Which Wi-Fi Router Should I Buy?

The Basics: Things Your Router Should Have

 

 

 

You'll definitely want to make sure the router supports the latest WPA2 security rather than just WPA or, even worse, WEP. Most current routers support WPA2, but free routers from an ISP can sometimes be really outdated.

 

If you're building a wired network with clients that have gigabit ethernet adapters, also look for a router that supports that fast gigabit transfer speed.

 

Also make sure the router supports Wireless-N (802.11n) for fastest transfer speeds; Wireless-N is backwards compatible with Wireless-G (802.11g) and Wireless-B (802.11b) devices, so your older computers and gadgets will still be able to connect to it.

 

Do You Like to Tinker? Consider Custom Router Firmware

  

If you'd like to hack your router for more features and customization with free, open-source firmware like Tomato or DD-WRT (both can help you turn a $60 router it into a $600 router), be sure to check those site's supported routers before going shopping. Some routers—like Buffalo's Nfiniti G300NH—actually ship with DD-WRT pre-installed. (Ed. note: This is the router I use.)

 

Dual Band or Not?

 A dual band router can broadcast wireless signals on the popular 2.4GHz band or the 5GHz one (or both at the same time). This allows for greater compatibility with more wireless devices, and this increased versatility may be worth the slight increase in cost. With a dual band router, you can separate the 5GHz traffic from the more crowded 2.4GHz traffic—so your older Wireless-G devices don't drag down the rest of the network.

  

You can get a really cheap (under $40) dual-band router, but, as of this writing, the most highly-rated ones tend to hover around the $100 mark and can sometimes cost almost double their single-band counterparts. The dual band Netgear N600 (WNDR3700) retails for $159.99, while the Netgear N300 (WNR3500L) is $99.99.

In the end, whether or not the extra cost for a dual band router is worth it depends on your network needs. If you want to run your home network like a coffee shop for easier guest access, a dual-band router is key. Look for a router that specifically says it allows guest access—which separates the public Wi-Fi from your private Wi-Fi network.

Also, keep in mind that some routers may be dual band but not support simultaneous operation on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands (i.e., dual-radio broadcasting). If you have a mixed network—some older Wireless-G clients that can't or won't be upgraded to Wireless-N (e.g., the Nintendo Wii) and also Wireless-N devices—make sure the router supports simultaneous dual-band.

 

Other Features to Consider

 

Routers are offering a lot of added networking features these days. Here are a few that might interest you:

 

Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) - This reduces the number of steps you might have to take to connect your wireless devices to your router. Push a button on the router or enter a PIN number to network the devices, and the WPA2 security will be set up for you. If you want the most streamlined setup possible, WPS is great, but it can make manual connections harder.

 

USB Ports - If you'd like to create a shared network drive, some routers enable you to plug in a USB hard drive to the router and share that drive. It's a useful feature, but can be very slow and/or inconvenient (forcing you to use a FTP or HTTP server to access the drive, for example). If you don't have a network attached storage (NAS) device, however, and don't mind the performance compromise, look for this feature in your next router.

 

Printer Sharing - Some routers also let you plug in a printer to the USB port for network printing. You might need to install printer drivers on all the PCs to use this, but if you don't have an easily network-able printer you can use your router as a print server (keeping in mind this may also slow the router down).

  

Firewall and VPN Support - Most routers today say they have the best intrusion detection, firewall, and VPN support. If you need to access a company network over VPN, however, make sure you talk to your company's IT department before buying the home router. As a former IT admin, I saw some users' routers just wouldn't work with our VPN implementation, making it a problem for everyone all around. At the very least, your router should support VPN passthrough (IPSec, PPTP and L2TP) for typical VPN traffic.

  

Remote Access, 3G/4G and more - The latest routers are adding even more functionality, like being able to remotely access computers on your network through the router or sharing 3G/4G broadband connections. Some are being designed to more easily connect to your TV or media center. There aren't that many routers that support these newer features, so you'll have to decide how important this is for your usage scenario.

 

Which Router to Buy

  

As for which particular router you should buy, that depends on your budget and needs (above). You might find best performance/compatibility using the same brand for both your router and network cards. Or if you're used to using Linksys products, upgrading to a newer Linksys model might make sense for you.

  

SmallNetBuilder is a great source for finding router reviews and recommendations. Here are a couple of options to get you started, though:

 

Buffalo Technology Nfiniti Wireless-N High Power Router & Access Point (WZR-HP-G300NH) - currently $65 on Amazon, supports WPA2 and 1GB ethernet, plus 2-year warranty

• Linksys E4200 - a simultaneous dual-band N router that also looks pretty sleek ($179.99 direct on Cisco) 
• Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router - has USB storage option and guest network access (retailing for $159.99 from Netgear)

 

How to Sync Your Desktop Email Client (Outlook or Thunderbird) Across Multiple Computers

If you use webmail like Gmail or Hotmail, there's really no syncing needed to keep your email coordinated across multiple computers—open up your web browser on any computer and everything is just as you left it. Those of us who prefer—or are required to use—a desktop program like Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird, however, have to work a little harder to get our emails, contacts, calendar events, and tasks synchronized across multiple devices. Here's how to set it up.

You've got several ways you could go about syncing your desktop email client between computers, but the best, most complete method involves storing your application profile in a file-syncing tool like Dropbox so that all of your settings are automatically synced between your computers. Here's how to move your Microsoft Outlook PST file or the profile for cross-platform Thunderbird to accomplish that goal.

Why not just use IMAP?

If your email account can use the IMAP protocol, this is the easiest way to have your email synced; IMAP syncs even your sent email with the email server. However, some companies or service providers require you to use POP3; with POP3 you can change a setting to save emails on the server, but your sent emails aren't synced.

Another reason to go the Dropbox route is to sync your settings and other items, such as tasks, in your Outlook or Thunderbird program across all your computers.

How to Move Your Outlook PST Files to Dropbox

Dropbox works great as a syncing solution for Outlook especially, since the PST file is stored and accessed on your local drive; storing the PST file on a network share, by contrast, can result in really bad performance problems or corruption of the file. Dropbox is also one of the few programs that can accomplish this syncing without a lot of hassle.

>>The instructions below are using Outlook 2010 on Windows 7. The exact menus may not be the same in older versions, but you should be able to find similar commands. 

1. To move your Outlook PST file, first you'll need to find it. In Outlook 2010, you can right-click on Personal Folders and choose "Open File Location" to see the file in Windows Explorer.

Alternately, you can go to your Control Panel > Mail settings (if you have trouble finding it, look under User Accounts or simply search for "Mail" within the Control Panel). Click on the "Data Files... button" and in the new window, you'll be shown the location of the PST file. (Usually it's under C:\Documents and Setttings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook.)

2. Close Outlook, then go to Windows Explorer and cut and paste the file to your Dropbox folder.

When you next open up Outlook, you may be warned that the PST file can't be found. Click OK, then browse to your Dropbox folder to find the new location.
 
 You may also have to change where the emails get stored:

1. Click on the File tab, then Info.
2. Under Account Settings, click Account Settings.
3. On the E-mail tab, select the account and click Change Folder. 
4. Select the Inbox to change the email delivery location.

From your other computer(s), point Outlook to the Dropbox data file by going again to the File tab in Outlook > Account Settings. In the Data Files tab, add the moved PST file, set it as the default, and remove the old location.

There are a few caveats to this approach:

• You'll need to close out of the Outlook program on the first computer before opening the PST file on the second one. This is very important! Dropbox is pretty good at creating duplicate, "conflicted" copies of the PST files if necessary, but constant syncing attempts of an open PST file can lead to corruption. So close out of Outlook and let Dropbox do its syncing before you open Outlook on the next computer.
• If your Outlook file is very big, you could run out of space in your Dropbox account. Keep this in mind, and you may either want to upgrade your account or follow our cheapskate's guide to getting more free space on Dropbox.

Move Your Thunderbird Profile to Dropbox or a Shared Network Folder

If you're using the cross-platform Thunderbird email client, you could move your profile to an external drive (like a USB thumbdrive), but that requires carrying around that USB stick and bringing it to each computer you need to access.

The better option is to move your profile to a new shared location—either a shared network folder or your Dropbox folder. Here are the instructions for moving the profile.

1. First make sure Thunderbird isn't running.

2. Next, find the profile folder. On Windows, the default location is in C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\ or C:\Documents and Settungs\\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles.

On Mac, the location is ~/Library/Thunderbird



On Linux, the path is ~/.thunderbird/

3 Cut and paste the xxxxxxxx.default folder to your new location (e.g., Dropbox folder)

4. Next, edit the profiles.ini file in a text editor. You'll find the file in the same location as the profiles folder above.

5. Edit the "Path=" line to the new location, e.g., C:\Users\\Documents\Dropbox\xxxxxxxx.default

When entering a non-relative path in Windows, use backslashes (relative paths get forward slashes), and change IsRelative=1 to IsRelative=0.

6.Save the profiles.ini file and restart Thunderbird.

On your other computers, you can copy over the profiles.ini file so they also point to the new location of your Thunderbird profiles folder. That should be it.

(For more information on moving your profile, see Mozilla's Moving your profile folder instructions.)

Note: You could also move the portable version of Thunderbird into your Dropbox folder for speedier access.

There are lots of reasons to use a desktop email program (better offline capabilities, email sorting, and collaboration features depending on your office needs). Lack of support for syncing across multiple computers shouldn't stop you from using Outlook or Thunderbird. Syncing your profile with Dropbox, you can take your desktop email experience with you on all your computers.

Do you have a different email syncing solution or desktop email tip? Let us know in the comments.

You can contact or follow Melanie Pinola, the author of this post, on Twitter.

Contact information for this author is not available.