Router suggestions?

Post #311,183 by Ashton 7/16/09 8:50:29 PM Reply	Router suggestions? Followed Netgear simple-sheet implicitly, twice. It ends with no data appearing on iMac (which already has the addresses, DHCP enabled etc.) Impossible to access their website, obviously. Nor is there a web-format page on its CD. Would think that should be embedded in firmware? And the more I read re Netgear's apparent continuous disarray re any queries, the plaintive cries of newbies + the more-experienced, re quirks: the less I'm inclined to pursue any satisfactory remedy for this (now ~ 3yo) tiny/cute box. Their site uninformative.. I need-not wireless (no joy on Dell netbook doings for foreseeable -- and who can afford a used Apple nb with 2 cats having dental repairs..) Wish not to become familiar with nat, iptables and the other keen stuff re commercial sites. Simple wired-only network router with firewall, preferably one smartened up for the current sorts of scams, loaded with known Bad-address-ranges from the get-go. (I'd suppose that periodic updates of blacklists -- would be smart / and should also be accomplished separately from any firmware changes. NV-RAM in there?) Guess it could also be wired/wireless-optional -- for the futchah. Any candidates swim into view? Cheap is fine, but slick setup trumps saving a sawbuck any day. Will search for Apple router, Leopard-aware install, etc. Gracias all
Post #311,184 by static 7/16/09 8:55:59 PM Reply	Linksys, D-Link, Belkin. People will probably recommend particular models, too, as there is still dross in amongst the gold (D-Link is known for this problem). NetGear used to be good, but the newer "consumer white" stuff is far too often crap and they have absolutely zero interest in fixing problems (as you have seen). If it works, bonus, if it doesn't, it's a doorstop. Wade. Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
Post #311,186 by Another Scott 7/16/09 9:49:25 PM Reply	Maybe try a different firmware version? I've got a Buffalo WBR2-G54S after a recommendation for Buffalo stuff by Peter. It has worked well for years. There's a similar box on eBay (WLA-G54) for $20 but it doesn't have the power brick. (I don't know anything about the differences between the two models.) But before buying another box, you might want to try a different firmware version for your FVS114. There's a thread at DSLReports that talks about similar issues, with some users reporting success with different firmware. http://www.dslreport...ashing-constantly FW version 1.1_15 is available at the Netgear site - http://kb.netgear.co...s/model/a_id/2419 - I dunno whether that's actually better than any of the other versions. HTH a little. Good luck! Cheers, Scott.
Post #311,209 by Ashton 7/17/09 3:01:36 PM Reply	Illuminating Thanks; seems that V-1 was the mainly-working version, all the way through __14. Maybe __15 is OK, but if I can't communicate with the sucker at all ... Netgear box on back-burner for now, maybe a hobby-type puzzle later on. Guess this is why Apple also sells these suckers..
Post #311,188 by folkert 7/16/09 10:00:59 PM 7/17/09 7:05:58 PM Reply	Linksys ... Linksys 160N or 160NL or the 610N Or a well read Buffalo Have seen many problems with DLINK lately... on current models. Only "obselete" models are really any good. Belkin hasn't been very consistent. Edit: Err oops, typo and forgot one. Edited by folkert July 17, 2009, 07:05:58 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #311,190 by Andrew Grygus 7/17/09 1:51:42 AM Reply	My experience is limited . . . . . because I've stuck with what's worked for me - and that's been Linksys. I used a DLink in one instance where there was something seriously wrong with the network and a Linksys refused to work. In my opinion Netgear is the bottom of the barrel - I've seen so much Netgear stuff that didn't work, sometimes with very strange symptoms. I have no recent experience with Buffalo. Yes, I've had Linksys gear fail, but considering how much I've installed it seems less failure prone than other consumer grade network products.
Post #311,211 by Ashton 7/17/09 3:17:24 PM Reply	Thanks again; consensus seems to be Linksys Will do a comparo on Greg's models VS Apple-with-obligatory-tailfin$; will put aside neighbor's Netgear for a puzzle-game later on, with new firmware -- it's 'old-enough' maybe to have been built prior to [??] the current models -- which appear to have earned their disrepute. Sounds like some pretty dumb Corporate Policies ... if you intend to sell stuff in a declining economy, hmm?
Post #311,256 by lincoln 7/18/09 12:24:16 PM Reply	I've had a Linksys BEFSR41 router for several years and it has not given me even one minute of trouble. Furthermore, when I bought another to use while working away from home the telephone support to set it up on my existing machines was way better than expected. "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow
Post #311,260 by scoenye 7/18/09 6:28:34 PM Reply	Netgear doesn't like Macs (nor Vista) We have several white Netgear SOHO "internet routers" (RP614-ish, 4 port switch + uplink, no wireless, DHCP server) at work for public access. They absolutely refuse to hand out IP addresses to MacBooks. They respond to Windows, but several newer Vista machines then don't like the answers and drop the packets. I've been replacing them with equivalent Linksys gear. So far, everything is working again. The ones we have are compatible with the DD-WRT replacement firmware. Amazing what one of those little boxes can do once you put a decent OS on it... (I particularly like the WiViz wireless proximity monitor.) Model numbers on these things mean very little. E.g. up to v6 you get a Broadcom chipset with plenty of Flash RAM, and tjhen v7 has a cheap knock-off set with just enough memory to turn on the power light. It pretty much is a crapshoot.
Post #311,262 by Andrew Grygus 7/18/09 6:36:06 PM Reply	Never mind Macs . . . . . I encountered a case where a Netgear wouldn't even connect to an IBM Thinkpad. The guy I was setting up wouldn't allow me to talk to the guy he was renting the office from so I had to set him up pirating off a nearby Linksys.
Post #311,283 by static 7/19/09 2:58:18 AM Reply	That's a good point re: Vista. There is something slightly funky in how Vista does DHCP as a client and thus it refuses to acknowledge the NetGear response. My (ex) mother-in-law had this problem with her daughter's PC. I was going to try to do a firmware upgrade, but wasn't confident of it working. The real solution was to replace the dodgy hardware, but she became an ex- before anything got done. Wade. Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.

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