Recommend Wireless Kit

Canis Lupus

Morning,

As a complete noob when it comes to wireless networking I need some advice on some equipment.

Things to be connected:

My desktop.
Flatmates laptop.

I use BB for gaming etc, she will only be browsing the interweb.

So what equipment should I get and is it likely I will suffer from a degradation in speed over my wired BB? The only phone socket is downstairs so the signal will need to pass through the floor to upstair. Distance from the master phone socket isn't that far tho. Say....25ft?

So what router do I need and will this just sit downstairs next to the phone socket?

What pci card is recommended for my desktop.

What card is recommended for the laptop?

Finally, is it easy to set up and configure?

Cheers for any advice.

CL.

Saruman

I have a wireless router for sale/trade that will do you.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=51183692#post51183692
As for the other gear.. well argos is pretty good. The laptop get a PCMCIA card and the PC, well i think a USB one tends to be more reliable than internal PCI cards for some reason.

I use Belkin stuff.. cheap enough and pretty good too.

irlrobins

Right assuming you have Broadband using DSL and already have a DSL modem from your ISP.

Best router out there is Linksys WRT54G. Top quality, easy to use and to set up. In fact if you have linksys cards in all the machines, it's possible to set up with a touch of a button.

As for wireless cards for PC and laptop, again Linksys are the best I find.

Setup would be:

Phone --> DSL Modem --> Wireless Router --> Wireless signal --> PC/Laptop upstairs.

As regards speeds a wired connection from PC to router will give u a max speed of 100mbps. Wireless would give you 54mbps. In practice both figures are a little less. But as your broadband connection is prob only 2-4mbps max you're not going to see any difference in wired over wireless for browsing and playing games. Only difference would be if u are transferring large files from PC to laptop.

ChityWest

What you need is

one wireless router/adsl modem (some also come with built in hardware firewall etc - so shop around)
One wireless pci card.
One pcmcia/usb wireless adaptor for the laptop (if it doesnt have built in wireless)

The speed difference is negligible in my opinion.
Downstairs front of the house => upstairs back of the house is not problem at all. Dont forget to change the routers default password asap and also set up some sort of security WEP at the least (especially if you live in an apartment complex).

Might be an idea to get the same brand for each of the bits you need. A lot of wireless cards have their own software for running them and bypass the built in windows wireless wizards. If you get same brand your pretty much guaranteed total compatibility - though having said that the standards are pretty open in any event.

irlrobins

Saruman wrote:

I use Belkin stuff.. cheap enough and pretty good too.

I disagree and I'm sure others will back me up. Belkin make the shittiest wireless stuff out there.

MunsterCycling

irlrobins wrote:

I disagree and I'm sure others will back me up. Belkin make the shittiest wireless stuff out there.

Have to back you up there irlrobins, cr@p is an insult to crap...;)

irlrobins

MunsterCycling wrote:

Have to back you up there irlrobins, cr@p is an insult to crap...;)

Haha! I knew you would!

Canis Lupus

irlrobins wrote:

Right assuming you have Broadband using DSL and already have a DSL modem from your ISP.

Best router out there is Linksys WRT54G. Top quality, easy to use and to set up. In fact if you have linksys cards in all the machines, it's possible to set up with a touch of a button.

As for wireless cards for PC and laptop, again Linksys are the best I find.

Setup would be:

Phone --> DSL Modem --> Wireless Router --> Wireless signal --> PC/Laptop upstairs.

As regards speeds a wired connection from PC to router will give u a max speed of 100mbps. Wireless would give you 54mbps. In practice both figures are a little less. But as your broadband connection is prob only 2-4mbps max you're not going to see any difference in wired over wireless for browsing and playing games. Only difference would be if u are transferring large files from PC to laptop.

Right okay. Now for the really dumb question. Yeah, I have dsl already and I have the modem which is USB powered.

You state phone to DSL modem. This part has me confused. I was of the impression that the router does it all?

irlrobins

Some routers are in fact a wireless router combined with a dsl modem.

I assumed you had a dsl modem already but that this did not have wireless router capabilities. Therefore you would need to link your modem to the router in order to share the internet connection.

Alternatively you could replace your current DSL modem with a router/dsl modem combo job.

What Model/Type modem do you have at the mo?

Canis Lupus

Ah righty, I have an alcatel speedtouch 330 which was the standard modem that came with BB (I'm in UK btw)

Anyway what therefore would be a good (but not silly expensive) linksys dsl modem/router I could use?

irlrobins

was going to say the Linksys WAG54G router/DSL modem but apparantly it's been discontinued. Next best option would prob be this

If you go the route of separate dsl modem and router, then your current dsl modem will have to go as it can only connect via USB. You'd need one that has an ethernet port to connect it to router. Maybe check to see if your ISP can offer an upgrade.

Canis Lupus

How about this http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=308929

EDIT thats the one you mentioned. So cool I'll get my mits on that dsl modem router and linksys cards to go with it. My flatmates laptop already has a wireless card apparently so she is sorted.

That's that then.

Cheers for the advice guys.

irlrobins

That is just a wireless router. You would still need a DSL modem. Your current modem will not connect to this router as it has no USB ports.

Canis Lupus

I'm a dumbass, could have sworn it was under the modem/router section. Will go with your advice so.

CL.

Saruman

Strange... i have never had a problem with Belkin stuff here.. maybe im just lucky
I would agree Linksys would be among the best.

The one im selling is an all in one combo.. dsl modem,4 port router,wireless all in one.
So something like that would be ideal for him.. my one should be sold so something similar.

Canis Lupus

I live in London which is a bit of a distance from Meath I'd have probably taken it off you otherwise

MunsterCycling

Canis Lupus wrote:

I live in London which is a bit of a distance from Meath I'd have probably taken it off you otherwise

London > Dublin 1 hour flying time
Meath > Dublin 1 hour driving time (as we all know , God only knows where WESTmeath is)

Full return trip 4 hours and 1 for layovers so 5 in total...

DemoniK

I've the DLink DSL-G604T http://www.dlink.co.uk/?go=jN7uAYLx/oIJaWVUDLYZU93ygJVYKuJQSNvhLPG3yV3oVo57l74tNZwiMqJt7A== for the last 1.5yrs and can certainly recommend it. There is also a packaged version (DSL-904) which has a 54g USB wifi stick included.

Basic firmware in UK/ROI is crap (also only supports vanilla ADSL) - but DLink Russia makes a really good ADSL2 firmware which'll do the 8Mbps download. - info at http://www.expansys.ie/forum.asp?man=D-LIN&code=110551

Just 2 problems I have with it
1. DNS Server occasionaly craps out - appears to be a problem with ipv6 lookups.
2. P2P support isn't great - but again expansys link above has details of how you can telnet on and fix it - works a treat.

Hanging off it I have
- Roku Soundbridge m500 music client
- Sony PSP
- Palm Tungsten X
- DLink DSM-G600 wireless NAS
- Belkin F1UP0001 print server
- Belkin USB Wireless NIC F5D7050 (v1,v2 and v3)
- Intel Centrino laptop

All work flawlessly.

There is a new ADSL2 modem/router from Dlink - the DSL-G624M http://www.dlink.co.uk/?go=jN7uAYLx/oIJaWVUDLYZU93ygJVYKuJQSNvhLPG3yV3oVIB8gK4qOJkhPKBm7z0= which also has MIMO built in, but you'll need MIMO cards to get the best of it and they cost a little bit more

RikD.

MunsterCycling

@ RikD: Why / How are you using IPv6? Has that been rolled out already? Thought that was still in development even though I know MS have a version available in XP.

DemoniK

most linux distros have ipv6 enabled by default. I don't actually want to use it and the router f**ks up anway, so I have to manually disable the ipv6.