so i got a new router, again...

last month I got a Linksys BEFSR41 v3 to replace my aging Netgear RT314. after hooking it up, i had nothing but trouble with it. i'd get random disconnects, and the web interface was horribly slow. i tried multiple firmware versions, but never got any better results. my brother in law then gave me his old router, a Netgear RP614v2.

at first, the router seemed great, with a quick web interface, lots of features, and it kept my connection alive perfectly. after a few days though, the connection slowed to a crawl, and the web interface on the router wouldn't even load up. i had to reset the router every now and then to keep the connection from failing like that.

in frustration (from having 3 hand me down routers that all had issues), i went out and bought a brand new router that i've heard a lot of good things about - the Linksys WRT54G. i actually purchased the WRT54GS model, which has double the ram of the other model, which supposedly might help for future compatibility/functionality with things like NAT tables (or so i've heard).

the version of the WRT54GS i got was the 2.0 (the only version sold now). the recommended version of that router was the 1.0, as the 1.1 and 2.0 revisions contained a new network controller chip that had some known issues with certain games - namely World of Warcraft. me and my girlfriend play WoW a lot, and the WRT54GS was causing all kinds of disconnection issues for me. there was a beta firmware that supposedly fixed the issues (it did things like overclock the router to try to fix things), but it didn't work for me. i felt bad for spending a bunch of money on a router that didnt work with the one game i was mostly playing at the time, so i took it back.

i went back to the Netgear RP614v2, and started scouring web forums looking for information regarding failing internet connections and possible fixes or new firmwares. while reading the site Broadband Reports, i found out that there was a new beta firmware for the Netgear RP614v2 and RP614v3, so i gave it a try. my router has now been running for several weeks without any issues, so i think its working fine now (perhaps the issues just hasn't come up yet).