For several years I have been using a Netgear Wireless-N 300 Router WNR2000 v2. It has worked well until recently – a week or two ago, the connection started dropping and re-establishing. And printing was not reliable. I downloaded and installed the latest firmware, but that didn’t seem to help.
I found the Netgear AC1000 WiFi Router, Model R6080, on sale for US$39.99, so I bought it. I figured that if I entered all the same settings from the old router (they are both Netgear, so the setup screens are almost identical), everything would just work. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get an internet connection.
I called my ISP, and just as the tech came on the phone, things started working – my wife told me she was able to get on the internet. I could too on my computer. The tech agreed with me that apparently this router simply takes a while (45 minutes?) to finally get online.
I had a similar delay with my work computer – it would not get online when connected via the new router, so I used the hotspot in my phone to connect. But I tried again at the end of the day and was able to connect via the new router with no problem.
Once I got online and started surfing the web, I found that the connection was noticeably faster and more reliable – no more dropped connections! And no more printing problems! Other than the delay getting online at the beginning, I would give this router five stars.
If you are having connectivity issues, and your router is getting pretty old (more than, say, five years old), you would probably fix all the issues simply by getting a new router. And right now, during the Christmas season, you can probably get a decent router at a good price.
with Windows 8.1 running in a VM
