11 replies to this topic

[Slightly Wonky Robob]

Well as alot of you know.. i don't know that much about hardware, internet related things or networks (shows what an a-level in ict does for ya ) and unfortunately this all 3 rolled up into one :S

So basically i want to get a wireless router, so i can connect my laptop to my pc (to the internet). I don't really know where to start here, what am im looking for in a router?... what do i need in a router..? and how easy are they to set up.

Lets say price isn't much of an issue... but that doesn't mean i want to spend loads of money on something that i'm not gonna use to it's full potential.

Don't know if you need to know comp specs or anything, but i'll provide if needed.

Help would be greatly appreciated

[Warbz]

basically you want one with a good range and good securtiy features. suach as a built in firewall.
i think you should expect to spend about 70 - 80 pound on a decent one.
Belkin tend to be quite a good brand.

This is a ghood one IMO, tho i only spent 2 mins looking.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/part...LESS+ROUTER.htm
you might wanna check ebuyer for a cheaper/better one.
and maybe wait for a reply from someone like PotP who obviously has more knowledge than myself

[ChesterM]

I seem to recall that wireless for some reason works better one way than another. Meaning that is will give a better signal going down than up (or vice versa, forgot which).

[Prophet of the Pimps]

keep the wifi device as high as possible because when the signal travels from top to bottom there are no objects blocking its path but if you keep it on the groud then your furniture, display cabinet, closet, cat etc block the path and fucks up the signal.

I personally have an industrial strength router from planex. It fucking rocks. I can catch a signal from it four floors below and it is powerful enough to send a signal through 4 thick brick walls to my neigbours house with whom i share my net connection with. I have my wifi connected to the modem but i know a few routers that combine the fuction fo both the modem and a wifi router in one device to free up the desk clutter.

So basic question to ask before you get a router.
What kind of connection do you have?
Cable, Dial up (Lol WTF!!!), DSL, ADSL, LAN

How much area has to be covered for wifi access?
Is it all on one floor or do you even want access on other floors either below or above you.

Do you give a crap about security?
do you need a tinfoil hat to go along with crazy ass encryption and shit or a simple password protected access would do

Are you gonna be doing 1337 haxor stuff?
meh if you are a bit geeky like me and like tinkering with stuff then there are a few router with which you do some pretty kickass but complicated stuff

Do you use P2P?
Some routers can't handle too many connections that many P2P software make and some routers just suck at auto configuring port forwarding so you get slow ass speeds.

[Slightly Wonky Robob]

1. Internet to be specific: http://www.thomson-broadband.co.uk/codepag...p;ProductID=471

2. Only a small area (only got a small house) roughly 15-20m long on 2 floors

3. Not too bothered about security... just a basic password protection will do

4. nope

5. Yes i do

[Jamie^]

Should have taken computing instead!

[Dauth]

Ive found it worthwhile to get a modem/router combo, you can quite easily set them to the correct settings to mimic a small standard modem.

Go for a fairly big company, paying for a brand does work in most cases. You wont need anything faster than 54Mbps since most internet connections are sub 8Mbps.

I recommend putting on MAC address filtering as its fairly effective and very simple to set up.

[G-sus]

Dauth, on 27 Nov 2007, 22:50, said:

I recommend putting on MAC address filtering as its fairly effective and very simple to set up.

it helps to keep people from random/automatic joining your WLAN, but if one wants to go in there, it can be circumvented in a matter of seconds without any skillz.

[Prophet of the Pimps]

whats the budget bob?

[Slightly Wonky Robob]

Like i said, price isn't too much of an issue (got about 3-4k in my bank).. but i don't wanna spend loads of money on something that i'm not gonna use

[Prophet of the Pimps]

I would suggest this
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/60003

Pretty good for a house. my friends have it in their house and they get pretty decent coverage through out the house and considering that out her most houses are made of brick and not wood means that you may get even better performance then they do.

And if you want to burn some more money then try this one
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134992
Cant say much about it but it does support the next gen n connectivity and supposedly has a better range and since it doesn't have three antennas i don't really question that. I am suggesting this one mainly based on specs and not on personal experience so a bit of judgement call from your part is required.

This has good review too
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/84217
But i have no experience with netgear products but reviews have been good.

In the end Anything from Cisoc, Dlink, Netgear, Belkin and Linksys thats more then 40 pounds should do well. Although since your main requirement needs more range covrage and use of P2P so i would suggest go for the more powerful ones.

[jnengland77]

I personally like Linksys that have modifiable firmware. I like tomato firmware; it's easy and I think it allows you you to turn up the power of antenna(s).
Also has a Quality of Service (QoS), which I think helps P2P stuff. Sorry I've never used it before.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/63763

I can also recommend this Buffalo router, which can also run the tomato firmware. Although I've never owned a Buffalo I think another firmware (DD-WRT) said the Buffalo has the best range.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/97222

Here is the link to tomato firmware. It's easy to set up, too.
http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato

~jnengland77