Felix Miata wrote:
Constant Brouerius van Nidek wrote:
So the decision to buy may be just a question of price?
Not exactly. As cheaply made as modern electronics now are, warranty is no small consideration. Some routers have 1 year warranties, while others have 3 or 5, with little or no price difference from the 1 year junk. Some router setup software behaves badly or not at all unless you use Internet Exploder, thought AFAIK they all have a telnet setup option that doesn't care what OS you use. Support can also matter. Check their web site. Does it work OK in your favorite browser? Will their firmware upgrades install without first unpacking in a windoze environment?
I beg to differ. I've had two cheap routers (one Billion, one Sitecom) and I've never had a problem. I've never heard of a router (or a hub or a switch for that matter)among my friends and relatives breaking down. They all seem to be very simple pieces of hardware. The setup is always very similar, you access the router through your browser, whether you use Windows, Mac or Linux; there's (almost) always a dhcp server / firewall and other goodies. I would however do things differently if I bought a wireless router, where price and performance usually go hand in hand. I would stick with reputable brands like Linksys or Netgear, among others. My own 2 € cents. Fx