is a wireless router worth the effort?

[draboo]

and expence?

i have a old dlink router that is maxed out(four connections) and was thinking of going wireless.(preferably with more than 4 connectors,ya never know when another UD cow will be added)

the cable situation is ridiculous. lots of em twisting all over,thru the basement and up thru the floor. whata mess.

my question is: do you have to have a line of sight for these to work?? my machine is in a different room from the other three.

also,how does the speed hold up??

i ve never read up on any wireless router reviews. does anyone here have any experiences,good/bad/indifferent?? brands that are good/bad??

good review link?

thanks,eh??

brad

how far are the machines from each other?

i love wireless, because i can sit outside with my laptop and surf the web and do my homework. The speeds hold up quite nice, but if a router says that it has a max speed, you will never reach that speed. Its in theory.

you do not need a line of site, unless its a long distance

[M_Six]

I use the Linksys 802.11b wireless router. I had a hard time with their USB wireless adapters, so I bought a wireless bridge for the one wireless PC I have and an Orinoco Gold PCMCIA card for my laptop. The system is stable and plenty fast. I threw on a booster for the router to extend my range out to my deck.

If you get a wireless bridge, you can hang a hub off it and connect more PCs to it. Plus you can elevate it and get better reception.

[kwebb]

Well no, 11Mb isn't a theoretical number, it's the signalling rate and if the environment is correct the AP and client do communicate at 11 Mb. The data throughput is a different story as pretty much anyone who uses wireless devices well knows. CSMA/CA, modulation, and obstructions diminish throughput, usually by about half at least.

If you already have the router look around for a dedicated Access Point. Little more expensive than AP/Router combo's but have better wireless functionality normally. You can save some money buying an AP/Router, then just manually configure it as a router, bypassing the router function alltogether.

yes i understand that kwebb but have you even seen it connect at 11 mpbs? You have to have the perfect enviroment to be be able to connect at that speed. With all the different interferences its hard to connect to it.

[kwebb]

Of course and no, you don't have to have a perfect environment to associate at 11 Mbps. It helps of course. Just need good radios.

[thekingofpain]

How old could that dlink be?
Doesnt it support 200+ connections?

[joker_927]

I have been eye-balling this item for weeks, but haven't had any extra money to buy one yet....

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...122-011&depa=0

[draboo]

the dlink is around 4 years old and only has 4 connectors. three machines are very close togather,and one is in another room,around 10 feet away,tho on the other side of a double wall.

what sort of card is needed for each machine to receive the signals? i looked at the newegg netgear link,but it said nothing about that.

thanks again.

brad

[HeadBand]

if it ain't broke don't fix it...if you can run wires then do it it is cheaper faster and more reliable than wifi...it shouldnt be too hard to clean up those wires

wifi has its place but i would only use it in a rental property or it would be cool to use with a laptop too