My friend is wanting to buy a modem router (ADSL) tomorrow. The town hes going to is quite limited to argos, currys, and comet I think.

Is this modem/router ok??
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/6753715.htm

He doesnt really want to spend more that £60. Can anyone else recommend a better one than the one above for the money??

Yeah thats alright, but hell be paying top dollar as its high street. Why cant he buy online... because of no net connection?

Cheers
Tongy

Yeah, plus hes going shopping today, so wants it now if you get me.

That does look like a nice modem / Router indeed.

I think its a good deal tbh, surely there is a small computer shop in the yellow pages thatd give a better price?

Although he would have a good case for taking it back if it went tits up

In my experience small computer shops charge sky high prices. Much better going to larger chain stores for this, better price matching prospects, and more buying power = cheaper prices.

I have small computer shops near where I used to live, and a standard Y Molex Splitter would cost anything in the region of £5 to £7. In pc world youd get it from the crap bin they tend to have for something like £1.

Quote from: M3ta7h3adIn my experience small computer shops charge sky high prices. Much better going to larger chain stores for this, better price matching prospects, and more buying power = cheaper prices.

I have small computer shops near where I used to live, and a standard Y Molex Splitter would cost anything in the region of £5 to £7. In pc world youd get it from the crap bin they tend to have for something like £1.

Hmm some in Newcastle are like that, but I know some that arnt

cool, cheers guys. Ill tell him to go for that one.

i wouldnt buy anything but netgear

Netgear arent any better than any other low end manufacturer TBH. D-Link, Netgear, Linksys, SMC, Shurecom, Mini5 - I know everyone has their preferred one but in reality theyre all pretty much the same. Its just peoples experiences that change their views and Ive had good and bad with pretty much all of them. To get better routers than these (and by better I mean more powerful and with more features) you have to step up to Bintec, Cisco, Allied Telesyn, HP level which for home use is just overkill (but kinda cool lol!)

Personally my preferred router is the Westell Proline (wired) or Versalink (wireless) which is what I use now. The Versalink rarely crashes unlike the Netgear and SMC ones I tried before it but then it does cost a little more.

To hijack the topic a little, could you explain what features the more expensive ones have over normal home routers please Riv?

Quote from: White GiantTo hijack the topic a little, could you explain what features the more expensive ones have over normal home routers please Riv?

Basically more features and better hardware.  

TBH youll find there is actually quite a lot of difference between different manufacturers.  Not always the hardware, but more often different firmwares give better results.  That is often what you pay for.  The DG835Gx series routers use broadcom chipsets IIRC.  So do dynamode and Belkin, but the Netgear will consistently outperform the cheap junk.

Ok I agree Dynamode and the like (ok probably Shurecom too) do fall below the standard but I maintain theyre no better than the D-Link, Linksys etc.. Your right about the firmware features though.


To White Giant - routers above the home market type go up to medium sized business class and enterprise class where they need to do a lot more. IPsec VPN tunnels, access lists, BGP and various other protocols and a hundred and one other things that the home user would never come across. High end routers can have memory upgrades and different modules added for different line types (ADSL, ISDN etc..) - basically theres LOADS of stuff!  

Quote from: RivkidNetgear arent any better than any other low end manufacturer TBH. D-Link, Netgear, Linksys, SMC, Shurecom, Mini5 - I know everyone has their preferred one but in reality theyre all pretty much the same. Its just peoples experiences that change their views and Ive had good and bad with pretty much all of them. To get better routers than these (and by better I mean more powerful and with more features) you have to step up to Bintec, Cisco, Allied Telesyn, HP level which for home use is just overkill (but kinda cool lol!)

Personally my preferred router is the Westell Proline (wired) or Versalink (wireless) which is what I use now. The Versalink rarely crashes unlike the Netgear and SMC ones I tried before it but then it does cost a little more.

well ive worked at currys for 3 months ish and the number of routers that come back because people cant set them up (admitted that it is just general retardedness), and the amount of people who say that the signal is poor (constantly disconnecting etc) and everytime i give them a netgear and they are away on their toes...

i always ring customers back and they have no problems with netgear, apart from the odd person saying it disconnects still but this is usually vista being a gay

i just feel that netgear are the most reliable and we get next to none back in work

More expensive solutions such as Draytek are proper routers. The cheaper ones are little more than internet gateways.

My choice would be get something like a cisco Soho from ebay for about £10

As Mark said, something like a SOHO may be a good idea.  ATM ive got my beBox (Speedtouch junk) acting as a modem only.  the signal just passes through.  The routing is being done by a Firebox SOHO6, because I wanted something decent.  The wireless is being provided by a WRT-54GL flashed back to standard firmware.  

i know it may seem odd to have 3 bits of kit where I could have 1, but the options are so much better!