Hope some1 can help me on here.

im going to be moving house soon and wanted to change my existing network to wireless. what im looking todo is connect upto 6 pcs all wireless'ly. i wana get a router with inbuilt braodband modem as im guessin this will sort all internet connection sharing. the one prorblem im having is that none of the website say how many computers can be connected the wireless access point at any one time?! Confused i am! lol..

Cheers
adm

dont worry about the limit, you wont hit it with 6.

i think the limit on my aging access point is aronud 128

i'd get a router with built modem, and wireless access point too


Cinq Sporting - and yes, its broom yellow!

stay away from belkin too! inferior products

I second arc, not really much of a limit. I believe 128 on my also aging access point is the top...maybe a arbitary maximum?

Be very careful. Mine works nicely over the house, up the garden and to about next door. However, many people have a bad experience with range. I just set up my girlfriend's wireless router and it doesn't work very well through the monitor of her desktop which is maybe something to watch.

The best value at the moment IMO is the Linksys Wireless router, gives you 4 ports for non-wireless and 11mbps wireless for the cheapest one, £45 inc. VAT and postage from amazon. Supposedly "b" (rather than the faster 54mbps "g") has a better range but I don't believe this considering they both work on 2.4ghz. They also sell the "g" version fairly cheaply too but pays to compare on www.dealtime.co.uk . When you decide between B and G, first consider:

What is the use? If it is broadband net sharing, most connections have a max of 512kbps (i.e. 0.5mbps) therefore the "b" can cope with that speed 20x over. If however you intend to always transfer large files, maybe "g" would be better, then again, if you want speed, only a wired connection will give you what you need.
How much do you want to spend? Making 6 PC's wireless isn't cheap in the first place and making them "g" rather than "b" will be a significant difference.

I settled for "b" because I am poor and only use a 128kbps connection and have a wired connection for large files. The fact is you will not notice the increase in speed for most applications. I printed a 10k word document yesterday over the network (with pics etc.) and it was printing nearly as quickly as I pressed "print" lol.


Oh, one last thing, unless you get a built in modem as arc suggests, check that your modem works with an ethernet plug as well and not just USB...a lot of people get caught out by that. It is neater to have a single unit like you seem to want but the modem supplied usually with your broadband package is of not bad quality and if for whatever reason the router fails at one point, directly accessing it is a good backup.

Having said that, we only have a seperate modem, router/switch and wireless access point because we go them as and when they came available really!

Regards
paul

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

I am a schizophrenic currently so please bear with me whilst I try to get rid of the 40+ personality.

and as Ghost has said, Belkin are bad news on most counts, some people swear by it but most don't...

I am fairly into IT, linksys is what we use for great value and great quality. My dad is a headteacher/IT co-ordinator and sometimes lectures on good teaching practice and use of IT in primary education. Last time he went, a number of "geeks" went too to see how they good guide their products towards what people like him wanted. Following a conversation, they said Linksys was the one to chose. However, 3com was also advised. I try not to be bias towards Linksys but our router has been on for the best part of what, two years, and has NEVER had one problem! *touch wood*

Paul

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

I am a schizophrenic currently so please bear with me whilst I try to get rid of the 40+ personality.

Hi

I've got a Thompson all in one wireless solution, router, modem, access point with built in firewall and antivirus, superb item, cost £110 all in. You can run up to 250 machines from this unit.

TC.

FIAT Stilo Sport. Pretty Much Bog Standard Really. Rear Roof Spoiler,
Sill Protectors, Aluminium Foot Pedals, Eibach 30mm Drop Springs.

range wise.. my d-link AP1000 (11mbps) access point covers my house (3story, rather large) garden, the road out front and also links to my mates house down the street (http://tackycheese.net/images/comp/wireless_range.jpg) tho it does have direct line of sight to that one.



Cinq Sporting - and yes, its broom yellow!

Arc: That is excellent, I have never heard of such a good one. My Dad's school which is fairly small requires an amplified access point and my school doesn't use its wireless because of its poor range.

Direct line of sight outdoors should give a good range and it probably does with most. I also believe the quality of the wireless PCMCIA/PCI card makes a big difference. My dad's cheapo one is rubbish compared to mine.

I believe my access point could go as far as yours but have little reason to try it. It's funny however that I can see another wireless network within my software, I thought I would be the first nearby to have wireless LOL. Wish they hadn't password protected it however lol.

My gf's 3 story house gets "ok" coverage in the attic from downstairs but no great (2/4 bars through windows strengh monitor).

D-link is worth a look aswell IMO, been around forever!


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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

I am a schizophrenic currently so please bear with me whilst I try to get rid of the 40+ personality.

Belkin arnt a problem with wired networks, but with wireless i wouldnt touch with a 10ft bargepole, i now have about 7 wiress cards which will cut out at random intervals B)

the other side to the connection is a USB wireless card from dabs, their el cheapo dabs value one. Its actually a rebadged actiontec nic.. which i knew before buying it

hehe, ive not picked up any other wireless networks in this area - tho if anyone is picking mine up, its well secured.. no-ones getting thru that one


Cinq Sporting - and yes, its broom yellow!

I have a PCMCIA wireless card complimentary with my lappy which is great, works within 5 seconds after coming off hibernate. Just wish it was built in because it sticks out the side a bit, however, I don't believe the built in ones hav very good range using LCD screen as antenna I believe.

You use WEP or the newer WPA (i believe it is WPA?)

Apparently WEP is crap - told so by comp geeks again - but should be ok for the normal home network but WPA (i think!) is the way to go but I haven't seen any hardware with it stated as a facility but my XP updater wanted me to download WPA support - useless with my old access point.

I have a NAT firewall built into router and XP and norton firewalls and then WEP for the wireless side, shouldn't be too unsecure, not that anybody should want my school cwk much!

I like my wireless access point because it can be plugged into a normal router port and not the uplink (not sure if this is normal on AP?) so when I go to Uni it should hopefully let me have wireless there!

Paul

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

I am a schizophrenic currently so please bear with me whilst I try to get rid of the 40+ personality.

This is where I got mine, have a look and see what you think!

http://www.aol.dslshop.co.uk/product_details.asp?idProduct=93

TC.

FIAT Stilo Sport. Pretty Much Bog Standard Really. Rear Roof Spoiler,
Sill Protectors, Aluminium Foot Pedals, Eibach 30mm Drop Springs.

Definately a good idea IMO considering single unit - maybe on the little expensive side possibly and Thomson a bit unknown. Two cons against maybe pro's however.

Only DSL support however?

It all depends on what specifics tidy boy wants I guess

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

I am a schizophrenic currently so please bear with me whilst I try to get rid of the 40+ personality.

Thanks for all the help every1. feel like im a bit more uptodate now and bit more confident. il have a lookie round and post some specs of what i find for some views..

Good, I enjoy computers Makes a change from moaning about cars lol.

Wow, just checked amazon:

www.amazon.co.uk and type in "linksys wireless"


It has dropped yet more! £10 less...£36 for a wireless broadband router...linksys! £57 for the "g" version.

Paul

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

I am a schizophrenic currently so please bear with me whilst I try to get rid of the 40+ personality.

BELKIN SUCK!!

I've got a wireless belkin network and it keeps switching off!

AVOID!!!