Wireless ADSL Modem/Router

^whitey^

Need advice on what ADSL Modem/Router/Switch to get,

My current ADSL (Esat BT) modem only has a single RJ11 & a single USB.
Therefor i'm in the market for a combined Wireless ADSL Modem/Router/Switch.


I (will) have two pc's, one downstairs one upstairs.
The one upstairs will have a standard 802.11G NIC
The one downstairs (where the router will be located) has a standard 10/100 wired NIC so I will need to be able to connect that to the router via a patch leador whatever.


I dont really know what features I need/want as this is my first wireless network.

Obviously i'll want it as secure as possible, a USB & DB25/Parrallel printer connection to share the printer would be nice.

I like the new ASUS WL-500g, but from reviews that seems to be a bitch to set up.

Cheers

^whitey^

Just realised the ASUS WL-500g doesnt have a modem so thats out of the equation

spartacus93

Hi,

I suppose something like this will do the trick for you. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00022V2EO/qid=1110471463/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3_3/202-1874833-8715866.

I don't have this particular model but I have a Dlink router and PC card and can't fault eitheir of them. Constantly get a great range and has strong security features. MAC address filtering etc. It has a built in four port hub so your downstairs computer can connect directly into it, and this avoids the extra cost of another wireless card. See this post http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=233500.

As for connecting a printer you would need a Print Server a wired one will do, someting like one of these http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.asp?bn=10277. Then connect it to a free port on your new router. Alternatively you can just connect your printer to one of the PCs and share it over the network. However this will require the computer to be turned on. But it is certinally cheaper.

spartacus93

A lot depends on whether your printer is Parallel or USB. Sorry if my answer is a bit vague, if you have any questions just post a reply and ill do my best to answer them!

Do you already have a Wi-Fi card?? If so it would be advisable to buy a router made by the same company.

Good luck its definatly not as complicated as it sounds, just a bit hard to explain. (Im writing this now on the couch with no wires at all!!)

spartacus93

Sorry bout the two posts but somethings up tonight and I cant make one long one.

^whitey^

spartacus93 wrote:

A lot depends on whether your printer is Parallel or USB.

Do you already have a Wi-Fi card?? If so it would be advisable to buy a router made by the same company.

Printer is parrallel, saw a router with both parallel and USB print server alas it had no modem ... print server is not a major thing im quite happy to run downstairs and turn on the machine, if it makes things cheaper.

Dont have the Wi - Fi card yet it will be unlikely that i'll get two matching manufacturers as I have no way of finding out what the make the Wireless NIC will be.

Thanks for the links ...

Any else have a any Wireless ADSL Modem/Router recommendations

spartacus93

You could always buy that router, and a cheapo ADSL modem. One extra box to play with! Just wire them together. Where did you see the router??

^whitey^

http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=118092&view=detailed

philologos

could anybody help me with this I have tried to set up a wired network before but miserably failed. I need advice on what equipment I should buy if I want to share a broadband connection from EsatBT with my PC my laptop and my PS2 console for online gaming. Can someone also give me a vague idea of how to set these up it would be much appreciated

dl

Whitey, I too had the same modem as yourself, rang Esat and enquired about upgrade -- they wanted €50. So I suggested that I would move my phone line rental over to them from Eircom if they gave me a free modem upgrade........ they were only too happy to oblige....!

It did take about 10 days, which gave me enough time to suss out wireless products.

Not sure how this fits, is your line already with Esat... they're same rental cost as Eircom. It's an option for the modem you require..... one in which, I feel we should have got in the first place..!!

vibe666

this might sound dumb, but make 100% sure that whatever 'broadband' router you get definately has a built in modem.

I got a broadband router (compex) and it doesn't actually have a modem, so I have had to keep my modem and plug it into the router and just turn off dhcp on the modem and put my BB settings into the router and let it do the work. not a real pain i have to admit, but it's one more plug socket and an extra box and cables taking up space.

oh well, I'll know for next time.

^whitey^

dl wrote:

Whitey, I too had the same modem as yourself, rang Esat and enquired about upgrade -- they wanted €50. So I suggested that I would move my phone line rental over to them from Eircom if they gave me a free modem upgrade........ they were only too happy to oblige....!

cheers, was actually thinking abouttrying that....but i think that modem sucks anyway, so would still prefer to get Wireless ADSL Modem/Router combo

Thanks Lads.

Any more recommendations...I can t find any in the online irish computer stores

zod

Recommend Netgear DG834G - simple, lots of features and robust

Don't buy Dlink , when you do decide stay with one manufacturer for everything.

This bundle is good value : http://www.dsl-warehouse.ie/product.asp?pr=DG834G-WG511&pm=1517

dl

Jakkass, is your modem a usb only like whitey's or do you have a ethernet connection. You will need this to start with, and you don't state which items you require to be wireless. In my case my desktop and my son's xbox are wired and my laptop and family pc are wireless.

Did a search in google and thought this my give you some insight (or total confusion) on setting up wireless and what you may need. A bit of light reading....!
http://www.utexas.edu/its/wireless/hardware/index.html

Bear in mind, a month ago I knew nothing about wireless.............. and still doesn't, I hear them say..!!

spartacus93

Jakkass wrote:

could anybody help me with this I have tried to set up a wired network before but miserably failed.

Start a new thread with a bit more information and we should be able to sort you out!!

^whitey^

zod wrote:

Recommend Netgear DG834G - simple, lots of features and robust

Don't buy Dlink , when you do decide stay with one manufacturer for everything.

This bundle is good value : http://www.dsl-warehouse.ie/product.asp?pr=DG834G-WG511&pm=1517

Thanks for the link to DSl Warehouse, I wont need that package just the router/modem.

Why dont you like D-Link?

Cheers

I would like to go Link Sys I have experience configuring their Cisco 9600 routers and switches.

Wertz

zod wrote:

Recommend Netgear DG834G - simple, lots of features and robust

Don't buy Dlink , when you do decide stay with one manufacturer for everything.

This bundle is good value : http://www.dsl-warehouse.ie/product.asp?pr=DG834G-WG511&pm=1517

Yup, I second that recommendation. As a complete network n00b I looked long and hard at what it was I needed to get me wifi enabled, as cheaply and as simply as possible. The Netgear did both of those admirably.
I got mine from Amazon for £70 stg +£5p&p and had the whole network up and running in about 20minutes (bar some firewall problems). After some research and some help from these forums I had the network encryption secured and firing on all cylinders.
It looks good too, if that matters to you. I have it coupled with the Netgear wg511 PCIMIA card for notebook. If you're going for a wireless NIC for desktop you might do well to avoid the current 802.11G netgear NIC as I have read bad reviews of it, but otherwise I'd recommend netgear all the way (and no I don't work for them).
Whatever brand you pick definitely go for the all-in-one box IMO; makes life a lot simpler...

zod

D-Link are usually cutting edge (the first to bring out 54 then 108 wireless speeds) and unreliable from my experience.

If you look at these forums : http://www.expansys.com/forumoverview.asp

They are continuously in the top 3 most active due to their willingness to be first to market and then "hope" that a future bios upgrade will fix.

I've used their cameras, routers, usb nics and there is always at least one feature that is glitchy.

Netgear on the other hand seem to hang back - and then get it right .. the DG834G is the UKs most popular, I've used it in over 20 locations and have had zero issues throughout the rev range.

As far as linksys goes the Cisco involvement can only by good .. not sure if it's had enough time yet, though. Worth looking at the above forums for whatever router you decide to go with!

Good Luck

secret_squirrel

Must admit I've found both Dlink 604's I've set up a bit of a pig. By contrast my Linksys Wireless router and Dlink ADSL Model were much easier

spartacus93

I gotta say my Dlink DI624 router had a load of wizards etc. to help ease the setup and had no problems with it. But in the end it's your money! I got a router and PC card bundlem for about €150 delievered from Dabs

alantc

Have had problems with dlink g604t. It worked fine for a few days but then got unplugged by somebody. After it was plugged back in some wesites didn't work anymore, microsoft.com dcu.ie wanadoo.fr. Read lots on the expansys website and the suggested fix was decrease the MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit - max size of the IP packet). Upgraded the firmware (there was no option to do this on the firware I had) and it jsut worked without any other changes. haven't unplugged it since (just a few days).

Getting DNS problems too. I'm not sure if it was my PC or the router. After a while I wouldn't be able to resolve any names. Filesharing still worked but I couldn't get onto any websites. ipconfig/release and then /renew didn't fix it but everything would be fine after a reboot. I changed to DNS server from 192.168.1.1 (the routers IP, which the router was giving in DCHP as the DNS server) to the proper DNS server and it's worked fine since then!

rabbitinlights

I just bought the dlink G604T and it worked perfect straight out of the box. I have since upgraded the firmware and its even easier than before. Ive connected my PSP with no problems and used WEP security.

I love the dlink.

S.

dub45

IT Direct in Parliament St currently have the Linksys wag54g for just over 100 euro which is not bad value at all for anyone who wants an all in one unit.

sirpsycho

Has anyone tried this modem/router ??

Seems like a decent deal, am tempted to buy it myself today.

^whitey^

Theres alot of bad reviews about it on Amazon
Click on See all reviews -> organize by: lowest rating first

Off topic: How come some routers have one antenna and some have two?

sirpsycho

^whitey^ wrote:

Theres alot of bad reviews about it on Amazon
Click on See all reviews -> organize by: lowest rating first

There a lot of good reviews also, quite a lot more than bad ones. In fact, some of the bad ones got good comments yet the people only gave it one star

I'll go with the majority I think as it seems to be one of the more popular modem/routers.

daymobrew

dub45 wrote:

IT Direct in Parliament St currently have the Linksys wag54g for just over 100 euro which is not bad value at all for anyone who wants an all in one unit.

I'm guessing that you mean the Linksys WRT54G. I have this router and it's great.
It is 77 (+9 shipping) at elara.ie
So, 86 vs 100

dub45

daymobrew wrote:

I'm guessing that you mean the Linksys WRT54G. I have this router and it's great.
It is 77 (+9 shipping) at elara.ie
So, 86 vs 100

No you are guessing wrong I meant the wag54g!

zod

sirpsycho wrote:

There a lot of good reviews also, quite a lot more than bad ones. In fact, some of the bad ones got good comments yet the people only gave it one star

I'll go with the majority I think as it seems to be one of the more popular modem/routers.

I've used lots of em - highly recommend the netgear dg834g

secret_squirrel

The WAG is a wireless access point - the WRT is a wireless router which would probably be more suited for your needs if you already have an ethernet modem. Both of the linksys products have had their firmware released under the GPL - there are modded firmwares available that give extra functionality. The firmware is also still being updated - over 2.5 years after they were released.

SirPsycho - I set up of the Netgear DG834G's up a couple of weekends ago. IT has a nice wizard on it but Im not impressed with the support - to get it working on my mates BT connection I had to down load a beta firmware. Infact the only revised firmware has been in the beta state since last year.

daymobrew

dub45 wrote:

No you are guessing wrong I meant the wag54g!

Fair enough, apologies, I stand corrected.

I couldn't find it on the Linksys site but it is on Amazon.co.uk

I'm of the opinion that a wireless router is more flexible than a wireless modem/router because with the router you can change between broadband products (ADSL, cable, wireless) without having to change the hardware. I accept that people are more likely to change their car than their broadband type.

I'm on ntl bb so the WAG54G was not an option for me.

dub45

daymobrew wrote:

Fair enough, apologies, I stand corrected.

I couldn't find it on the Linksys site but it is on Amazon.co.uk

I'm of the opinion that a wireless router is more flexible than a wireless modem/router because with the router you can change between broadband products (ADSL, cable, wireless) without having to change the hardware. I accept that people are more likely to change their car than their broadband type.

I'm on ntl bb so the WAG54G was not an option for me.

The wag54g is on the linksys site here . There is even an adsl2 version.

I agree that the router option is more versatile but the all in one is for most people much easier to set up.