you're on a cable connection, your wireless router is purely for the wireless element, and you existing cable modem will usually plug into the router via an ethernet cable. If you're planning on trying to access your connection quickly over any significant distance or through thick walls, I would highly recommend either a MIMO wireless router (~108Mbit/s) or a draft-n router (~300Mbit/s) - Usually I would recommend MIMO as the N standard has not been completely finalised and although unlikely may cause compatibility issue in the future, and 108Mbit/s should ensure you don't encounter any bottlenecks even when using Virgins 20Meg service when its fully rolled out.

http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?prodID=1029678 is a highly regarded MIMO router, and the matching PCMCIA card (for laptops) http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?searchString=WPN511&level1_uid=0&go=go (or USB) http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?prodID=1029027

This Router + adapter setup will set you back ~ £90 (I like Lambdatek as they are crazy fast, pretty competetive and do a 1% cashback scheme for paying by debit card.), but you can do it significantly cheaper (My home cable sharing setup is a single PCI card in my main PC with Internet connection sharing enabled, as I only require wireless access whilst my PC is switched on - cost me ~£10 for the internal card and ~£20 for a cheap PCMCIA card for my laptop)

Hope this helps

P.s. 100 Posts. Woo!

Havelock

[kitz]

Thanks for the input havelock

>>  P.s. 100 Posts. Woo!

heh I just noticed that too - congrats

[oldfogy]

I also use Virgin Media "on a Cable connection"

I Recently added a "Netgear WGR614" wireless router to my system and can confirm that it is very easy to set-up and has also remained very reliable.

As mentioned by Havelock, simply remove the existing ethernet cable from the Virgin modem (assuming you/she is using ethernet cable and not the USB lead) and plug that into any one of the four output ports on the wireless router, then connect one end of a new ethernet cable into the Virgin modem and the other end into the wireless router input connection, (this will be required initially to be able to setup the connection).