Dual Band Router worth it?

[PathMaster]

Looking into grabbing a new wireless router. Is a dual band router really worth it? I am also looking for a router with a USB port to add an external drive for simple NAS. Other solutions easier? Cheaper?

Any reccomendations? The only solution I could find was the Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Router WNDR3400 (http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-N600-Wireless-Router-WNDR3400/dp/B0041LYY6K/ref=sr_1_20?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1295405463&sr=1-20&rps=1) Any thoughts?

[Vyzov]

That depends. I live in a large apartment building in the heart of downtown and we have so many wireless networks on the 2.4ghz band that even with our devices in line of sight to the router we get extremely low speeds and frequent disconnections. Some 50+ pop up when you do a search. We also have many different devices connected to it and do HD media streaming over it so for our situation a dual band router is extremely worth it.

We have the DIR-825

[The Continental]

That depends. I live in a large apartment building in the heart of downtown and we have so many wireless networks on the 2.4ghz band that even with our devices in line of sight to the router we get extremely low speeds and frequent disconnections. Some 50+ pop up when you do a search. We also have many different devices connected to it and do HD media streaming over it so for our situation a dual band router is extremely worth it.I'm in the exact same situation and recently made the leap to the Linksys E3000 (http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-E3000-High-Performance-Wireless-N-Router/dp/B003B48UQ8). It wasn't my first choice but we received a good size Target gift card for Christmas and it was the only dual band they had in the store. That said, it has worked flawlessly, the interface is powerful yet intuitive, and the router is very low profile making it perfect for attaching to the back of an entertainment center (as is the case since that's our cable input) with minimal effort. You can probably find comprable for a better price however.

[PathMaster]

Anyone with ideas on USB functionality with a router?

[Vyzov]

Anyone with ideas on USB functionality with a router?

Well, the one I have you can plug a printer into the USB drive to have it on the network, or even any sort of USB storage device to have that shared over the network.

[PathMaster]

Ah, so I really don't need to worry about dual band. Just want to make sure I get a USB port to add a drive and maybe a printer..

[Voodoo]

I can not recommend D-Link products enough. Dual band is good if there are many wireless signals in your area. Otherwise, 2.4ghz is just fine. :)

I have a D-Link 655 with a 320GB IDE external hanging off of its USB port with no issues. The only problem is that I am only able to connect a single computer to it at a time.

[frederec]

I'm in the exact same situation and recently made the leap to the Linksys E3000 (http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-E3000-High-Performance-Wireless-N-Router/dp/B003B48UQ8). It wasn't my first choice but we received a good size Target gift card for Christmas and it was the only dual band they had in the store. That said, it has worked flawlessly, the interface is powerful yet intuitive, and the router is very low profile making it perfect for attaching to the back of an entertainment center (as is the case since that's our cable input) with minimal effort. You can probably find comprable for a better price however.

I've got one of these. I've had issues with using a connected USB hard drive as a media server (which wasn't possible until I loaded tomato firmware on it), which I haven't really figured out yet, but I'm hoping to fix at some point.

There seems to be some weird issue of having non-media files on the hard drive, even if they're not in the directories I've told the router to scan for media files. I've stopped worrying about it for a while, but I need to figure it out so I can get use out of this new 2TB HDD I've got.

[jpublic]

Here's a question - do you actually have any devices that can use the second band? Remember, any device that's b/g/n is only at the 2.4GHz (single band) range. It has to be a/b/g/n to support 5GHz. Your 360 Slim (assuming you have one), your smartphone, heck most laptops only use 2.4GHz.

You'll only be able to get anything out of the 5GHz range if you happen to have a/n devices, and those are fairly uncommon. (Only one I had that supported a/b/g was my work laptop and my 360 with one of the early a/b/g wifi add-ons.)

[PathMaster]

Yea, guess I really don't need the 5ghz part. So no dual band. I think I have it narrowed down to the D-Link DIR-655 or the BUFFALO WZR-HP-G300NH.

I like my other Buffalo router, than I plan to use near my work bench for computer work, but I have heard great things about D-Link products.

[frederec]

Yea, guess I really don't need the 5ghz part. So no dual band. I think I have it narrowed down to the D-Link DIR-655 or the BUFFALO WZR-HP-G300NH.

I like my other Buffalo router, than I plan to use near my work bench for computer work, but I have heard great things about D-Link products.

There's another reason the dual band can be useful, if your hardware can handle it. That's the issue that 2.4ghz networks are limited in how many connections they can have (though this may also depend on the router itself and how it handles the network). That's a lot of the reason I got the router I've got now. I would have upwards of three computers, and maybe two consoles, connect to the wireless network, and when that many would try to hook up, the whole network would just crap out.

[rein]

I have a dual band router and noticed that the 5GHz band has a much shorter range than the 2.4GHz too. I do not know if that varies by brand or not. Mine is a Linksys but I am not at home right now to verify the model.

[frederec]

I have a dual band router and noticed that the 5GHz band has a much shorter range than the 2.4GHz too. I do not know if that varies by brand or not. Mine is a Linksys but I am not at home right now to verify the model.

I've heard that's typical on 5GHz. I think speeds can also be a bit of an issue.

[PathMaster]

I went with the Buffalo, guest network out of the box, will work with current router, and I will not need to install software for USB add on device.

Thanks all for the help!

[jpublic]

5GHz will always have shorter range for a given power. That's the way the physics works. :D

[Vyzov]

I've heard that's typical on 5GHz. I think speeds can also be a bit of an issue.

Speeds on the 5 ghz band are usually much faster than the 2.4

[rein]

5GHz will always have shorter range for a given power. That's the way the physics works. :DLOL. My brain is so far removed from where it used to be (Biology major) that didn't even occur to me. :o

[Vandabo]

If you end up going with the Buffalo router, make sure you put DD-WRT firmware on it. I have a similar Buffalo router and I was having really slow PC to PC transfers, even though both PCs were testing to 15 mbps on speedtest.net. I finally decided to do something about it this weekend, and I installed the DD-WRT firmware and now my transfers are at least twice as fast.

I think the newer Buffalo models come with DD-WRT already installed, but mine didn't, and it's not that old.

[Vermillion]

I'll second/third the D-Link recommendation. They rock. Never any issues.

I have the dual-band router upstairs (DIR-825) and a bridge/ap (DAP-1522) downstairs. Works like a champ.

[PathMaster]

Damn, love the Buffalo router. Took a little bit for me to understand DD-WRT, but I got the network up and running, as well as the guest network. Will try the USB storage tomorrow hopefully.

Crappy thing though, apparently I can not use my old router, Buffalo WHR HP G54, with the new one in wireless bridge mode. Apparently, the WDS, is not compatible. Might have to flash it with DD-WRT. Anyone have any ideas?

[Vandabo]

Buffalo has some decent forums, I used them to figure out a problem I had with my router working with comcast.

http://forums.buffalotech.com/