Trendnet Wireless N-Draft Router

Pros: Fast, long range, solid signal through walls and pipes

Cons: getting any N router right now means the N card will need to be the same brand as the router

Summary: I needed to replace my linksys wrt54g... the thing has almost no range-just across the room, it was maxing out at 4 bars out of 10 on the signal, but its more typical strength was 2-3. I researched about every router out there, from netgear's rangemax to Buffalo's airlinks to the more expensive Belkin Pre-N... once I got it narrowed down, price became the selling point, since once a rebate that was then at J&R (who got it to me in 2 days and emailed all the forms to me, too, to make sure I knew to send in the rebates if I wanted to!) went through, it was fifty bucks-the retailer rebates shift between one store and the next with trendnet-buy and newegg get them, too, so it is really just a matter of seeing who gets the superior $30 rebate for the month. Anyway, the range and signal on this is fantastic... I've had it set up for about 2.5 weeks and haven't lost a signal ONCE. That, for wireless in my pipe-laden, wood and plaster walled house, is incredible. I still use my linksys wmp54g card with it, but I'm planning on eventually getting the trendnet wireless card just to make the speeds scream. My bandwidth speed is, with this router, already twice what it was on the linksys wrt54g, and again, that's just using the G, not yet the N. The only difference for my setup is the router-all else is identical. The other computers also get a stellar signal through many walls, almost always at least very good, usually excellent. The unit is also cool (temperaturewise; routers aren't "cool" to me in other regards, LED lights or not), and the software is absolutely great-super simple to setup, tons of features available at the click of a mouse button, and good security options. Once I got it set up with all my needs (I limited it to G only, for example, since you can tell it b/g/n or any combination of them), it rebooted the router from the page I was on and there we were, full broadband speeds coming from our wireless connection, finally! I have no reservations recommending this product!

Updated on Feb 23, 2011

Just a quick update... My original review was August 28, 2007... I'd had the router about 2.5 weeks with no signal loss, nothing...

Now it's 2011. I still have this router. The big difference, apart from what it's sending wireless TO? FIOS... Fiber Internet is handled beautifully by this. You're truly only limited by the strength of your wireless cards/mobile gadgets (my N95--also an antique!--never loses its signal no matter where I am in my home, and that... that's pretty incredible; can't say the same for my iPod Touch, but that's where it's all about the OTHER device; still, when it does drop, it's not for long and I've always got my phone around). Figured since there were so many 1-review negatives, I'd chime in as an initial praiser of this and update in case anyone is still looking at this router. It's certainly a viable option and works on everything from Windows 2K to Win 7 to OSX (snow leopard) and Linux.