what router brand do you use?

Used a Linksys WRT54G for eight years; recently switched over to the Netgear WNDR3700 (v2) for wireless-N and Gigabit wired connectivity. dd-wrt firmware on both.

Also use the WRT54G. How much of an improvement did you see after the upgrade?

Linksys rocks!

$30 ASUS from newegg, havent had to reset it in 2 years, its not fast but all my wireless stuff is just as slow so getting fast wifi is pointless. Had a cheap Netgear before and it was horrible, needed resets for every torrent that had a lot of peers, before that was another Netgear and it always needed resets as well before it died. For cheap routers ASUS cant be beat.

I use a cheapo Trendnet wireless N router I bought for about $15 at Microcenter. I also use a bunch of their cheapo USB wireless hubs in my laptop, old office PC, and WDTV Live. It drops connection every now and then but it's served me pretty well and I think it's actually the USB hub that is the problem.

I was going to upgrade when I was having issues streaming full bitrate bluray MKVs to the Boxee Box and tried everything from switching computers to powerline ethernet and eventually ended up running an ethernet cable which didn't fix it until I figured out Boxee Box was the culprit. I used a Dune D1 before I got an HTPC and can stream without issue so I'm keeping that router until it craps the bed then I'll replace it with a gigabit wireless N router.

If you don't need either the wireless-N or Gigabit wired, I'd recommend sticking with the WRT54G. The stock firmware's a joke on the WNDR3700, and the dd-wrt firmware is still bleeding-edge. After getting the correct version of dd-wrt flashed to it, it works well and fairly stable. Range is approximately the same as before, which is impressive because the WNDR antennas are internal. I haven't had to do any resets because of stability issues, but it has been reset a few times due to power outages; after the resets, I've had to manually re-configure the MAC address cloning, which is required in my current situation.

On the other hand, my WRT54G (purchased in January of 2004, BTW) was rock-solid stable - it's still at work in my parents' house right now. And since i haven't been there for three months, and haven't had any phone calls from my parents about "the Internet not working" on their notebook computer, I think that's a testament to its durability. (Then again, the notebook may be currently in use as a shim to stop a table from wobbling...)

Mine's been going strong since 04 as well. I flashed it with the DD-WRT firmware a few years back and it's been flawless. The only thing I would like to see an improvement in is the range, but other than that it's a rock solid device.

Using an Asus RT N16 with TomatoUSB firmware for routing and WiFi connectivity. All network switching is done on a 16 port Trendnet gigabit switch.

You ever try tweaking the power output in the firmware, or adding larger antennas? (I didn't need it in my situation.)

I have not. Where can I find larger antennas?

Not sure exactly what you are referring to by "router", but...

For Firewall, I use a Cisco ASA (Enterprise class).
For Wireless APs, I use Apple Airport Extremes

Smoothwall - Linux Router/Firewall

I use a pair of Apple Airport Extreme's, with another AirPort Express. It allowed me the simplest way to expand my wireless with an option to expand if necessary. It has worked flawlessly for over 2-years now.

I'm a Dlink man with the 655 wireless for the Itouch and printers, then hard wired to a few switches on separate branches.

I used to go through routers pretty frequently...not because anything broke, but I was never able to get all the features and reliability I wanted. That's all changed, however, since I discovered DD-WRT.

Right now I've got a TP Link TL-WR1043ND which has a gigabit switch, and 802.11 N with 2 USB ports. I have not had to reboot or even touch this thing since i put it in place at least 8 months ago. DD-WRT flashed to it easily and perfectly, setup a printer on one USB port, a 1TB drive drive on the other for some backups, and now it just works.

Probably the main reason this thing is so reliable and performant has nothing to do with TP-Link...it's all about DD-WRT. Every router i have had over the past few years has had one thing in common: DD-WRT has run on it. Period. I will never use stock firmware again, especially on a router with USB ports. The flexibility, control and reliability that DD-WRT brings to the table is unsurpassed.

I use a Netgear WNDR3800. Things I like about it:

• Dual band 2.4GHz and 5GHz
• Dual channel mode
• Easy to setup
• Traffic usage monitoring.
• Net Genie remote interface. Can't do much complicated setup, but it is easy to check status with the ipod app.

Things I don't like about it:

• Admin interface is too simplified, but then it isn't really aimed at tweakers
• When running in 300Mbps mode, you can't set the wifi channels independently. You end up getting overlapping channels (ie if you set to channels 11 it ends up taking 8 & 11, rather than 1 or 6).
• Doesn't support ZoneEdit as a dynamic DNS provider.
• Everytime you make a minor change to the wifi settings it restarts both the wired and wireless networks. Adding a MAC address to the allow list shouldn't require a restart.
• Integrated NAS function is rubbish (but then most people on this forum use other alternatives for network storage).
• No external antenna. When I relocte everything to my central a/v rack downstairs, I'll have to leave the router upstairs to achieve better signal coverage, taking up extra network ports on my patch pannel.
• No VPN server.

You really need to check if DD-WRT supports that router. Every one of your line items, except the internal antennas issue obviously, is availabe in DD-WRT. The USB/NAS implementation is flawless in DD-WRT, by the way.

Buffalo with DD-WRT. Awesome router!!

I did investigate putting an alternative firmware in the router but I've overcome most of the limitations in otherways. It works well overall as it is and I would prefer not to have another device to tinker with

Apple airport extreme

Had a couple different routers since the first consumer wireless B routers appeared on the market untill the Linksys 54GL's came along, and had used that with DD-WRT for many years. In fact I still have it around for backup. When Fios came along, I used the Actiontek 424 rev D they provide for the first couple years or so due to the moca bridge. After ditching the cable boxes, even though I had ethernet WAN vs coax, I continued to use the Actiontek but with DD-WRT installed since I no longer needed the moca bridge, as it has better hardware specs compared to my 54GL. With DD-WRT, the Actiontek was very solid, just 100mb lan and wireless G which feels dated these days.

Recently, Belkin sharemax N300's popped up on slickdeals for $21 shipped with gigabit LAN, N, etc....which is also DD-WRT and Tomato capable, so I picked one of those up. Reviews are pretty bad with the default firmware, but the hardware is good and people who have mentioned flashing to alternative ROMS indicate the router is very stable with em, so for that kind of money, was def worth a shot even if it didnt pan out. Ran it with upgraded proper belkin firmware for about a week, and even at that it ran just fine for me, albeit with the typical limited settings compared to alternative firmwares. Finally got around to putting Tomato on it, and has been rock solid ever since. Totally happy with that purchase thus far. Deal is still going too if you are looking for a new router.

Using a Netgear WNDR3800...and a GS108T managed switch.
The router does it's job, but HTPC's are on the GS108T switch. The switch has proven to be a reliable back-bone for the HDHR-Prime and HTPC's.
I have a cheap Ubuntu platform setup to run Wireshark for scoping out my HTPC's.

Which model?

I am using Verizon FiOS provided Actiontec for main router and Wi-Fi, connected to 16 port gigabit switch and then Linksys Valet and Netgear 2000 wireless routers as wireless access points through the house to get uniform signal coverage.

I have one of these little guys between my cable modem and GigE 24-port switch in the basement:

Trendnet TW100-S4W1CA (Version v2.0R)

In the attic I have one of these wireless APs:

Trendnet TEW-637AP (Version v3.0R)

Anything to do with media or office PCs are wired. The wireless is only used for laptops (no media -- just surfing) and when a guest comes over and needs access. I haven't had much luck with wireless and video.

It's all rock solid -- never needs messing with.

Never saw this. It is the WZR-HP-G300NH. I don't do much wirelessly, just my phone. I know there's better wireless speeds now but everything else is wired Ethernet and this router has been up for over a year without issue except for when the power went out a few months ago and even then it came right back up.