Cheap dual WAN router (under $100 new)

[airspirit]

Hawking FR24 dual WAN 4pt router. Anybody heard anything good/bad/otherwise about it? I need to dual my conx and I don't want to spend $400 on the Nexland router. Any help would be appreciated.

[jtroutma]

If i remember correctly, ImageX from this forum, tested that very same router and according to him, it sucked realy bad.

Again, according to him, "...router locked up when rebooted from web menu had to do a cold boot, dhcp would not give ip's in the range I set , like 192.168.0.3-30 and I'd get 192.168.0.188 , cant bind a computer or server to one dsl line or the other only the first dsl line, not True load balanceing -it dumps to the second line after the first line gets to a set bandwidth like 128k or 146k and so on, the nexland for now is far better, after trying the fr-24 I realy like my nexland. "

Also in all fairness "I know they can change most of it in the firmware."

I would talk to him a bit more on the subject and again I could have the models mixed up.

[airspirit]

Args. If that is indeed the case and it doesn't add the lines right, I might just get a second linksys router and a second wireless access point and tell my "subscribers" to swap nets if their bandwidth starts going south on them ... or maybe just assign people to one net or the other, keeping me with the low use folks (most of them) and put the other high use guys on the other net. I'm running a dedicated fileserver as of last night, so I may need to bridge the nets somehow to allow access to the fileserver from both (the uber neighborhood software sharing solution ... heh).

[Buster]

I use the Nexland Pro 800 Tubo. It works really well.
http://www.nexland.com/turbo.cfm you really do get what you pay for when it come to routers and wireless AP's. I have tried several AP's, and non compare to the Orinoco's as far db gain out of box and ability to add good antennas. What are you using for an antenna and cable? Im using a wave guide antenna that I made using directions from Trevor Marshall. Im getting about 17db gain from my omni, and 24 db gain from my antenna I made from an old DirecTV dish. I am able to shoot a signal LOS 7.5 miles to another antenna mounted on a pole.

[airspirit]

I think my AP has a 2.4db output, but that is fine by my reckoning. You see, I've put it on the heads of my clients to get whatever amplification they need at their end. Since most of them live within 150 ft, it is only a problem for two of them (roommates), and I'm setting them up on a D-Link 900 bridge, and I'm going to amplify that through a 8db directional antenna. Since they are only about 6-800 ft away, they should be able to cut through the apartment complex and trees between us with no problems. Also, the reason I didn't go for a high power broadcast is that I live 1/4 mile from a row of frathouses and 1/2 mile from a college campus. I really don't need half of my town to hop onto my connection (WEP is highly overrated as a security precaution). What I've elected to do is keep my outgoing signal weak and put the amplification on the recieving end, making it more difficult for strangers to hop on my net. Plus, being in a denser residential area, I really don't need the FCC to come pounding on my door when some schmuck's cordless phone starts freaking out (or their fish tank starts boiling).

[Buster]

Thats funny, "fish tank boiling" ....
your clients could make themselves an antenna using a pringles can. http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448
total cost with cable is about $30 bucks. providing their wireless card supports adding an exteranl antenna. another $75 bucks for a good Orinoco Silver card.

edit: you are allowed 22db of gain per FCC rules covering the 802.11b frequencies.

[airspirit]

I had them buy an extender antenna for $40 that is prebuilt. Yeah, I could have made 'em a yagi, but I figured this would be easier on the eyes and on me. I have three complete systems to get built and set up for people this week (my coffee table is an XP unlocking assembly line these days), and I wanted to spend as little time getting her set up as possible (I'd like some time to myself every once in a while ... time that is not spent swimming in components). Since this antenna is a "known quantity," there will be no tuning involved. Getting her home network, bridge, and antenna set up will probably take 30-60 minutes. I don't want to spend more time than that.