Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JongnoGuru]

My trusty two-yr-old G54 Buffalo Air Station wireless router for the network at my house stopped working over the weekend. Now I've got to decide whether to have it replaced or get someone over to troubleshoot it. Were this any other device I own, I wouldn't be posting, I'd be working on fixing it. But as it's the G54 Buffalo Air Station, I'm leaning heavily towards replacement because:

1. The Buttalo was a fucking beast to set up, a fucking beast to add a stupid repeater to, the "easy startup guide" is a complete and utter joke, things that should have taken me 20~30 minutes ended up robbing a half day of my life, even my IT friend who's probably installed more networks than I've had impure thoughts struggled with it for hours & hours and still had to make two visits. I didn't research the thing before I bought it, just went on some "expert's" opinion. I've since found plenty of corroborating customer reviews about this model, which always makes me feel better in these situations.

2. There are wireless routers out now with much higher speeds, right? And I assume many of you people have been switching to those over the past year or so, right? I'm thinking I should be in your numbers.

3. Although it gave me two relatively trouble-free years of service, it was so unacceptably difficult to install, configure, get running, etc. that I am just aching to take a hammer to the Buttalo and smash it to little pieces.

So, recommend a good replacement. It's gotta be:

-- as easy to set up as the manufacturer claims

-- available right here, right now in Korea

-- higher speed (we're not still stuck at 54 Mbps, surely? surely not)

-- not some freaky, flaky, untested boutique brand

I've read so many bad reviews about Linksys and D-link, and even Netgear wireless routers that there's no name I trust. It's quite depressing reading user reviews of wireless routers. Every model is like 50% thumbs up, 50% thumbs down. And there's no middle ground, the thumbs up are "9 out of 10! Terrific! You can't go wrong!" and all the thumbs down are "2 out of 10! Terrible! Avoid at all costs!" Why does it have to be this bad? Even the guys on engadget came right out and said wireless routers have the most deplorable reliability record of any product in the IT world.

[Ramones]

I have been using a Linksys 54G and it works just fine.

Good: Easy to set up, CD INSTALLATION, range, speed, internet page support for Linksys.

Bad: sometimes tech support is needed and they phone rings in India and they are hard to understand sometimes.

[Wrench]

Linksys is crap..

Buffalo. Very Happy with this router. MUCH better. Cheap too I have a Buffalo (You can always flash it with alternative Firmware freeware one)

Netgear is also quite nice.. My friend has one its great. I had no problems with D-Link.

I had a linksys router nothing but headaches. POS. NEVER BUY THEIR CRAP. I smashed this router into bazzilion pieces.

[Giant]

I also use Netgear, very easy to setup, plus you can update the firmware to english!!!

[JongnoGuru]

Ugh...

Thanks for the comments. But I don't want this diversity of answers and conflicting opinions you're giving me -- I want the one, solitary, God's Honest Truth as to which wireless router is best. I can't -- I REFUSE -- to be so badly disappointed again, like I was with the previous installation nightmare. That simply CANNOT happen again. I swear, I'll kill a living thing if it happens with the next router.

[Giant]

Go with Netgear, its an american brand I think.

[mishlert]

[stealth_fighter]

[jazblanc77]

Dlink is also a very reliable company for routers.

[PolishZeus]

[Giant]

Hey I an agree with you, just from these threads EVERYONE has their own opinion. I on the other hand, have worked with many brands, being in the IT field. However I have had several NETGEAR routers, switches etc. and also several Linksys, D-Link as well, and alll were okay.

I suggest using a NETGEAR simply because its easy to setup, and one can flash the firmware to english, and I think one can also do it with Buffalo.

Just my 5 cents

[europe2seoul]

I have Linksys Wireless-G router with absolutely no problems since I bought it. Plugged it in, turned on security features, MAC address filtering, etc and its been siting there working fine. Paid about 63,000 won on Gmarket.

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1127782957298&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

[JongnoGuru]

Guess what? I got myself... another Buffalo Tech wireless router!!! Better, faster, newer... and much cheaper than the evil thing it replaced. I've used Netgear (wired) in the office, but the Buffalo wireless at home really did perform flawlessly once the nightmare of installation was finished. Two to three years of stress-free, worry-free, reliable, forgot-it's-even-there service. And what cost me 90,000 won then is 43,000 won today, and it's better as well.

This time, however, I was smart. I normally want to do these things myself, so I can make mistakes and learn from them. But at this stage in my life, I'd rather pay some Korean sparky 5,000 won/hour to bust HIS arse and get friggin' stressed as hell. So I didn't do a damn thing this time but buzz him in at the gate and pen the hounds when he arrived. That and assign the password hours later when he told me to and explain some of the English-language menu options at one point.

The Korean IT guy frittered away three and a half hours of his life getting that Buttalo up and running. Oh how he struggled and swore and walked up & down the stairs, up & down the stairs, up & down the stairs, cursing the Hangul installation guide, calling Buffalo tech support a bunch of times --- And all the while, me & the gullflend watched movies, ate popcorn and made kiwi-banana-vanilla milkshakes in the home-theatre.

[europe2seoul]

[Wrench]