Shooter Grrl Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Okay guys, Santa RB has promised me a wireless router. I've been online the past hour looking at these and honestly, the terminology might as well be greek for all I understand it. I've seen transfer rates from 11 mpbs to 108 mpbs - it would appear however, that these rates are dependent on which letter is behind the 802.11 whatever! I've seen prices from $49.99 to $249.99 - and the price doesn't appear to be based on anything tangible. So can someone explain, IN ENGLISH the bare facts of going wireless? Oh - some details you may need to know... I have one desktop that will remain wired, 2 printers - can go either way, and the laptop, which definitely is going wireless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Hi Kathy, Happy Holidays to you, David and all your feline family. Some may disagree, but for the bux I think the Linksys WRT54G 4 port wireless router is a good value. Staples online has them for $59.94. I have been using one at home and another on our office LAN for the past two years with no problems whatsoever. They are easy to configure (browser based), reliable (for me), handle mixed configs well (B & G) and don’t care whether the clients are PC or Mac as it is a hardware and software independent device. You will need client machines with wireless cards to use it of course, but you already know that, right? The speed your WiFi clients connect will be determined by the capability of the wireless card in them (802.11B, or 802.11G). B is 11 mbs and G is 54 mbs. The built in hardware firewall works well enough for the average home LAN and the WiFi security is solid if you enable the MAC restrictions and WEP. I use mine as WiFi points with other routers handling the LAN, but this unit will function quite well as the Ethernet router in a small home LAN as well. I give this product 4 stars for good value and good performance. I have 4 clients using them at home and their offices and they are doing the job very well. Caveat. Linksys has some issues with accepting certain DNS standards in their construction specifications so they are not fully compatible with dynamic DNS update clients without some fancy footwork, but this will only be a hindrance if you want to run a webserver out of your broadband connection and need an outside dynamic DNS referral service. Not a big thing really. -- Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 I use the b/g SMC wireless, available for $34.99 from New Egg after a $25 rebate (they say they are out unitl 12/28, but Newegg is reliable about updating their availability, and you can add yourself to an "auto notify" list) http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc....-129-015&depa=0 If you want all of the above, but a built in USB printer port you can spend $77 for a different SMC model: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc....-129-014&depa=0 I've tested one of these and it also works nicely (though I have not yet tested the printer port). Shipping on each is $4.99 from Newegg. Both support WPA as well as the older WEP. The SMC routers are often delivered with older firmware, which is easily corrected by a visit to www.smc.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted December 25, 2004 Author Share Posted December 25, 2004 Hi Kathy,Happy Holidays to you, David and all your feline family. The speed your WiFi clients connect will be determined by the capability of the wireless card in them (802.11B, or 802.11G). B is 11 mbs and G is 54 mbs. Hey Geoff, back atya with the holiday greetings I have a card that my brother gave me, it's 802.11b - so... I guess I shouldn't worry about the g, heh ! Are the routers with the cable modems reliable? I'd love to reduce the hardware on my desk! Rob - neither of my printers are USB (old and free!) What is WPA and WEP? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Are the routers with the cable modems reliable? I'd love to reduce the hardware on my desk! IME if you don’t use the service providers hardware of choice (IOW from them), it is hard to get along well with them if config issues arise later, or at first and you have a semi-trained tech on the phone. I just think it is better to let the service provider be responsible for any hardware that negotiates the actual socket with them. This usually means paying the rental fee for their modem instead of optioning to buy from them (check the service contract details). If lightning, or pretty much anything takes it out, that part of any fixing is not your responsibility. I put my cable modem at the cable entrance point in my garage along with my main Ethernet router. This made running Ethernet to the rooms upstairs more efficient. My WiFi access point router is directly in the middle of the garage right on the ceiling which puts it on an equal radius to the whole house and keeps all of the hardware outa upstairs. If I need a couple Ethernet points anywhere upstairs, I slap in a cheap 10/100 hub. If you have Centronics type Parallel connections on your printers, I have an old Ethernet to Parallel printer coupling device. It works but will require some IP configuration to get it talking. You are welcome to it and a couple of 25’ Parallel interconnect cables I also have kicking around if you want to give it a go. Printing on wire kinda defeats the reason for WiFi IMHO. -- Seasons Greetings to All Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Hi Kathy,Happy Holidays to you, David and all your feline family. The speed your WiFi clients connect will be determined by the capability of the wireless card in them (802.11B, or 802.11G). B is 11 mbs and G is 54 mbs. Hey Geoff, back atya with the holiday greetings I have a card that my brother gave me, it's 802.11b - so... I guess I shouldn't worry about the g, heh ! Are the routers with the cable modems reliable? I'd love to reduce the hardware on my desk! Rob - neither of my printers are USB (old and free!) What is WPA and WEP? WEP = Wireless Encryption Protocol, WPA = Wireless Protected Access. WPA is better than WEP, and some older routers do WEP only. It's worth turning WEP on when you install the router, and you may also wish to consider turning SSID broadcast off (though this means a bit more manual configuration on your PC) and enabling MAC address filtering if you know all the systems which will be using your conneciton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detlef Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 the Linksys WPS11 is a wireless-in, parallel port out printer server and works very well on my old Apple LaserWriter with parallel/serial/Apple ports (no USB). Don't do your neighbors the favor of i) not changing the default wireless router password and/or ii) not enabling encryption (no WPA/WEP often leads to WTF slow access speeds because you're sharing). oh, and what is IOU (I know ICU and IUD, but IOU...)? --Detlef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dajarrel Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Detlef I.O.U. = I owe you. commonly left when husbands screw up and don't get a gift to the house in time. Husband usually blames lateness on UPS, Fedex, USPS, solar flares and intestinal gas. SG, My son bought the Linksys model WRT54G wireless-G router for my wife's laptop. I am looking at the box (that's all he will let me play with) and see that it is backward compatable to the -B systems. He used it a few days at his office before bringing it home and my wife's computer runs great on it. Even though you have the -B card, you may want to get the -G router in case you ever get another computer or wireless card. just a thought. dj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detlef Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 thanks for the TLA training. I guess in case of IOU you don't need an IUD, but you may end up in an ICU yes, get the top speed router router, you may end up driving a lot more stuff than that one b card. Once you get hooked to WiFi, you can drive your whole home stereo system and more computers with it... Detlef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmccrock Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Santa RB has promised me a wireless router For me, computing is more like a tool thing. If I need it, I get it. No Santa required. Guns are not tools; so Santa is required The 108 Mb/s speed is proprietary, so do not expect them to work across vendors. If you want the 108, buy all the same brand. Having a 4-port Ethernet switch in the wireless router is handy, unless you already have one. I have seen a cable modem with it built in. My Direcway box does not. I was staying at an RV Park with Wifi. The Dlink (Di-624) router had to be reset every 2-3 days, so I would not recommend that one. Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 After owning a Linksys router for about a month, you couldn't give me a Linksys stapler. What a piece of worthless crap. I had to reboot it once or twice a day. I bought a D-link router at Office Depot for $35 and it ran circles around the Linksys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cking Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Some questions etc. Depending on how you are connected to world will matter. Broadband DSL or cable and if you have a modem or a router now in place. Easy way to tell is click on start, run, type in cmd enter. a black box will pop up run the command ipconfig enter. If your ip address is 192.xxx.xxx.xxx or 10.xxx.xxx.xxx something you have a router/NAT box between you and the internet. If you ip address is something like 65.xxx.xxx.xxx or 204.xxx.xxx.xxx then you have modem. The linksys box's work fine, don't mail order on this kind of item, because it much easier to get support local and return the box if you can't get it going. Because it ain't very easy to understand all this stuff. don't work about speed, they all are faster than what you can use. Just make sure the letters and numbers on you wireless cards and new box are same. If you are on modem then the box will have to logon to system for you, complicated to setup. PPP authentican etc. If you have a router, it is easier, tell box to setup as switch/hub, and you don't need NAT. If you already have multiple computers directly connect to the access device you have a router. Confusing isn't it. I design and install WAN networks using ATM, Frame Relay, DSL, MPLS, P-to-P links etc. Install access device, routers, firewalls, vpns, etc. Hell I get confused. There is a place called dsl reports that has an excellent forum where you can people to give you step by step help. Start there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri Burst Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Linksys WRT54G or the WRT54GS is the only way to go. I just installed one for a friend in NC and I have been using one for over 1.5 years. There is also modified firmware available for it that gives more feature and allows you to boost the output signal. The GS model does have more RAM than the starndard G model. Don't go with any router that is in the B standard. Very old technology and most of these type of routers do NOT support the newest security encryption standards (WPA) and what they are using can be cracked (WEP). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detlef Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 don't work about speed, they all are faster than what you can use oh no! When (e.g.) you use it to broadcast music throughout your house, this alone will fill up about 50% of the g bandwidth. As was said in the previous post, get the fastest one you can buy... --D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cking Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 broadcasting music around the house. Yes if you tuned into multiple stations around the house, or have a server that everyone connects to and plays different tunes. Most compressed music uses less than 128Kbps which is .128Mbps. So many different ways to do this. Most DSL connections are 1Mbps down and 384Kps up. That's not guaranteed. All forms of broadband are shared connections at some point up the stream, and carriers don't buy more bandwidth until people complain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted December 28, 2004 Author Share Posted December 28, 2004 I am now surfing wirelessly - woot Sorry Eric, but I bought a DLink. They were offering a router and a card in 802.11g for $79.99 (with a $20 rebate!) Installations was a breeze for the router and the card and I'm a happy grrl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJPoLo Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 Guns are not tools S'cuse me??? You got some 'splainin' to do... -Chet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmccrock Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 Guns are not tools S'cuse me??? You got some 'splainin' to do I am neither cop nor soldier nor subsistance hunter. Nope, tools are for work. Guns are for fun. For me. Installations was a breeze for the router Kath, That is Dlink's rep. Could you let us know what model and followup in a few days? Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_aos Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 Linksys is the only way to go. Try and use WPA if at all possible. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted December 28, 2004 Author Share Posted December 28, 2004 I did not enable any of the security, firewall or encryption. I'm out in the country, in a not real forward thinking part of the country... so even if my neighbors DID know enough about computers to use my connection, they're not close enough *physically* to use it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 I did not enable any of the security, firewall or encryption. I'm out in the country, in a not real forward thinking part of the country... so even if my neighbors DID know enough about computers to use my connection, they're not close enough *physically* to use it Cool. If I ever have to shoot a job in your part of Tennessee, I know which driveway to pull into to transmit images..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 Sorry Eric, but I bought a DLink. Uhhh, Kath, I'm the only one here that hates Linksys. I *liked* my D-Link router and WAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted December 28, 2004 Author Share Posted December 28, 2004 Cool. If I ever have to shoot a job in your part of Tennessee, I know which driveway to pull into to transmit images..... Uh, Nik - you have a job in this part of the country and DON';T come visit there will be major hell to pay Not only can you use my network, I'll feed you even! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted December 28, 2004 Author Share Posted December 28, 2004 Sorry Eric, but I bought a DLink. Uhhh, Kath, I'm the only one here that hates Linksys. I *liked* my D-Link router and WAP. Oh - guess I wasn't paying real close attention... as usual! I have always used netgear myself, and had a netgear router and card in my hands, but this dlink deal was too good to pass up! Once I saw Linksys was owned by Cisco, they went into the *no way* category. My Dad's company went bankrupt cause of Cisco and I will never ever put money in their pockets! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 Bottom line is almost all of the D-Link/NetGear/Linksys/SMC/A-Com/etc/etc/etc all have about the same guts (in many cases, identical guts.. saves on FCC certification costs) The difference is the software load and which set of guts they choose to use. Linksys and D-Link seem to do that best at the moment, but the others aren't bad.. just can be more of a pain to get going. Were I getting a router tomorrow, I'd get an A+B+G router from D-link, but you have to be careful with A routers to get the very latest chipsets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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