convincing an old dog wireless is ok

[tris-]

a wireless router is now required since we moved house. my dad is convinced they are shit, break when your not looking and the wireless adapter goes on drinking binges in the middle of the night.

id rather there wasnt meters of wire going eveywhere so i need to convince him that wireless networking isnt naughty.

if anyone is up for it, attempt the following

1. show me a good cheap wireless router that you personally recommend
2. supply an article that makes it look like jesus
3. if you like, put some boobs on the picture to help him decide

 

[WPKenny]

http://www.netgear.co.uk/extra/h_wirelessrouter_dg834g.php

I can personally recommend it as being pretty good, also all them awards underneath it look quite fancy too.

I don't have time to 'shop the boobs onto it tho.

 

[Lazarus]

http://www.netgear.co.uk/extra/h_wirelessrouter_dg834g.php

I can personally recommend it as being pretty good, also all them awards underneath it look quite fancy too.

I don't have time to 'shop the boobs onto it tho.

i'll back up WPK too. I just went from wired to Wireless and picked theNetgear. Its been fantastic.

Got my main PC hardwired to it, with my laptop and another desktop via wireless. I can wander around the house (2 storey), out into the Garden or even sit outside in the car and get a near perfect signal.

Never had a problem with it and its a piece of piss to setup.

 

[Shovel]

The Netgear is great. However, avoid 'cheap' at all costs. I bought a cheap PCI adapter for my Wireless access and it was a crock of shite (whereas the Wireless in my iBook is outstandingly super-awesome).

Buy branded kit, don't scrimp on costs. It's often recommended that you get matched brands.

 

[Clown]

And don't get Linksys.

 

[fatbusinessman]

And don't get Linksys.

Why? I've generally found Linksys to be pretty damned good. Belkin's been a bit dodgy though.

 

[Clown]

Belkin has been fine for me
I had a linksys pci card, which was about 2m away from my Netgear router. 11mb link for a 54mb card, 50% signal. Never again.

 

[xane]

Avoid Belkin "G" (124Mbps) NICs, I have had untold problems with both hardware and software. My Belkin PC Card for the Laptop is fine, but then it didn't use the same drivers.

 

[inactionman]

After my old DG384G packed up on me, and the GT replacement was shite, I got this, it's a cracking router, nice and cheap and is ADSL2+ ready:

http://www-uk.linksys.com/servlet/S...940633&pagename=Linksys/Common/VisitorWrapper

Use it with this on the 2nd pc, no problems:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=152540

Put it this way, wireless is a hell of a lot cheaper than wired, I mean do you run extensions for phones anymore or do you use wireless phones?

The reason why he's probably against wireless is security, and that's relatively easy to address:

* Tie down to wireless to the MAC (physical) address of the cards you have, that way no-one can use your wireless network without their card being explicitly configured on the router, a bit of a pain with new devices, but it works
* Use WPA and the highest level of encryption that you can, along with a pre-shared key

This should fix any problems!

One thing to bear in mind though, how old is the property? As really old walls are crap for wireless, particularly if they have lots of metal in them!

 

[smurkin]

I have the netgear and its pretty good. However, if you Google a little you'll find all is not well with Netgear wireless routers. Have a look at the forums on netgear.com. Lots of complaints. Power supplies and overheating are particular problems, as well as connection drop-outs.

 

[Chilly]

dont buy d-link. don't even use wireless, latency is too high and when you get a few people on it, it grinds to a halt

 

[Dommers]

Well everyone seems to be contradicting each toher lol. Just try going for once and seeing if it works. If not can't you cap the wire?

 

[ManDevil]

Xyzel routers seem pretty good, I have the 662HW and it hasn't disconnected once in the few months I've had it. Cost £100-ish and has built in virus scanner. Have seen the 660HW for around £50 though if you want something cheaper.

 

[SheepCow]

I'd say avoid USB wifi adapters at all costs too

 

[RandomBastard]

I picked up a 3Com office connect combined adslmodem/router/wifi ap for £45, ftom expansys i think. Works wonders altho under WPA it can get sketchy during v large file transfers

 

[Ch3tan]

Netgear