Poll: BAD Routers

[TechLady]

I'd like to get a sampling of which routers that, in your recent experience, seem to have more trouble than others. Specifically in the last two years or so, ones that you have seen to have a decent fail rate.

Feel free to let us know which routers just plain suck for one reason or another in the comments, though I'm more interested in seeing the straight-up fails for the poll.

My vote for bad routers is split between Belkin and Netgear, with Doesn't-Link as a distant third.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I call them D-Link Disasters.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Initially I want to say it's pretty even across "residential" brands. But then I've noticed something....when you plug network gear (including routers) into battery backup units....majority of failures/lockups/hiccups disappear. From dead power supplies, to frequent lockups, seems that keeping them on battery UPS helps them run better and live longer. Just need a little 350 or 550 sized battery UPS.

But if I had to pick a brand I've thrown out the most, I guess Nutgear. Way back in their early years (like the RT312 models..heavy blue steel chassis..the first year of DSL 'n cable coming out)..when Bay Networks owned them they were good. But then when they broke off, and starting making those white plastic ones...ugh...I threw out truckloads of 'em. In recent years they've gotten better.

 

[TechLady]

Initially I want to say it's pretty even across "residential" brands. But then I've noticed something....when you plug network gear (including routers) into battery backup units....majority of failures/lockups/hiccups disappear. From dead power supplies, to frequent lockups, seems that keeping them on battery UPS helps them run better and live longer. Just need a little 350 or 550 sized battery UPS.

I've noticed that as well. People stacking stuff on them seems to shorten their lives too, though I remember a batch of black antennaless Linksys routers that seemed to overheat regardless. You could fry an egg on them.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Need to be able to select more than one in this poll. Lots of suck to go around.

 

[TechLady]

Need to be able to select more than one in this poll. Lots of suck to go around.

Fixed that, I think.

 

[TechLady]

Any more contributions/updates?!

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Trendnet
Rosewill (ugh...19 dollar ultra junk brand)
Comtrend
Actiontec
Buffalo

..just to throw some other brands in the list.

 

[mrapoc]

Interested as to how Billion does too and Draytek

 

[omnichad]

Rosewill (ugh...19 dollar ultra junk brand)

Rosewill...sounds too much like Goodwill. Which is where it will probably end up before long. Though they have a few items that aren't built too badly, it's a rare thing.

 

[stro]

I call them D-Link Disasters.

Lol, we call them dont-links

 

[NETWizz]

I had a failed Cisco Catalyst 3960E-48TD-S last week

This is the email I got from them threatening me for not shipping it back... Don't know how they figure the value. Would be happy to sell them all our Cisco crap back for that much per 48 port switch.:

 

[Digital Micro]

I had a failed Cisco Catalyst 3960E-48TD-S last week

This is the email I got from them threatening me for not shipping it back... Don't know how they figure the value. Would be happy to sell them all our Cisco crap back for that much per 48 port switch.:

View attachment 6037

I'm so glad I don't have to work with any Cisco equipment.

Funny story.

Have a business client that does that signs up people to Obama Care and works with the homeless. They have 4 people in their office, one thinks he is an IT pro. Outside of Office they're all cloud. This bought a $700 Cisco because someone told him it was what they needed to work from home. I sold it for them on Ebay and used they money to build out a solid network.

Personally I have had more trouble with TP Link. I got where everyone I put in would have random lockups for a couple of minutes. This was across different models. Lots of troubleshooting with TPLink never fixed the problem. Now I only offer Linksys and SonicWall.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

"Don't Link"...lol.

I love some nicknames we've come up with over the years,
Stinksys
DStink
Nutgear
CrApple
NutScrape Navigator (going back to Win95 days)

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

i knew d-link was going to be up there, specially if you're counting power adapter issues.

 

[TechLady]

Stinksys, ha ha ha ha

 

[TechPJC]

I love some nicknames we've come up with over the years:
Stinksys
DStink
Nutgear
CrApple
NutScrape Navigator (going back to Win95 days)

 

[Tomecole]

I have two brand new Cisco RV042 routers for a gateway to gateway VPN. They keep disconnecting, and according to the lack of log entries, for no apparent reason. I have the "keep alive" function activated, but every few days I have to manually reconnect. I don't know whether to blame environment, Comcast, or what. There are no power failures involved, but I am going to take YeOldeStoneCat's advice and put a small UPS on each router in case it is a "brown out" situation. Any other advise would be greatly appreciated.