Wireless Network Routers/Cards

[SpottyFish]

I'm going to be purchasing a wireless router and PCMCIA card sometime this week so I can set up a wireless network in my house. Anyone have any brands they would/wouldn't reccommend?

Thanks!

[SnoChica]

Linsys is generally considered to be the easiest to use and setup... My laptop uses a Belkin Wireless G card which was the cheapest they had at Circuit city... $35. My Router is a Gateway Router. I would suggest going to a store like Circuit City or Best Buy because I've found that the sales people actually are quite helpful and you can find better deals in store than online.

[thatguy]

Prefer Linksys. It's what I use in my house.

I setup some Netgear stuff at my sister's house and it seems very flakey. Not sure if it was Netgear's fault or maybe the cordless phone they use.

[Fae]

We use Linksys at my house. Works well enough. I have to go reset it from time to time, but no complaints here.

[IceCoastChick]

Linksys here as well. Be careful with portable phones, I find that if there's a portable phone near the path from the router to your computer your connection is slow/sometimes disconnects you because of interference.

[e.]

i have had better experiences with netgear over linksys for routers and switches. as for the pcmia card, just dont get SMC. every single SMC card i have ever seen never works right.

[Bonzai_OMFG]

linksys by cisco systems.

and no matter what wireless router you go with, make sure you set up Mac Filtering and WEP.

[e.]

linksys by cisco systems.

and no matter what wireless router you go with, make sure you set up Mac Filtering and WEP.

true that linksys is home user end of cisco, but that doesnt mean its good quality.

[Devg76]

I would stay away from Linksys.

PRO: They are easy to setup (but then again any brand name is today)

CON: They break a LOT

I'm a reseller...well technically a VAR (value added reseller). Computer consultant blah blah. Anyway we stopped selling Linksys because we were RMAing all of them. I have seen to many break in a year, mine included.


TIP: Try to keep it away from microwaves and cordless phones. Also SETUP THE SECURITY ON THE DEVICE ITS EASY

[Bonzai_OMFG]

From my experience linsys has been a higher quality solution for home wireless routers. I used to use netgear religously. I have a box of 10/100 routers, hubs, and switches packed away in my garage, and I still use their NIC cards. Originally when I switched to a wireless setup, I went completely wireless-G netgear. My home connecton is 10/10 mbps FTTH (fiber to the home), but I actually get 10+/20+ mbps. With the wireless netgear router installed I was losing around 50% of my bandwith, and that was hardwired into the router's switch. I figured the thing had to be broken, so I returned it for another netgear wireless router, but ended up with the same problem. So I called netgear about it, and they tried to spew me some crap about how it was normal to lose that kind of bandwith when using a router, which ofcourse is complete BS. So I took it back and bought a Linksys wireless router instead. Problem solved. I also find managing the firmware and security features to be a bit more friendly than netgears. No, I wouldn't say that simply being part of cisco makes linksys better than others, but from my experience they are.

[yoshie]

not too big of a fan for wireless, but if you want it, go for linksys. make sure you get a 802.11G router (unless you want to spend money on the new 802.11N), since that is the best choice when it comes to home wireless network (and fastest w/ less interference with other freq). but make sure that your router does not have to go through too many walls, or the signal gets really weak. if that happens, you're going to be spending more money on a antennas. or if you feel rebelish, you could install a firmware that expands your wireless range.