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Do you have a home modem/router that occasionally doesn't function exactly like it should. I find this weird behavior completely unpredictable and I can only guess that maybe it is overheating. Does this happen with all home network gear as they prefer to not add fans to keep noise to a minimum.

What brand of home networking gear have you used for at least 2 years without ever requiring a restart?

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Routers? None. Well except a Cisco ASA device, but I wouldn't call it a "normal" home router/firewall.

Switches: I've always had great luck with Netgear switches at home.

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I've had really good experience with Asus WL-500g router. I've installed openwrt on it and I don't remember when I had to reboot it last...

WRT54g can also be quite reliable if you flash a different firmware on it (openwrt seems to be very stable)

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  • Same here, for the last 1.5 years, except with DD-WRT Mega. Very stable.
    – hyperslug
    Jul 15, 2009 at 10:33
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I run a pair of older ZyXEL routers: an x550 functions as the main brain which handles all of the heavy lifting (DHCP, QoS, NAT, etc.) and a p330 sits behind my TV to provide access to items in my entertainment center. The p330 connects back to the x550 via wifi so I do not have to run Ethernet cable all over the house. Despite the back-and-forth traffic this setup creates between the two routers I have not noticed a significant speed hit to my wireless devices.

I have experienced one failure in this setup in the 3 years it has been running and that was when a power surge killed my x550 which ZyXEL replaced under warranty.

Both of my units have been discontinued in favor of Wireless N models and I plan on upgrading if/when these start to fail.

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I doubt very much you're going to find "home network" aka consumer-grade equipment that is reliable enough to never "require" a restart. There's a varying degree of quality, and consumer experiences, much like with phone companies. Everyone's had a problem with some brand, and advises everyone against that.

Personally, I've had the best luck with:

Routers: Linksys WRT54G, though I replace the stock firmware with DD-WRT (mainly for the VPN feature and the less crappy interface). D-Link DGL4100, while I don't like the interface much and it doesn't take any 3rd party firmware, it's been a pretty reliable device.

Switches: D-Link 8 port gigabit switch (don't remember the model #) and a variety of netgear 8 port 100mb switches.

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Have had great experience with Vigor routers from Draytek

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I really like my netgear router. I've been using it for 3 years and it runs like a champ.

I had a linksys and a D-Link before that. The wireless was very unreliable on both. I settled on netgear because it just worked. I never lose wireless. The only time I lose internet connection is because of my ISP. My internal network never goes down. I'd recommend netgear to anyone.

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