Best router?

[Blunt]

My Billion bipac7800n has thrown a wobbly after a power cut.

It fails to remember settings and won't connect.


If this proves to be terminal, I'll be on the lookout for a new router.


What are your recommendations?


It has to have a strong WiFi signal as my walls are over 2 feet thick.

[suicidal_monkey]

I happen to have an idle 7800n at the moment if you want to stick with the same? I bought it from Pen a while back but ISP swapped router with a wireless one and we repositioned things better so now the 7800n is sat in a drawer

[Gorion]

Coincidentally, I have been searching on routers yesterday as I'm probably going to buy one as well.

Have been reading some good stuff on the Nighthawk (several models).

I'm not sure if it's going to be a consumer single unit type thing, or perhaps a stand alone MikroTik router with a couple of Ubiquiti UniFi APs.

Price comes to around the same, if you're going for a high-end consumer unit.  The MikroTik does need to be configured.

Perhaps someone with router purchasing experience can throw a bone?

[Gandalf]

Mikrotik gets a huge thumbs up here: Either this: http://routerboard.com/RB2011UiAS-2HnD-IN

Or this: http://routerboard.com/RB3011UiAS-RM (Which is what I've got at home)

Fantastic routers and very powerful with a full feature set that you'll not find on any other router at that price.

[albert]

If you're hardcore, try a Juniper SRX210. The CLI is pretty easy to learn and they do most things the bigger boxes do right down to BGP.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=%22juniper+mx210%22&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X%22juniper+srx210%22.TRS0&_nkw=%22juniper+srx210%22&_sacat=0

[Blunt]

Thanks for the replies fellas.

I don't think I'm 'hardcore' enough to manage the last 3 selections though.

I'm interested in the spare bipac though monkey, I've been happy with mine till now. I'll PM you.

[Gorion]

Mikrotik gets a huge thumbs up here: Either this: http://routerboard.com/RB2011UiAS-2HnD-IN

Or this: http://routerboard.com/RB3011UiAS-RM (Which is what I've got at home)

Fantastic routers and very powerful with a full feature set that you'll not find on any other router at that price.

The 3011UiAS-RM is the one I'm looking at.  I was going to buy the older model last year, but that one still had 10/100 ports in it.

Configuring the thing will not be easy though.  I'm rusty with networking as I haven't done anything in the past year.

I'll have to think about it.

[Gandalf]

The 3011UiAS-RM is the one I'm looking at.  I was going to buy the older model last year, but that one still had 10/100 ports in it.

Configuring the thing will not be easy though.  I'm rusty with networking as I haven't done anything in the past year.

I'll have to think about it.

I've got some great starting configs I can send if you want. Depending on how you're connecting to the interwebs of course. Mine is dhcp client on the WAN.

[Gunda]

I an asus n66u blunt it works great for me and has very good wireless range, it is also easy to configure for cs:go to get priority traffic

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-rt-n66u-black-diamond-dual-band-wireless-n900-gigabit-router-nw-049-as.html
There is also a newer version with the ac wifi..

[Obsydian]

I can thoroughly recommend the Linksys EA range of routers.

Ive had a fair number of routers over the years and all of them have had issues at one point or another and all needed to be rebooted on a number of occasions, with the exception of my EA4500.  Since I've had it it just worked and I've never had the need to reboot it (other than after firmware updates), and although it's now a few years old, it's still one of the fastest routers around.

If I ever feel the need to upgrade then I'll be looking at the newer EA models myself.

[Gorion]

I've got some great starting configs I can send if you want. Depending on how you're connecting to the interwebs of course. Mine is dhcp client on the WAN.

That would be very handy.

My WAN is also based on DHCP, on the ISP's end. Service is given via PPTP.

[Gandalf]

ok, this is only really firewall info. Do quickset first to get up and running. Then comment all the existing auto added firewall rules as they change depending on the release. This config is from the latest stable 6.34.2

Paste the lot in, assuming you're using the default 192.168.88.0/24 range internally.

Once in, check the firewall rules for duplicates and remove as necessary.

Code Select Expand


# mar/02/2016 18:46:10 by RouterOS 6.34.2
#
/system logging action
set 0 memory-lines=300
set 1 disk-lines-per-file=300
add memory-lines=2000 name=FirewallHits target=memory
/ip firewall address-list
add address=192.168.88.0/24 list=safe
/ip firewall filter
add action=fasttrack-connection chain=forward comment="Brightstar configuration" connection-state=established,related
add chain=forward comment="Allow related and established" connection-state=established,related
add action=drop chain=forward comment="Drop invalid packets" connection-state=invalid
add action=drop chain=forward comment="Drop invalid packets" connection-nat-state=!dstnat connection-state=new in-interface=ether1-gateway
add chain=input comment="Allow related and established" connection-state=established,related
add chain=input comment="Allow access to router from known network" src-address-list=safe
add action=drop chain=input comment="Drop invalid packets" connection-state=invalid
add action=drop chain=input comment="Detect and drop port scan connections" protocol=tcp psd=21,3s,3,1
add action=tarpit chain=input comment="Suppress DoS attack" connection-limit=3,32 protocol=tcp src-address-list=black_list
add action=add-src-to-address-list address-list=black_list address-list-timeout=1d chain=input comment="Detect DoS attack" connection-limit=10,32 protocol=tcp
add action=jump chain=input comment="Jump to chain ICMP" jump-target=ICMP protocol=icmp
add action=jump chain=input comment="Jump to chain services" jump-target=services
add chain=input comment="Allow Broadcast Traffic" dst-address-type=broadcast
add action=log chain=input log-prefix=Filter:
add action=drop chain=input comment="Drop everything else"
add chain=ICMP comment="0:0 and limit for 5pac/s" icmp-options=0 limit=5,5:packet protocol=icmp
add chain=ICMP comment="3:3 and limit for 5pac/s" icmp-options=3:3 limit=5,5:packet protocol=icmp
add chain=ICMP comment="3:4 and limit for 5pac/s" icmp-options=3:4 limit=5,5:packet protocol=icmp
add chain=ICMP comment="8:0 and limit for 5pac/s" icmp-options=8 limit=5,5:packet protocol=icmp
add chain=ICMP comment="11:0 and limit for 5pac/s" icmp-options=11 limit=5,5:packet protocol=icmp
add action=drop chain=ICMP comment="Drop everything else" protocol=icmp
add chain=services comment="Accept localhost" dst-address=127.0.0.1 src-address=127.0.0.1
add chain=services comment="Allow MACwinbox " disabled=yes dst-port=20561 protocol=udp
add chain=services comment="Bandwidth server" disabled=yes dst-port=2000 protocol=tcp
add chain=services comment=" MT Discovery Protocol" disabled=yes dst-port=5678 protocol=udp
add chain=services comment="Allow SNMP" disabled=yes dst-port=161 protocol=tcp
add chain=services comment="Allow BGP" disabled=yes dst-port=179 protocol=tcp
add chain=services comment="Allow BGP" disabled=yes dst-port=5000-5100 protocol=udp
add chain=services comment="Allow NTP" disabled=yes dst-port=123 protocol=udp
add chain=services comment="Allow PPTP" disabled=yes dst-port=1723 protocol=tcp
add chain=services comment="Allow PPTP and EoIP" disabled=yes protocol=gre
add chain=services comment="Allow DNS request" disabled=yes dst-port=53 protocol=tcp
add chain=services comment="Allow DNS request" disabled=yes dst-port=53 protocol=udp
add chain=services comment=UPnP disabled=yes dst-port=1900 protocol=udp
add chain=services comment=UPnP disabled=yes dst-port=2828 protocol=tcp
add chain=services comment="Allow DHCP" disabled=yes dst-port=67-68 protocol=udp
add chain=services comment="Allow Web Proxy" disabled=yes dst-port=8080 protocol=tcp
add chain=services comment="Allow IPIP" disabled=yes protocol=ipencap
add chain=services comment="Allow https for Hotspot" disabled=yes dst-port=443 protocol=tcp
add chain=services comment="Allow Socks for Hotspot" disabled=yes dst-port=1080 protocol=tcp
add chain=services comment="Allow IPSec connections" disabled=yes dst-port=500 protocol=udp
add chain=services comment="Allow IPSec" disabled=yes protocol=ipsec-esp
add chain=services comment="Allow IPSec" disabled=yes protocol=ipsec-ah
add chain=services comment="Allow RIP" disabled=yes dst-port=520-521 protocol=udp
add chain=services comment="Allow OSPF" disabled=yes protocol=ospf
add action=return chain=services
/ip firewall nat
add action=masquerade chain=srcnat comment="default NAT rule - gw" out-interface=ether1-gateway src-address=192.168.88.0/24
/ip firewall service-port
set sip disabled=yes ports=5060,5062
/ip service
set telnet address=192.168.88.0/24
set ftp address=192.168.88.0/24 disabled=yes
set www address=192.168.88.0/24 disabled=yes
set ssh address=192.168.88.0/24
set www-ssl address=192.168.88.0/24
set api address=192.168.88.0/24 disabled=yes
set winbox address=192.168.88.0/24
set api-ssl address=192.168.88.0/24 disabled=yes
/system logging
set 0 topics=info,!firewall
set 1 action=disk
set 2 action=disk
add action=disk topics=critical
add action=FirewallHits topics=firewall



[Twyst]

with a couple of Ubiquiti UniFi APs.

...

Perhaps someone with router purchasing experience can throw a bone?

I'm really tempted to drop money on those AP's as they have a reputation of being the most reliable for throughput with many devices rather than high speed for a few clients.
My aging OpenWRT flashed TP-Link AP's keep failing and need constant reboots (although OpenWRT is still more reliable than the vendor ROM).

For the actual router itself, I splashed on a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter LITE.
Seriously good router for the money, just bring your own wireless to the party.

For the more technical, this router's firmware is on a removable USB stick inside the housing - so I removed that and put a NetBSD image in there instead as that's my OS of choice.
Up time of months ... well the only thing that reboots it is a power outage. Fast and reliable.
However, this is a technical product, even the vendor supplied OS isn't that great for an easy confiugration.

[Penfold]

Nice suggestions but a little complicated for me.

I'm trying to find a simple modem router but with large wi-fi coverage. Someone suggested it needed to be AC so I looked at this. http://www.amazon.co.uk/R8000-100UKS-Nighthawk-X6-AC3200-Processors-Beamforming/dp/B00TDV2IS4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458135887&sr=8-1&keywords=netgear+nighthawk

But am I right in thinking this isn't a modem so how does one connect to it from the phone socket. I know this makes me sound totally techi-echallenged

[Twyst]

Depends on how you're connected.

If you're ADSL then you'll need a PPPoA <> PPPoE bridge between the router and the phone socket - like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/DrayTek-Vigor-ADSL-Ethernet-Modem/dp/B00F9E5LQA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458137998&sr=8-1&keywords=pppoe+bridge

If you're FTTC then you probably don't as I think the NETGEAR R8000-100UKS R8000 has a PPPoE client built in, so just connect it to your OpenReach modem via a standard RJ45 patch cable.