[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Apple, Belkin, Trendnet Make Most Reliable Routers here

[ucan]

I work for 2Wire as a technical support agent and I can concur that the quality of the 2Wire residential gateway has declined dramatically. I no longer recommend them to anyone. The firmware is very buggy, creating numerous problems for the customers who are often told that the problem is their computer. 2Wire no longer looks for solutions but instead tries hard to bury them, preferring to tell customers their computers are the problem.
Typical issues are:
Inconsistent wireless and ethernet connections.
Buggy firewall.
Power supplies that have a high incident of failure.
Inability to train on a DSL signal when routers of lesser features are easily able to. "Can we say Speedstream"?
A %#@&$% to configure for simple home or business solutions.
And the last is undertrained agents, many of whom who know nothing of 2Wire's capabilities or an understanding of simple networking that are allowed to troubleshoot customer issues. If they can't figure out what the problem is, then its your computer and not their lack of knowledge.

[zeth006]

Whoa...you sure your boss isn't gonna read that? =P

[sagriffith]

I'm not sure how useful this information is.
As for 2Wire, I had them for AT&T DSL service. I went through 15 in 18 months. That should tell you something!

[chriahx2]

I find what you say VERY HARD TO BELIEVE. I am not in any way saying these products are good, but what fool would buy 15 routers in 18 months??? After buying 2 most sane people would move on to a different brand, buying 15 before it struck you that 'hey maybe this brand isn't good" give me a break!!!

[sagriffith]

Before you accuse me of lying, you should know that AT&T sends out and replaces routers for free. I did not buy any. They require their routers to be used, and users cannot purchase their own. Again, I was required to use 2Wire, and they were free. I didn't have a choice. Hence the 15. They finally gave me a business-class router of a different brand that worked great.


Also, I now have Embarq, and they just replaced their 2Wire line because of similar problems.



So, give me a break!

[mjd420nova]

I've always used Belkin routers and recommend them to those who are looking for a brand that is dependable. I recently switched from Comcast to AT&T for my broadband and it was very simple. After setting up one machine direct to the DSL modem, I switched the router in place and wired the first machine to the first wired port. All my other units, two laptops, a notebook , a desktop, a home server and two wired desktops, a home server, DirecTV besides the games, a PS3, an XBOX 360 and a PSP on wireless required no changes at all. Very painless. AT&T offered me a router but I told them I already had one and nothing else was said.

[sagriffith]

I think what you mean is that you used their modem-router combo (or just wired modem) as just the modem and then connected a different router.
That will work, but I had trouble with the modem and router parts. I probably had more problems with the modem than the router as my home network was more stable than the Internet connection, but I had problems with both, and they would often fail in unison.
I tried other modems and modem-router combos. I even talked to their super-high level tech support that you can only get in contact with via AT&T HQ. Nothing would work for me, but that was in Nashville. It may depend on the location if you can use a different modem, not router. This was also a couple of years ago, and requirements may have changed.

[rgreen4]

While the DSL provider has the right to determine the modem, if you want to add your own router downstream, that is your business. I know several people who have AT&T DSL and use their own separate Linksys routers without problems. While I am not on AT&T, I also use a Linksys router (WRT54GS) and have had no trouble with it.

[Alienoverload]

I got a belkin n150 router for my birthday. The problem was that to get wi-fi up I had to go through the process twice and a week later when I contacted tech support becuase the thing could not keep up a signal what they told me to do rendered it unusable. I went back to the store from which my mom bought it from and got a netgear n150 it installed much easier and the wifi is very strong. It even came with a very connvienent wifi on/off button.

[RalphHipps79d5]

I"m on my second d-link POS wireless router, not buying them again! Tech support was pretty good, but that doesn't make up for lousy, unreliable hardware. I get dropped frequently, and reconnecting sometimes takes 20-30 minutes. SO not worth it....