Router advice

[Retrieving/C.D/Searain]

Yo peeps, my old, trusty router's just basically blown up for unknown reasons (had been at it for like, 4 years so and started overheating a lot lately so I should've seen it coming), I'm looking for a replacement but I'm not exactly knowledgeable in the matter so here I am...

specifically, I need a Wi-Fi router with the following characteristics:

- reliable;
- easy to set-up/configure on Win7/8 (ports forwarding included);
- that allows me to switch on and off Wi-Fi instantly (be it through a physical switch on the device or via software), while simultaneously allowing me to use LAN through an Ethernet Cable (so I can cut my fiancee's PC, tablet and smartphone off the line right before playing videogames and give her back internet when I'm done - sounds silly but I play a specific game somewhat competitively and any latency hiccup would be detrimental);
- possibly gaming-oriented? Not sure whether something like this exists or not though, sounds like a buzzword PR departments would throw around just to grab customers' attention but who knows;
- strenght/depth of signal isn't exactly an issue since my apartment is only 100ish square meters and on a single floor anyway (it's all reinforced concrete/bricks though) and I don't plan on using this line outside or in the garage/workshop.

I'm willing to spend 80 Euros on it (thus it most likely has to be in the 80-100 US $ price range cause VAT and stuff), hopefully it'll last me another 4 years.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Hellfury]

I'm not sure how much the Asus RT-AC68U costs where you are, but I recently picked one up, seems to check all your boxes.
You can define multiple guestnetworks, with or without access to LAN resources beyond internet, and temporarily disable them when you want to hog all the resources for yourself.

[Retrieving/C.D/Searain]

Asus RT-AC68U

sounds great but that one costs about 200 € so it's out of the picture, thanks for suggesting it though.

[octopus]

How about an Asus RTN16? I have it, it's nice (can replace firmware with tomato/dd-wrt). I think with your price range an 802.11ac router is out of the question.

[Retrieving/C.D/Searain]

friend of mine suggested this model:

http://www.amazon.it/Asus-Wireless-P...d_sim_sbs_pc_2

Asus RT-N56U (which would cost me about 70 Euro), whatcha think?

[orinthia]

Think my brother has that one or something very close. It's pretty nice, has a lot of features like putting usb drives on it to share on the network or become home cloud storage, can network some usb printers, can be a private vpn gateway (asus gives you a url for free that forwards to the router; setup in the firmware; really handy), can assign guest networks with time limits, mess with QoS, etc. It does get warm though, so maybe get a usb fan for it lol. It's not so quick to turn off the wireless though... in fact it might not have an option to kill it.

If you're playing competitively, wouldn't just directly connecting to your modem be better? You're already wanting to go through the trouble of turning off the wireless, may as well just swap cables.

gaming troll-comment:

Spoiler: show

Just be sure to buy a gaming lan card (killer nic), gaming lan cable (Denon), gaming cable risers (marble), gaming modem heatsinks (copper/silver), gaming floor tiles, gaming carpet, gaming ceiling fans, gaming power sockets, monster hdmi cables, etc.

[Retrieving/C.D/Searain]

If you're playing competitively, wouldn't just directly connecting to your modem be better? You're already wanting to go through the trouble of turning off the wireless, may as well just swap cables.

Well, I honestly didn't even know vanilla modems were still produced, I was under the impression that the only option to connect to the internet nowadays was through a router of sort...

Also, the game I play requires the forwarding of a specific port, would using a modem mean that all ports are "open" by default?

Sorry for the seemingly silly questions.

[orinthia]

Most routers, like the one you linked, don't connect to cable or dsl directly. There are combo modem+routers that can, but most are shit and should be avoided. If you have cable or dsl, you probably have a separate modem somewhere.

Just be sure of what you have at the moment before changing it if you're unfamiliar. And yes, connecting directly to a modem should allow everything to pass through unchecked, since it's only a single computer.

add: in the case you did have a combo router/modem, it may have been a lease from your ISP. You'll want to call them about it so they can replace it or for you to get the lease removed and return it. I only know American ISPs are like that, not sure how they fair where you are. Here, we can buy our own modems and routers, and separate modems are usually the case for cable internet providers. Most home routers just connect with an incoming lan port for internet and nothing more.

[Retrieving/C.D/Searain]

If you have cable or dsl, you probably have a separate modem somewhere.

I have DSL but my ISP discontinued their modems back in 2005 or something, they've been leasing wi-fi routers for quite some time now (unless I'm mistaking a "modem" for something else...the ISP dude did install something in my apartment, it's a tiny box and a RJ11 cable connects the aforementioned box to my router - nvm, that's got to be a splitter).

add: in the case you did have a combo router/modem, it may have been a lease from your ISP.

Nope, I have my own non-wireless router, the ones my ISP leases out are generally pretty crappy anyway.

So there's no way to purchase a vanilla modem anywhere? I swear amazon.it only brings up routers when I type in "modem"...

[Waraji]

Do a little bit more research on what it is your looking for besides "DSL Modem" as your search query. Look for a specific brand and/or model.

[orinthia]

Maybe something like this for a dsl modem? This doesn't have router bits.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16825165003

What was the model number, name, etc of what you had before that broke on you? Might help us figure out what you had and what you can replace it with. Your ISP should also have a list somewhere of devices compatible with their service.