Best Wired/Wireless Router For House

[corndale]

I live in a 2 story colonial in Newark NJ with a full basement and a 1/2 attic. Currently, my computer, a P4 2.2G running Windows XP Home, is located in the attic and connected to the internet via Cablevision cable. I will soon have a Core i7 computer running Windows Vista Home Premium, which I will set in the attic. I will also purchase a 4 port wired/wireless router which will be connected to my cable modem in the attic. The XP computer will be moved to the basement and connected to the internet wirelessly. Considering the distance from the attic to the basement, 3 stories down, what recommendations do you have for a router that can give me a consistant and strong signal from the attic to the basement. I would prefer a "N" router over a "G" router, in consideration future development.

[johnwill]

Actually, I'd drop a cable and have the wireless router on the ground floor to start. Trying to cover an area that's both vertical and horizontal is very difficult with wireless routers, since the signal propagation is perpendicular to the antenna orientation. Of course, some hi-gain antennas would also be really useful.

For 802.11n, something like the ZyXEL ANT1106 6db omni-directional antenna would improve total signal coverage.

[corndale]

Thanks for your insight. I may consider having Cablevision move the cable from the attic to the basement and connect the router at that level.

[corndale]

My reason for considering a wireless connection between the computers in the attic and the basement is that I do not have the expertise to run a network cable inside my house from the attic to the basement. I would like to get opinions about a workaround. Have Cablevision change the cable from the attic to the basement. Using the same drill hole from the outside to the basement, run a network cable from the router in the basement along the outside of the house and through the hole already drilled for the original cable run to the attic. Does this make sense? Is there a special network cable that I need to use which will hold up against year around Northeast weather?

[cgrimm9]

what you could do is get a wireless repeater and put in the second floor. this will help boost the signals range. but thats going to cost around another 100 dollars. kinda spendy. but if money is not a object that could be a possible fix

so you would have a wireless router and a wireless repeater to boost signal

[chrishunt]

How about power line networking? All you'd need is 2 home plugs (presume they do them for the US market as we have them here in the UK). Connect a port from your router to the homeplug which is plugged into your mains socket at one location then plug a 2nd homeplug into the mains at a 2nd location and connect an ethernet cable between it and the PC. Homeplugs here run up to 200Mbps, a damn site faster than wireless.

[corndale]

chrishunt - thanks for the power line networking suggestion. I will look into this.

[johnwill]

FWIW, my experience with power line networking hasn't been all that great. I'd make sure any of these devices you buy can be returned if they don't work in your environment!

[chrishunt]

I have homeplug at home (eConnect ones) and these work great for me not a single problem, other than initially when I had the poweline unit plugged into a filtered multiplug which funnily enough didn't work :-) I'm running at 85Mbps but homeplug AV units now run at 200Mbps and can also secure the traffic if thats needed. Running any form of steaming over wifi I've found to be hopeless unless your sat on top of your access point and if anyone else was using the network or your wifi channel overlapped with someone else then the actual user bandwidth (rather than link bandwidth) meant streaming was impossible.... Sorry going off topic! However as John says always best to make sure you can return them if they don't work in your specific environment, especially with the different voltage and wiring standards across the pond.

[johnwill]

The real issue is the interior wiring and exactly how the circuits are routed. Also, the type and characteristics of electrical equipment can have a big effect.

I have a rather large house with 400A service and many branch circuits. However, I tried this in my daughter's condo, and we didn't have any better luck.