first time buying a router - overwhelmed by choice!

as the title says, this is the first time i've been in a position to select my own router, and i'm a bit overwhelmed by all the choice out there. i was hoping the fine contributors to this forum could guide me a little

i read a couple of the posts in this section and i'm leaning towards the Netgear R6300 right now (my budget is £100, it seems I can get it for this off the german amazon site). my priorities are fast ethernet and wifi and good wifi coverage. and that it works with a minimum of breaking down. i'm not knowledgeable enough to know all the fine technical points behind what makes a good router and all, so I was hoping whether anyone on this forum could tell me whether the Netgear R6300 would be a good fit for me?

thanks in advance

First question: What service are you on? ADSLx or VDSL2 (Infinity or similar)?

How many other devices will you connect to this router?

Do you need the ultrafast wireless connection?


Buying from Amazon.de may mean you get a device localised to Germany which will be supplied with a German power adapter that will need a UK/De plug adapter. You may also find that it is set up for Germany which has some restrictions on te use of the 5GHZ band and with some manufacturers it is almost impossible to change.

It totally depends what your requirements are, feature wise. There are pros and cons with every router. You choose what's good for you.

The Netgear R6300 is a top router, comparable in performance (according to the reviews) to the Asus RT-AC66U:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/262185/netgear_r6300_...

Speeds are blindingly fast IF you use the right adapter/network card:
http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19668/...

So to make the most of this router you should use either an 802.11ac or dual-band 802.11n wifi adapter/card.

Most laptops are fitted with cheaper wifi cards that support 300mbps or less and most that do support 802.11n are not dual-band, so cannot use the 5ghz band for better speed and reduced interference.

I recently bought the Intel Ultimate-N 6300 wifi card that is used in some of the review tests. Got it off amazon for £20 new. This card is a three-stream (450mb/s) card so would work well with the R6300. To get the max performance out of the R6300 you'd need an AC adapter though.

I have a 120mb/s Virgin broadband connection and like that I get my full wired speed over wifi.

You can see some speed tests here with different adapters and how much difference it makes:
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-rev...
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-rev...

If you have a LARGE house, 100mb+ broadband, multiple devices that use wifi with adapters that can support the higher speeds (such as AC or 5ghz 802.11n adapters) and want the best of the best then I'm sure it'll be a good fit for you.

Some more general reviews:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-rev...

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/networking-a...

Most high-end routers have gigabit ports for ethernet, so as long as your computer has a gigabit network card (10/100/1000) you'll have no problems there. Just make sure your cable is at least cat5e or cat6, so that it supports gigabit speeds.

An alternative, if you don't absolutely need the performance that an AC class router provides is to go for the top router in the N class, the Asus RT-N66U.

Pretty much everyone raves about this router. It's very reliable. Proven. Easy to use. High performance and best in its class.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2028227/asus-rt-n66u-...

http://uk.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/RTN66U/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RT-N66U-Wireless-stream...

As you can see here, performance is still very fast, though being an N class router it's not in the AC league obviously:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/262149/asus_rt_ac66u_...

For a first time router you'll never regret it.

In reply to a post by MUD_Wizard:

Pretty much everyone raves about this router.

Some people say it stops working after a few weeks.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Some people say it stops working after a few weeks.

Do they? Mine's 6 weeks old, should I be getting worried?

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reply to a post by MUD_Wizard:

Pretty much everyone raves about this router.

Some people say it stops working after a few weeks.

I know loads of people with this router and none of them have had issues. It's one of the most highly recommended routers, so you think more people would report it.

If you search the net you'll hardly ever see reports of problems with it. Certainly I haven't seen a review mentioning such issues. If you know different, post some links.

Edited by deleted (Tue 02-Jul-13 19:12:08)

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Some people say it stops working after a few weeks.

Do they? Mine's 6 weeks old, should I be getting worried?

Batboy is going to come round and break it for you.

Edited by deleted (Tue 02-Jul-13 19:10:53)

I usually only recommend things I have experience of, not what I have only read about.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Some people say it stops working after a few weeks.

Do they? Mine's 6 weeks old, should I be getting worried?

I've had mine just over a year without it missing a beat¹, so you've got a while to go yet

Excellent router.



¹ Fingers crossed, I don't normally tempt fate like that