Help on buying router/modem for home entertainment purposes

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arnprasad

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Hi..I have a BSNL broadband connection and am using the BSNL modem/router which has 4 ports but no USB. I have some issues with it and I dont want to ask BSNL for a replacement but would want to buy one myself.

Please let me know what all things I can do with a router from home entertainment purposes. Recently I have read articles on how one can use the USB port to connect to a hard drive and how contents of the hard drive can be accessed wirelessly..etc.

1) I have a panasonic plasma with USB which I can connect to the router
2) I got couple of external HDD
3) Plenty of smart phones
4) Desktop
5) Blu ray with USB

I see in flipkart there are plenty available ranging from 1-2K. Let me know which ones are good and why ( in the sense how i can make full use of it)
Also I live in an independent house with ground floor+first floor..hence strong signals to reach all parts of the house is a must

Thanks in advance for all your help
 
Note that router and modem are two different things.
Please find that out first what you need.
A modem/router will cost around 2k for N300 , if you go for N600 it will be very costly.
 
Linksys E4200 and other Exxx series are good for USB sharing over wireless. Asus are ok too.However keep in mind that most of the USB port doesn't support drives more than 1 or 2 TB depending on the models.
 
Also most probably none of the routers available in our country will cover our cement concrete built - multistory house. You will have to put one router on each floor - one as a main router and other as an access point (or a wifi repeater). I have G+3 floors and so I have put a total of 4 access pt / routers. During construction stage only, I had put CAT-6 cables to each room.
 
M using a Belkin 600 DB my house is G+2 and it covers the entire area although i have bought a reapeater too. I would prefer linksys or cisco routers for that purpose.. Belkin heats up to easily..
 
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N150 , 300 etc. represent speed.
Since a router works for many years I would prefer a 600 but currently they are costly.

I bought this :

Amazon.in: Buy D-Link DSL-2750U Wireless N 300 ADSL2+ 4-Port Wi-Fi Router with Modem (Black) Online at Low Prices in India | D-Link Reviews & Ratings

It is pretty basic , there are many things which can be done with routers, but my suggestion will be to keep it basic and not invest much. Indian power cuts/switching may play devil with such things anytime.

-Amit
 
Nickhill007 said:
M using a Belkin 600 DB my house is G+2 and it covers the entire area although i have bought a reapeater too. I would prefer linksys or cisco routers for that purpose.. Belkin heats up to easily..
Click to expand...

Neeraj0272 said:
I also have a belkin n600 router. It has a normal range and its very low on features. Its pricey only because of 5ghz network but range of 5 GHz is very low maybe limited to about 20 feet. I would not recommend it at such a high price. Better go for N300 models.
Click to expand...

The N only signifies b/w and not range. There should not be a difference in coverage area between N150, N300, N450, N600, etc. The difference will be between 150 MBPS and 450 MBPS for b/w for streaming and I've not seen much of a difference between the coverage areas.

I live in a "largish" home... nearly 2500 SFT and the Netgear N150 I use covers the entire house without any issues and connects to 7-8 wireless devices without any issues for both data streaming (incl. movies), ISP services, etc.

OP - I'd stay away from Belkin too... had a couple of them overheat and burn out in under a year or so. I'd recommend Netgear or D-Link... have used both for years without any issues.
 
I bought this n600 baby (TP-link wdr3600) last week for 4700 from flipkart. It's an Atheros Chipset, no Ra-link nonsense.
TP-LINK TL-WDR3600 N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router - TP-LINK: Flipkart.com

It's the best router for its price range and performs 15-35% better than its immediate higher model. Get this one without doubt, I did a lot of research for purchasing a good router in Indian market. Using it in 2300 sq ft flat, 3-5 bars signal everywhere. No drops. Dont bother putting on the 5ghz unless you have more than 5 networks with 50% + signal within range.

So far the performance is stable and I can stream hd movies wirelessly from hard drivers connected via usb to router. You can connect more than 1 hard drive onto 1 usb port by using powered usb hub. Supports print server, ftp, media streaming to phones.

TL-WDR3600-UN-V1-02.jpg

TL-WDR3600-UN-V1-01.jpg

157249-2.jpg

3600-1280-02.jpg

TL-WDR3600-UN-V1-03.jpg
 
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Hi

Since u r using BSNL Broad Band u need to get ADSL2 router.The one u mentioned TP-link 8968 model suits good as it can be used for both adsl2 and as a router.but the one mentioned in the flipkart is an old model it is version1 hardware.Go to snapdeal u will have the same model for 2200 with hardware version 2.I just bought this today.Good luck..
 
Beware, ADSL wifi combo routers can get very hot and in Indian climate their lifespan may decrease. The 8968 model is also a ralink chipset which many professionals do not trust as much as broadcom & atheros. If your telephone exchange is more than 2 km away the operating heat + distance + ralink quality may affect performance. Might be more sensible to just use the ISP modem which they provide (They are usually broadcom) and get a dedicated router which stays cool and uses an atheros / broadcom chipset.
 
I agree with keeping the modem and router as separate components as combo ones are not that feature rich and moreover in future if you want to switch to cable internet you would not need to throw your router away, just get rid of the modem.

Also if you intend to setup a media sharing service across your home, your Desktop connected to your router through LAN wires will be your best bet to be a reliable media sharing server running softwares like Serviio and Plex with your USB drives connected to your PC directly. Also it will be better to have the TV and BDP wire connected to your laptop.

We should let routers do only the wifi signal sharing and if the added feature of USB sharing is costing so much more, better look for alternative once before purchasing.

What is the individual carpet area of your house floors and how many rooms are there on each floor and most important where is your TV and HT?
 
I have the same router as corElement (WDR3600) and can vouch for it. Note that it is a high end router with around 128 MB RAM compared to cheaper routers which come with 16/32 MB RAM. All that extra memory helps if you intend to use the router as your download client/NAS as well. If you are comfortable with linux, you can install openwrt on it and extend its capbilities beyond factory firmware.
 
THanks everyone for your answers. I am not a techie and frankly most of what you guys explained needs some amount of googling to understand:sad:

I just went with the 8698. Frankly 99% of my usage will be to access wifi on my laptops and smartphones...maybe some weekends I will try out streaming...etc.

Thanks once again to everyone.:clapping:
 
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