I need geek help!

[leighblack]

Thanks to Mother's Day and working a billion hours at Hallmark, I can afford to get a wireless router tomorrow. But I don't know anything about them! Does anyone have any tips of what I should look for? I read up that Linksys routers should be fine, but there are different options and I don't really know what I need. I have cable internet and I'll be the only one using the wireless signal. Any assistance would be appreciated! =)

Also, Rory & Dazee? Would you be okay with going to an 8pm showing of Pirates tomorrow? Do either of you have something going on? I'm still okay with a midnight showing, but a little earlier wouldn't be awful. The only problem is that I'm broke and can't afford to go buy tickets until tomorrow. Hopefully there will still be some left! It's showing enough places that I'm not too worried.

Comments

[hollyk.livejournal.com]

My roomie and I have a Belkin, and it works great.

That's about all I know about the things, though.

[leighblack.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've heard those are good too. There's just so many options I don't know what to look for! I suppose I can just buy one and hope for the best. I'm sure I can figure it out.

[dazeebean.livejournal.com]

We can go to the 8 o'clock showing?!

Anytime is fine, 8pm will work for me. I'll just have to cut my evening with Em a little short.

So yeah, I'm in.

[leighblack.livejournal.com]

Yup. It's part of their marketing to beat Spidey 3's take that the showings can begin at 8pm. The Sprawl has showings scheduled all night.

I'll have to see what Rory says and what I can get tickets to. I'll let you know!

[dazeebean.livejournal.com]

Sounds good!

[auroram.livejournal.com]

I think the 8pm show would be great, actually. I wonder if the Maxfields would be more interested if the show were earlier, too.

Oh, gods, that's tomorrow isn't it? Wow, this week must really have sucked if I forgot to be excited about Pirates. Jack Sparrow is salvation.

[leighblack.livejournal.com]

Great! I'll stop down at Regal after work tomorrow to find out about tickets. If that one is sold out, I can probably find tickets somewhere else.

I know! Tomorrow!!!!

[vanillachick78.livejournal.com]

I have a linksys and it works great, had it 3 years. I know there were different numbers (for speed I think?), and I think I got the cheaper (slower?) one.

[leighblack.livejournal.com]

Sweet. Thanks for the info! I think I'm going to go with a mid-price one. It should be fast enough for me.

[missvn.livejournal.com]

And now... the industry insider perspective.... GRIN.

Brand really isn't that important. The "base" for most routers is pretty similar and all comes from the same company.

If you've got a printer, I do want to suggest our (well, USRobotics, lol) 5461 MAXg Wireless Router. We're one of the only "bigger" players in the market that has a router that has a wireless USB print server IN the router. And considering the price of a router and then a wireless print server on top of it, it's not a bad deal.

We do have a cheaper router coming out, but that's still a month or two from market (I *just* finished the docs for it today).

You don't need a "draft N" router. Those are mainly for geeks. But, IMHO, it's worth it to go for a router that is "enhanced" to go to 125Mbps or 108Mbps. That will last you a couple years (until they get all this "draft N" shit straight.

The things they DON'T tell you in most wireless router docs that you need to know: If you have a cable modem, you'll be fine. You just hook your cable modem diretcly to the router, usually the WAN port. You connect any wired computers to the LAN ports (usually four). If you have a Tivo or anything that is connected, or could be connected, to the internet, you can connect those with a wire, or look in to a wireless networking card/adapter for the device.

When you set up your router, select "WPA2" security. It's the most secure. And yes, you want to set security. Also make sure you set the login and password for the router, so no one can log in and mess it up.

And once you have a wireless router, it doesn't matter how many devices you have the connect wirelessly. Well, ok, it will make your devices run slower, but you can can connect multiple wireless devices.

[leighblack.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info! This helps alot.

I do have a printer, but it's hooked up through my USB hub and I'll just leave it there. Rather than set it up wirelessly. I don't use it very much so I can just plug it in when I need it. I won't really be moving my laptop around that much anyways. I mostly want to go wireless because the cable jack is on the other side of the room from my desk. Having a cable run across my living room isn't exactly that awesome.

I don't have a Tivo or anything. It'll just be my laptop hooked up. I think I can figure that config out! =)

[missvn.livejournal.com]

Been there! We had a 50 cable to hook up my laptop before we went wireless when we moved. And I am SO glad we didn't have to run cable to get our network set up when we moved.

It's actually a pretty decent time to buy a basic, middle of the road router. Prices have dropped from a few months ago since new technology (the "draft N" standards) has hit the shelves, and everyone is now scrambling to get Wi-Fi Protected Setup (which you don't need at this point) out on the shelves. I wouldn't go crazy and spend a lot of money... technology is changing rapidly (and, lol, as I mis-typed, "rabidly") and in a couple years a lot more stuff will go thru wireless routers (like printers, cameras, toasters, world domination machines, etc) and you can re-evaluate then.

Oh.... and when you're setting up the router, make sure you find out what the IP address is, and bookmark it in your router. If something with your network seems funky, go to the IP address, log in and check out what the heck is going on. Usually you can also reset the router from there, for days when you're being lazy and don't want to walk in to the next room to physically reboot the thing, lol.

[leighblack.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the ones I were looking at were around $60-70. Not too bad. I don't see myself adding anything flashy to my setup anytime soon, so I don't think I'd need a real spiffy one. Or will have a need to upgrade it for a while.

Thanks for the tip! You've been a big help. I knew someone would know what they're talking about! =)