SO I have tried a couple different brands, Netgear, Linksys, D-Link, and with each of them I keep having to reset the damn thing like *every* day to keep it from dropping it's signal to nil and losing connectivity on all my other boxes.

Does anyone know of a router that either auto resets itself, or at least keeps the signal going for ~ a week or so?

If you're having those kinds of problems with different equipment, I would suspect you either have poor power at that circuit or a lot of RF interference.

Almost all of those WAPs share the same basic chips and software -- I've been using a Belkin N+ reasonably successfully for about a year though, if that helps any. They run about $40.

Belkin > the rest, IMO.

In all likelyhood it's the plethora of AT&T gateways around me, the 2wire modem/routers they hand out seem to broadcast their weakass signal a mile can see all of my neighbor's.

Though I've been having the same issues despite moving out to the suburbs. So I don't think it's a wiring issue. Did ditch my phone and moved the ole baby monitor back some.

However, it's so bad that I can't even connect on my phone's wifi sitting 5 feet from it after a day or two =\ Think I'll try out the belkin as that's the brand I have for my PC wireless adapter.

If you can, try setting the WAP to a different band (I think they divvied up WiFi into like 2-11, and most of them seem to try to stick around 5). I had to do that in an apartment. Alternatively, crack your neighbors and just use their working one. They'll never know.

Seems it doesn't matter who makes the router. If you leave it on for hours on end with heavy use it eventually will have some degradation. My fix for that was a laptop cooler under the modem and router and to put them both on a cheapo Home Depot special digital lamp timer so they both get cycled every night at some O-dark-thirty hour when I know I won't be awake. Thus, no problems.

Other than that I have a D-link Gamer lounge router (DGL-4500). The lcd screen is kind worthless but the router itself is stable enough to run a decent home network. As far as interference etc there is sometimes some line of sight issues if you have your wireless router right next your wireless NIC. Try moving the router futher away in the room from your computer or getting an external antenna if you have an internal card or using the USB cord and base if you have a USB dongle and the vendor was nice enough to give you those items. Sometimes changing the location/position of recievers from the router can make a bit of difference when even in the same room.

For what it's worth, my cheapo WAP54G hadn't been power cycled for about a year before I finally retired it for a U-verse modem/router combo (which also never power cycles). You shouldn't have to resign yourself to crappy performance from those commodity boxes. I don't know how much difference it made, but I was running DD-WRT on it instead of the Linksys firmware.

Definitely try changing channels, like Malse suggested.

Also try relocating it. Take something mobile like a laptop and wander around your space trying to find where your neighbors' signals are the weakest. Then, try putting your access point there.

If you can or know someone who might have one try getting your hands on one of those spectrum testers. I was having similar wonky issues at home and I borrowed it from our networking guys to discover that my location of my router wasn't a good spot b/c my microwave and cordless phones were interfering. Once I relocated and changed channels my signal went thru the roof. I also had some old old wireless NiC in an old PC that was just spitting out weird garbage. I replaced it too.

There used to be a free signal tester but I couldn't get it to work which is why I went with using the spectrum analyzer.

I'd suggest making sure your firmware is current too. I've never messed with the DD-WRT stuff maybe someday I will :O

Don't just use any channel that isn't taken--use one that is far from the channels used nearby, since they overlap quite a bit. In general, the channel should be set to 1, 6, or 11, I believe.

Channels only being 1-11 is only applicable if you're on the 2.4Ghz spectrum. Each channel represents a different frequency, like a radio station. The 2.4Ghz spectrum is susceptible to interference, as fil said, from microwaves, cordless phones, etc.

You could consider going with a N router, which can operate on the 5Ghz frequency.. this would reduce the likelihood of interference on your chosen frequency as well as give you more channels (frequencies) to choose from.

But, that's really only going to help you if you're having signal issues. Also bear in mind that higher frequencies generally have poorer penetration, so you could be opening up a new bag of problems.

If you're connection is fine, then going to crap and a reboot fixes it, chances are it's not an interference issue; it's probably poorly written firmware, as many MANY home routers have. I recently needed a new router and since most of the devices I connect with are not N, I got a WRT54GL and installed DD-WRT lite on it. It's a solid piece of hardware and a great router OS. Works great.. never have to reboot it. There are some bulkier DD-WRT builds that won't load on it because it doesn't have enough onboard memory for the firmware, but the lite version does everything I need it to and more.

Something you might consider is looking over the list of supported routers (http://dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices) and see if there is a DD-WRT build for the one you're currently using.

I should warn you, though - if you decide to install DD-WRT on your current router or a new one, make SURE you follow the instructions exactly. You're messing with the firmware.. if it gets messed up, there is no reset to factory firmware button. You could brick your device.

That said, the instructions are pretty straight forward, and I am happy with mine.

I'm actually having no troubles with my Siemens Gigaset SE567

I have had good success with the Linksys E3000 (their new top-of-the-line thing at around $160). It's simultaneous 2.4-5GHz dual-band N router with fast throughput, good range and gaming stability. Also comes with a network accessible USB port on it for external drives.