Another router question!

QQ
edited March 2010 in Hardware
Since I last bought a router (say in 2004), has anything really changed? Would there be any benefit to buying a new one?

I'm talking about the normal cable/DSL routers, not a high end one.

-Q

Comments

  • Not really. I'm not sure normal home routers have IPv6 support yet. Some might though, you'll have to check it out.

    If I remember, there was also some worm attacking linux based firmware or something. So you might want to grab a firmware update if you're affected.
  • If you've got a proper router I would say yes and no personally, but the reason for this is processors get faster, more ram, you know the usual junk.

    If you refer to the home market where there bundled from the company or a generic similar brand yes, but most of it has been pointless crap, wireless would be the biggest boon and improving the security for wireless, other than that most cheapo models are crappy still, buggy menus, slow initialization, naff security/firewall settings, limited wired ports on more modern ones, ok bad example but the old white BTHomeHub has two wired etherenet ports, many joe publics would know they could hook up a switch or anything to get more ports. So in some sense there have been losses rather than gains in my book.

    Buut as I said if you have a proper router not a cheapo (like mine) I would say very little has changed at all.
  • Well... yeah.

    There's been several performance and security technological updates that have been placed on the wireless market since 2004. Wireless-N for example.
  • If you are getting a new router at any point, I suggest the ASUS RT-N16. Very powerful router, but also sub-$100. I have one and one of the lower end models in use at my house. ASUS routers are reference Broadcom designs with a very nice stock firmware, but its also supported by open source firmware projects. Beats the $180 Linksys charges for the less powerful WRT610N. As for the specs, its sporting gigabit WAN and LAN, dual band Wireless N, 480MHz Broadcom, 128MB of RAM, and 32MB of flash.

    You decide.
  • By the sound of it, not really.

    I suspect this one will die someday and then I'll have to get a new one.

    Thanks for the info.

    -Q
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