I have no experience with routers, want to add a laptop to my system. Any recommendations for a basic but reliable wired(not wireless) router? Thanks.
Hello alanack. I had good experience with D-Link router. http://www.dlink.com/ You might want to get a wireless router, because it will also have wired features, just in case you need the wireless properties of it. If you choose the wireless make sure to make it secure so only people who know the password can access it. Another router is Netgear. It is also popular.
Thanks, Abe. So most wireless routers can also be wired? If I were to use it as a wireless I would be a little concerned about security. How far away can these signals be picked up, and how much of a concern should this be?
I currently use Linksys on two separate wired cable connections no problems. Easy to set-up. I also use USRobotics and Dlink for wireless connections. Again, both easy to install and use. As far as security, just make sure you activate the encryption feature (means using an ASCII or hexadecimal password) on the wireless router. You will have to do the same and use the same password on the laptop in order for the laptop and the router to connect and communicate. Most router manuals have a pretty good how-to on setting up the password. May be a little trickier figuring out to how-to on the laptop if it has a built-in wireless connection. Its certainly doable, and I'm sure plenty of guys here can help if you get stuck.
Many of the inexpensive routers also allow you to disable the wireless mode (or set the transmit power to 0 which is essentially the same thing). I've noticed that when helping friends set up or troubleshoot their systems. Unfortunately I don't recall the makes and models. Jack
Been using Xincom DPG502 twin WAN router since last January, never any problem. Have cable with a DSL line for backup hooked into it, automatically switches over seamlessly when there is an outage.
Netgear: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...tgear&lp=8&type=product&cp=1&id=1108125361676 It's a "router/4-port switch/wireless" so you can hook up 4 computers wired and however many wireless. The equivalent Linksys is probably fine too but I've found this netgear to have better signal strength and to be totally reliable.
Alanak, most wireless routers can be wired. The signal strength depends on the type of router. The higher signal strength routers will be more expensive, for people that might need more range. If you are in an apartment then your signal can be picked up quite easily by your neighbors, even with the standard range. There are different security settings which I'm not an expert on. I think one security is for the encryption of the info being transmitted, and another security is the password feature which allows only people with the password to use the internet. These 2 are most important IMO. There is also the password necessary to access the router's control panel, for things like setup and firmware update. If I understand correctly, the router's control panel can only be accessed through directly hooking your computer to it by wire. This password and username is generic, so if you want to be extra secure, you can change it to your own choosing. The major router companies will have a cutomer service hotline to help you if you need it. I'm not fond of Linksys. Not sure how the current models are, but we had a Linksys a couple of years ago and it kept needing to be reset. But D-Link and Netgear seem good to me. My last router was the D-Link Ragebooster G: http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=470 It was easy to install and reliable. Now I use a wireless router that was provided by my ISP.