Choice of Cable Routers

Flip a coin.

Both are generally reliable models. Your chance of getting a bad unit is about the same either way, and both, when working correctly, will provide you with all you need -- unless you need wireless.

You'd be better off deciding which grandkids will be the most offended if they're not picked. ;)

(Of course this will be followed by people who absolutely hate one or the other, but by the time the dust settles, you'll be right back at the coin flip choice.)

Both will do equally well. Or close to it for home surfing needs. These are really disposable items. Pick one and set it up and go with it. When it breaks in a year or so, use the other.

I'd give the Netgear a slight edge due to my personal bias and preferences. Plus the logs are better. (I think.)

All hardware revisions of the BEFSR41 are pretty reliable. The RP614 is a bit more of a crap shoot. Some hardware revisions are fairly reliable and other revisions offer no end of problems.

If you want older, but more reliable choose the SR41. If you want a newer generation router and willing to risk trouble then choose the RP614.

Also factoring into it is how "hard" you plan to run your cable connection. If you are going to run full tilt with lots of P2P program usage don't even bother taking the RP614 out of the box. It'll end up like a turtle on its back more often than not.

Of course the third option is to return both routers to the store & take the combined funds and buy an even better router. ;)

Hi - Thanks for the feedback.

Being a non-geek type, I'm not too familiar with the available routers. When we were given these two, I just went to Google and pulled up reviews on both. Definitely a mixed bag.

Suggestions for alternatives would be appreciated! I'm a steady user,

3-4 hours daily, principally with medical-oriented mailing lists and medical web pages. No games or P2P. The grandkids are adults and no longer into games - - just torrid love letters to their hotties of the moment and checking Fidelity and Vanguard for their mutual fund investments. < g >

TIA

George (The Old Fud)

Then either one will do fine for you. I have an RP614 that's been doing fine for the last 3 years with no problems (and I have the v1 version). I think they're on v3 now, so you should be pretty solid if you have a later version. Just D/L the latest firmware from the Netgear site and let it rip or do the same for the Linksys.

I concur with $Bill. Try the RP614 first since it is newer technology. If it works for you with no problems stick with it. If you get connection drops, reboots, or lockups then try the Linksys.

The latest RP614s are a lot faster than the one you have. The v1 has a

50 MHz ARM 7 processor and the v2 and v3 revisions have a 166 MHz ARM 9 processor.

Just throwing out a bit of trivia.. :)

Thank you, both! Appreciated the responses.

George (The Old Fud)

Thanks. It works fine for my bandwidth - I'll probably replace it eventually with a wireless version. I think it may have a bit of a heat problem too when it gets up in the 90's.

Ooo...there's not much ventilation on those things, but some people report great luck with putting RAM heat sinks on the hottest chips & that brings the temps down enough to keep the thing from flaking out.