Replacement for Netgear DG834G v2

Hi all,

I'm looking for advice on a replacement for my Netgear DG834G v2. I'm happy to get something without the wireless, just a decent DSL router.

Ideally, I want something that I can have a lot more control over, and that is available in the UK. I'd like something where I can control firewall rules through a telnet / ssh interface and be able to manually add and remove individual rules, or even better, just disable the firewall.

I also want something that will handle routed IPs without getting in the way, so I would need to be able to disable NAT (I have a /29 network routed to me).

The main problem I have with the DG834G is the firewall control. It is an absolute pain to manage a network of routed IPs behind. You have to add individual rules for every machine, and then I found that I lose access to the management interface and can only configure it remotely from outside the network.

The 3Com Office Connect 3CRWDR101A-75 Wireless G ADSL2+ Router, it

Thanks - that was looking perfect until I got to the end of the review, where it says
"This 3Com router, while reasonably dependable, is not a unit I would like to leave running unattended for long periods of time."

That's a killer for me - I need something to run 24/7 with no grief, even when I'm away from home on business.

I see that there are firmware upgrades available, but as I don't own a Windows PC, it looks like I won't be able to use them - they are .exe files?

Any other options out there ?

In reply to:

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Thanks - that was looking perfect until I got to the end of the review, where it says
"This 3Com router, while reasonably dependable, is not a unit I would like to leave running unattended for long periods of time."

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That review is from way back in 2004, there have been 3 new router versions since then and 5 firmware upgrades, it runs just great now, and it is a real tuff stable router. I have used a 3Com for the past 18 months with no problems whatsoever.

I don

Hmm - I could have sworn I replied to this from the office, but oh well

I'm sure the router itself and the configuration would work with a Mac because it all seems to be web based. But the updates are definitely a problem as they are supplied as .exe files which won't run.

That's a bit of a deal breaker since I have no machines in the house capable of running windows

This router is a pile of rubbish. You cannot use it with public IP addresses on the inside of your LAN.

On top of that, the support from 3com is worthless. I've just had some idiot tell me that you can't ever have public IP addresses allocated to machines on a LAN. He says that you have to use private IPs there and some kind of reverse NAT. What a load of rubbish!

If you have a block of public IPs that you're trying to use on your LAN, stay away from this router.

Can anyone recommend a decent router to replace both the netgear and this 3com please?

I have the 3Com model reviewed and it is on its THIRD power supply unit after the first two failed.When they fail everyting seems fine except that the router won't synch. 3Com provide unreliable power suplies just compare the weight of them them with Zyxel or Netgear power supplies.

I don't actually have this router - considering it as a replacement for a ailing Linksys WAG54G.

Anyway I'm also a Mac user so the issue of firmware upgrades could be a problem for me too. I did some Googling and took a look at 3Com's support site, none of which really helped. However I downloaded the latest firmware out of curiosity since the manual only says that you use the device's web interface to upgrade firmware, no mention of running an '.exe' on a PC. It turns out that the '.exe' is just an archive containing the firmware and some info. I extracted it using Stuffit Expander on my Mac without issue.

One thing to note is that the firmware comes out with the name 'AR4505NW-A-LF-32_v1.00.00.T13.b' and I think it should be 'AR4505NW-A-LF-32_v1.00.00.T13.bin' ie a .bin file - this may or may not be an issue, however I can't tell as I don't have one of these yet - perhaps someone else could shed some light on this.

Incidentally does anyone have any experience using one of these with the WDS option enabled - I read on Broadband Buyer's user reviews that enabling WDS killed his router (in fact he says he'd been through three of them by enabling WDS!!!)
Ta

I actually managed to upgrade the firmware in the end... I just unzipped the .exe and got a bin in the resulting files.

However, I've since sent this back because it and the support in India were a steaming pile of smelly stuff. The router can't actually completely disable the firewall and according to support does not allow public IP addresses on the LAN, you have to do reverse NAT from the router. This just didn't work for me. The inconsistencies in the NAT and other web interfaces didn't help.

I've actually ended up with a speedtouch ST585v6. The first one was faulty, but the replacement is fantastic. Very simple, but at the same time, very flexible and controllable.

Thanks for your comments. I'm still looking at options to replace my Linksys, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any router that stands out head and shoulders above the rest - homum, guess it's back to the reviews and user comments.
Cheers