wickedbob Wrote: > Yes that page is not very helpful. > There is limited information on the page and no indication of the ratio > of users with problems and without problems. > > Also my router is listed there with no apparent problems. > I beg to differ.
It's hard to say what will work for you and what won't, given the infinite variability in home construction, SB3 and router placement, competing networks, cordless phones, microwaves, etc. As Michael aptly describes it, it's a swamp or a soup. What worked for the original person who posted in the router status wiki doesn't work for you. With wireless technology, this is more or less par for the course. It's a crapshoot. However, that review you posted is a bit troubling with the low throughput. But on the other hand, signal through obstacles seems good, although they didn't state what throughput they got at each location, which would be more enlightening. When I was out shopping for routers, I wanted one with good throughput at long ranges. I didn't care if there was high throughput at close range - I'd wire it right up to the router for that. So based on the recommendations at http://www.tomsnetworking.com I bought an SMC2804WBRP-G router. The Intersil PRISM chipset reportedly had average close range throughput and good long-range throughput. This had good throughput even two floors away. I was impressed. See my review here: http://www.abxzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92337 However it didn't work with the SB2/3 due to the interoperability issues Michael discussed. (It works since SB3 firmware 37, so there is definite progress on Slim's part.) I wanted a router that would work with my new toy, so I did some investigation. The Linksys WRT54G is one of the most popular routers of all time. I passed over it reading the Tom's Networking review of it - the Broadcom chipset has excellent throughput at close range but poor throughput at long range. However I picked one up, supposing it would work due to the sheer number of them out there and due to the fact that you could install 3rd party firmware on it which would allow you to boost transmit power. Throughput ended up being about the same. It appears I'm limited to 13-15 Mbps real speed by wireless conditions in my area - near 8-12 wireless networks and less than 1 km from a 500 kW radio transmitter that's so strong my corded phones, computer speakers and subwoofer pick it up -when they're off-! I'm sticking with the WRT54G even though the SMC unit works again now simply because the WRT54G supports WPA2 (also working with firmware 37+) and the SMC never will. Incidentally, I ended up using DD-WRT 3rd party firmware, works great. Note newer WRT54Gs, version 5, do not run Linux and can't use 3rd party firmware, although they work fine with the SB3 as long as the router has its latest firmware. The first v5 firmware was a mess and hardly worked with anything. If you want to be able to use 3rd party firmware, you need to find a v1-v4 unit or get a "WRT54GL" - L for Linux. -- Mark Lanctot ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mark Lanctot's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2071 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=23134 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
