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Zoom X7N Router - Budget Routers

spookypickle
Grafter
Posts: 80
Registered: ‎10-10-2012

Zoom X7N Router - Budget Routers

I've been asked to help with purchasing a new router for an older friend, I've been given a budget of between £30-45 to play with (so obviously a budget range router). I'm not really sure what to go for. All they will be using their connection for is moderate downloading/streaming/netflix etc. and some gaming (Xbox when nephews stay).  The three routers I've been looking at are the TP-Link W8961nd, which my parents now have and it seems fine although does tend to drop connection every now and then. The Billion 7700n which I personally like the look of however reviews seem to suggest it tends to drop it's wireless signal more often than not. Or the Zoom X7N Router as detailed here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zoom-300Mbps-Wireless-Modem-Router/dp/B005UM7T3Y/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t, it's seems to have some pretty favourable reviews, although personally I've never had any experience of Zoom products.  Does anyone else here have any knowledge regarding the Zoom that may help me out, as it's looking the best option so far?
Any advice would be great.
2 REPLIES 2
VileReynard
Hero
Posts: 12,616
Thanks: 582
Fixes: 20
Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: Zoom X7N Router - Budget Routers

If you are streaming netflix then you may struggle with a wireless router.
I'd suggest a 54Mb Wireless router (for PC use) and a wired connection to the TV.
Netgear routers seem to be reasonably reliable.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

7up
Community Veteran
Posts: 15,824
Thanks: 1,579
Fixes: 17
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Zoom X7N Router - Budget Routers

Cheaper wireless routers don't always tend to me much use - they can drop their signals etc.
You might want to look at fitting an internal DSL modem to the PC and then a wireless card that you can put into Access Point mode so other devices can access / share it's connection. It's a bit complex to get up and running if you've never done it but I found even a cheap £10 wifi PCI card was much more reliable in AP mode than many cheap routers (and when I say much more I mean it literally NEVER dropped the signal once), I used this technique for many years and only went back to a router due to a PC upgrade (no usb drivers ./ support in windows 7 for the voyager 105 usb modem).
I must stress though that this method isn't as easy to get up and running as a router if you don't know what you're doing as it uses WinXPs ICS and a few other tricks to get the card into AP mode at boot up.
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