advice on Wireless Routers

[Jawinner]

Hi,

I need some advice on wireless routers, I currently have broadband access via NTL (cable) and have a laptop which I need to be able to use in various areas of the house and garden and therefore as a non techie I am abit unsure what I need to purchase, could anyone advise?

I have seen a Belkin 54g wireless cable router advertised, but not sure whether this would be ideal for what I and need and do I need to purchase any other piece(s) of kit?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

Cheers Julie

 

[cjd]

This is a standard wireless router for cable.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000ETX928/203-2773853-4945556

Lots of others but this is the basic one to beat. I am assuming your laptop already has wireless?

You don't need anything else.

You may consider spending a couple of quid more and getting one that has VoIP ports if you want to make telephone calls over it but that's just my obvious bias

 

[confused]

A while ago I would have reccomended Belkin, however recently I have seen no end of problems with both their routers,pci cardsa and dongles, the range is naf and the connection is forever dropping. The linksys in the link posted above isnt too bad, I've come across a few recently and havent seen any major probs with them.

CALV

 

[Niteflyer]

STAY WELL CLEAR OF BELKIN!

You will get a world of pain!

Netgear have been, by far the best I have ever used.

Matt

 

[falconinternetlimited]

We use and recommend either Netgear or D-Link. I know Netgear now sell cable wirless Access Points etc.

All I would say is that as with most computer related things you will always find someone who has a bad thing to say about any manfacturer.

My advice would be to fins a distributor who would be fully prpared to replace / refund in the case of particular difficulties.

Regards,.

Rupert

 

[MyNI]

Depends on your laptop. If it is wireless enabled (e.g. it has centrino or something to that effect) then all you need is the wireless router that you can plug into your cable and you won't need to connect anything else to your laptop. If your laptop isn't wireless enables then you will need to buy a dongle aswell. This usually looks similar to a pen-drive and just sticks into a USB port on your laptop and allows you to your wireless network. Do you have any other computers in the house?

 

[PeteA]

There is a unexpected downside to wireless routers, they can play havoc with your cars central locking system.

Be warned lol

Pete

 

[MyNI]

haha really? Never heard that one before.

 

[PeteA]

Everyone on our estate has problems, it is funny but also somewhat annoying

 

[gary]

I would recommend having a look at the support forums for the various manufacturers to see which ones people are having the most problems with. I initially bought the latest Netgear router because it was on sale - when I couldn't get it to work I had a look at the Netgear forums and found I wasn't the only one! I took it back and got an older version of the router and it's been very good since.

 

[Jawinner]

Many thanks for the replies, I hadn't thought about the fact that my laptop needs to be wireless enabled (I don't think it is!), so I will need additional equipment for that, I don't at present have another computer in the house, but may do in the future.

If there is anymore advice then please let me know - thanks so far it has certainly set me off in the right direction!

Julie

 

[PeteA]

Setting up a router can be painful but worth the hassle when it is sorted.

Pete

 

[falconinternetlimited]

Julie,

Netgear are doing a promotion at the moment when you get a free adapter (either USB, PCMCIA or PCI) if you buy an access point. For your laptop I would recommend either the USB or PCMCIA (if your laptop can support it).

An access point is very useful. It means that you can place the access point wherever a phone line is in your house (usually the higher up in the house the better the coverage you will get) but it means that your pc can be wherever you want it to be so your PC doesn;t need to be next to a phone line. It also is very easy to then setup additional computers on your network and the access point is "always on".

If you want me to quote you for the netgear deal I can get the latest price for you.

Best wishes,

Rupert

 

[Jawinner]

Hi Rupert,

Thanks for the advice, if you could get me a price for the netgear deal that would be great - it would also give me an idea of the sort of cost that I am looking at.

Please send the details direct to my business email.

Many thanks
Julie