wireless router choices. . .

[CaptTrev]

hey guys

I'm looking into setting up my house with a wiress internet connection.

I'm looking at a linksys 802.11g router.

Can anybody (Rich P) give me any info/ideas/help in doing so?

I currently have a cable modem setup and a Linksys 4-port hub/router w. switch that i have 2 wired connection to.

I recenlty got a laptop (sony vaio) thru work with built in wireless and i want to use it at home.

I'm thinking (hopefully correctly) that the 802.11g will be the best thing to go with, as it seems the fastest and has longest range

Is it simply a matter of buying the unit, plugging it in to power and plugging inthe ethernet cable from the cable modem?

thanks!
CaptTrev

(my girlfriend is just shaking her head, as she thinks its funny that everytime i do anything like this i always have to look up/ask about it on my jeep site)
:laugh3:

 

[RichP]

I would look at SMC and Netgear, The SMC7000 series have a print server built in, handy item as well as a serial port for a dialup modem failover. Netgear has the same but they are quite a bit more pricey. I like the printserver option, saves having a printer and pc dedicated and on all the time...

 

[casm]

Linksys WRT54G. I've had mine for about a year-and-a-half, and love it. The quality of their products improved by about nine thousand percent once Cisco took them over. It also retains the 4-port switch you're already using.

Avoid D-Link like the plague.

As for installation, you pretty much nailed it on the head. It'll be largely the same as your current setup.

 

[bgcntry72]

Tough one.
I am a network engineer, but I am not RichP.
Want to give advice, but don't know if I am qualified.
Need more martini.

 

[CaptTrev]

Tough one.
I am a network engineer, but I am not RichP.
Want to give advice, but don't know if I am qualified.
Need more martini.

I didnt mean to offend anyone here, the question is open to anyone of course...thats why i posted it, and didnt simply PM anyone.

I only mentioned RichP becuase I know hes is involved with computers.

Any and all advice is very welcome.

Can someone please explain the print server option to me.

currently in my household i have 2 PCs and 2 printers. Neither printer has a port for an ethernet card/cable, only USB cable to PC.

Would i be able to print to my desktop PC printer via wireless if the PC was on?

Another major concern for me is a firewall. My linksys router seems to have some sort of a built in firewall--and it seems to block desired functions of my PC.
for example: I have access to the security camera system at work (open eye brand software) and i have no problem viewing the cameras wheni am at work, but when im at home, i cannot access them. so i brought my laptop home, plugged into my ethernet cable and tired to view the cameras--but it didnt work.

is there any way to get this to work? will the wireless router be the same way?

Sorry if these are stupid questionz, or if the symptoms/problems i am having arent even related to the router...

but i am still interested in which wireless router to get and why.

thanks

CaptTrev

 

[ChiXJeff]

Linksys WRT54G. I've had mine for about a year-and-a-half, and love it. The quality of their products improved by about nine thousand percent once Cisco took them over. It also retains the 4-port switch you're already using.

Avoid D-Link like the plague.

As for installation, you pretty much nailed it on the head. It'll be largely the same as your current setup.

Actually, depending on who you talk to, Linksys quality has gone up or down since the acquisition by Cisco.

My g/f & I both have Linksys WRT54Gs running with the Linksys firmware. There's aftermarket firmware available that allows you to play all kinds of games with them. The firewall is probably similar to what you have now. The firewall is a *GOOD* thing. It's supposed to keep everybody else out of your home network.

Once the hardware is installed, wireless or wired doesn't matter. Whether you're on 802.11g, 10BaseT, Cheapernet, etc., it's all just transmission layer. You should be in good shape if you could print while wired.

As far as getting into your office stuff, that's another animal, I suspect you need a VPN client to perform secure tunneling. I would certainly NOT expect to see security camera servers available directly to the public Internet.

 

[RichP]

The print server is a normal parellel printer connector, if you have one printer with the wide style connection it will connect to the SMC or Netgear. A print server that is on one of these allow you to connect the printer directly to the router and send print jobs to it directly. It does not have to be connected to a pc, if the printers only have a usb port it won't work without a usb>parallel adapter, not worth it.
I have 3 printers here, one is a brother full duplex laser, thats connected to the SMC7008ABR, an HP T55 all in one connected to a workstation and an epson color jet connected to my solaris box that also acts a print server for my unix systems, they also use the brother laser on the SMC.
As for the remote camera you need to find out what ports the camera and software uses and open those ports in the firewall, then it will start working. Pay attention to the packet type, UDP and/or TCP when you write down those ports.

 

[Glenn B]

Cost wise, get Linksys, IMHO. They works great for a small local LAN. If you are worried about the "rugged" look, get a Netgear. Either will work, just get oit local and with a warranty.

 

[CaptTrev]

thanks for all for all of the great information guys...

I'll let you if i have any more questions.

thank you

capttrev

:us:

 

[Lore5]

We have got the linksys 802.11g router and it works great.

 

[KIAKillerXJ]

even though currently he is using a router/hub with built in switch, could he just hook up the new wirless adatpter too the switch, keep the other computers wired, and have wireless acess from his notebook?

 

[CaptTrev]

even though currently he is using a router/hub with built in switch, could he just hook up the new wirless adatpter too the switch, keep the other computers wired, and have wireless acess from his notebook?

this is basically, exacltly what i want to do!

 

[imma honky]

I have the linksys 1102whatever. It's nice and all, but it wasn't as easy to setup as it is made out to be. it works, was cheap, and has a nice fw. If i could do it again, I would go with what Rich said, the SMC.
I run my desktop, laptop and xbox through it, no probs.

 

[ChiXJeff]

even though currently he is using a router/hub with built in switch, could he just hook up the new wirless adatpter too the switch, keep the other computers wired, and have wireless acess from his notebook?

Yup, this is usually how mine is set up at home.

 

[KIAKillerXJ]

to me that seems like a good option- and how i would do my own. I have my firewall (running off freebsd) doing all the routing and ip assigning, then into the switch. You'll have faster file transfer between your wired computers assuming its 100mb/s ; Use one of your free ports on your switch for your notebook and you can surf the net or even tranfer files- just a bit slower.

 

[XJ_ranger]

i do some home instalation of cat5, and network computer for firnds and family - to make a few bucks on the side - and have always gone with Netgear because "its the best" and have never had a problem. Only had a problem with a D-Link Router that my sisters friend had laying around that they wanted to use - and golly gee wilikers batman - IT Failed!
so - thats all i run at home...
no problems uploading and updating my website over the wireless nor playing doom 3 over the wireless - so it must be ok...

 

[JnJ]

I'm running a D-Link with no problems. I'm not a puter geek but it was easy to setup. My PC is wired and my daughters our wireless (one PC, one Laptop).