Originally Posted By: mlord
I always, *always*, mount these gadgets on the wall, vertically. For better airflow. Usually sideways, on the wall.

Perhaps that's why they never die here at the rates they seem to for other people?


Good idea, can't hurt. I'll try that when the next box arrives. I had the previous boxes on a shelf in a closet, by themselves with lots of air around them, ambient temperature probably 78-80F. In theory, that should do the job. My temptation with the new box is to open the case and drill lots of holes, but with all these "metamaterial" antennas (antennae?) inside the case these days, that's probably a bad idea.

If and when the new box fails, I'll pursue one of these Draytek modems and I'll move up one notch in the hardware quality / price point game and look at boxes like the Netgear ProSafe SRXN3205 (no DSL modem, but a lifetime warranty, costs $200 after rebate) or the Cisco WRVS4400N ($189, but only a 3 year warranty). One would hope these boxes are engineered slightly better than the cost-reduced cheapo routers.