Netgear now touting open source WRT-compatible wireless router

[Ben Scott]

On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 10:38 AM, Chip Marshall <chip at 2bithacker.net> wrote:
> Personally, I've never had any problems with my two WRT54G units ...

  I could tell war stories for any given brand.

  For pretty much everything in this product space (NetGear, LinkSys,
D-Link, Belkin, etc.), they're cheaply designed and cheaply
manufactured, using cheap parts, and they make tons of them.  The Law
of Really Large Numbers means that not only will you always be able to
find someone who has had trouble with any given brand, you'll always
be able to find someone who has had trouble with all of them.  They've
all had bad production runs.  They've all turned out unusually bad
designs.  There is usually little design team continuity, so past
performance is of little help, either.

  In short, don't expect great quality from a $50 router.  Personally,
I recommend buying the unit you find most aesthetically pleasing.
That's probably the most reliable thing to shop for.  ;-)

-- Ben