[K-chan]

Hey guys! It's been awhile since I've been here (thank god xD) but I've come to ask the general population of TSG forums a question.

What do you know about Dynex Routers? Are they going bad? Are they defunct? I'm having problems with mine, and seems like I have to reboot it all the time to get my laptop to connect (either that or it's my laptop .. god I hope not!).

So I went e-shopping and researched some prices for a new router (wanting to eliminate the router as the problem, router is much cheaper compared to fixing my laptop) and noticed that the stores I went to listed NOT ONE Dynex router. They had all the other brands; Netgear, D-Link (new brand? is this one good?), Belkin, Linksys, etc.

I then decided to head over to the Dynex website and see if they had any routers and lo and behold, they didn't! In fact ALL of their routers -- both wireless and broadband -- show up under their "Discontinued Models" page.

Hence my previous question of, was there something wrong with these routers? Just not well made? A bunch of lemons so they decided to cut their losses? I would love to know, considering the problems I am having, and whether or not I should stick it out or just buy a new router before the holidays hit and I have no money to speak of. =P And if any of you have a recommendation on which router I should look into, that would also be most appreciated since I'm not that tech savvy to begin with. =P


Thank you for your time! ♥

[JohnWill]

Well, if they're all discontinued, my recommendation would be to shop elsewhere!

I have no experience with them, but obviously they didn't do well enough to continue the product line it would seem.

[K-chan]

Haha, yeah, totally. When I saw they were discontinued and -no one else- was selling them I was like, 'well ****.' And I was just curious if there was some sort of major defect with them for Dynex to pull ALL of their routers from the shelf and if it had something to do with mine screwing up.

I would also like to know what brand(s) everyone else recommends as far as routers go, also. =)

[avisitor]

Dynex is a Best Buy brand. That gives me a lot of reason right there not to like them.

I know they still sell them in the stores, but beyond that I'm not sure if there's an issue.

Routers do die after a while. I'd say that your best bet is to buy a new one. Almost all of the major brands are fine. Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, ZyXEL, etc. are all fine. Just check the specific model you're looking at to make sure it's not particularly buggy.

[K-chan]

What is the normal (or what is considered normal) lifespan of a router? We've had this one for almost two years now.

And I suppose that makes sense, since they bought the router at Best Buy. I had checked their site and they don't seem to sell the Dynex brand there (not sure about the store itself tho).

How would I go about telling if a model was buggy without trying it first? I'm kind of a newb at this kind of thing, so I apologize for the questions. =)

[JohnWill]

Well, it should last for more than two years, but many things will conspire to kill a router.

Let's try something before you give up on the router.


Some things you can try here, listed in the order you should try them.

1. For wireless connections, remove all the stored wireless profiles and search for networks. You'll have to enter the encryption key again, which is sometimes the issue for connection problems.
2. For wireless connections, change the channel on the router, I like channels 1, 6, and 11 in the US.
3. For wireless connections, try moving either the wireless router/AP or the wireless computer. Even a couple of feet will sometimes make a big difference.
4. Update the network drivers (wired and wireless) on your computer to the latest available.
5. Update the firmware to the latest version available on the manufacturer's site.
6. Reset the router to factory defaults and reconfigure.

Many times these measures will resolve a lot of intermittent issues.

[K-chan]

I know this is going to sound uh .. stupid, but what is 'firmware'? And .. I should probably update that since I don't think I have ... How do I go about updating that and my drivers for the wireless?

[JohnWill]

Go to the Dynex website and find their support section. They should have firmware downloads available. Firmware is just software that's programmed into non-vol memory.