Wireless questions.

[fast95pony]

My wife is getting a laptop soon,so I'm going wireless at home.
1.For my desktop,should I just leave it plugged into the ethernet
connection on the modem , or get a wireless adapter ??
2.Any reccomendations on make of wireless router ?
3.Any other tips ??


Thanks..

[topmade]

1) Wired > Wireless, unless it's not an option.
2) I've used a dlink and they suck, my Linksys has been good for the last couple of years
3) Make sure to setup security so your neighbors don't get free wireless Internet.

[adam c]

1. wired is better than wireless but wireless gives you the freedom to put your computer wherever you want and not have to worry about a phone/cable outlet near by

2. router all depends on your price range, i'm running a linksys at home and it's doing the job fine, i also have a microsoft that has been ok, i find the signal is stronger than the linksys but it tends to crash once in a while. If you have the money, I would get a wireless N router but a G should work fine for you

3. as above, setup security.. you can never have too much and it prevents average joe blow from using your internet for purposes that would get you in some shit
Setup MAC filtering
Password protect your network with a proper password, no God or doggy or iloveyou stupid things
at least one Uppercase, one number, one special character (ie %)

[Mibz]

1. See above.

2. You're going to hear people say D-Link is better than Linksys is better than D-Link and, honestly, you can't put too much weight into any of them. They're just like cars, people have good experiences and bad experiences.

My buddy has used a DIR-655 on stock firmware without problems for a few months now and my WRT-350N /w DD-WRT has been solid for... I think nearly a year now. I recommend both.

I would suggest spending the extra money and going with N, you'll thank yourself in a year.

3. Preferably WPA AES or WPA2 AES authentication. I don't agree with MAC filtering. The authentication will stop 99% of attacks by itself and the 1% that REALLY wants to get in will know how to spoof MACs anyway. It just makes it harder for YOU to use your own network with no tangible benefit.

I do agree with the password complexity above though.

[fast95pony]

Thanks for all you help guys ! Appriciate it !

One more question. I have a Wii , Do I need a specific wireless router to hook it up to the internet. Sorry for for all the basic questions, I'm an old fart ! :nut:

[jwslam]

Originally posted by fast95pony
Thanks for all you help guys ! Appriciate it !

One more question. I have a Wii , Do I need a specific wireless router to hook it up to the internet. Sorry for for all the basic questions, I'm an old fart ! :nut:

nope
just wireless b/g
n routers are backwards compatible with g

[adam c]

Originally posted by jwslam


nope
just wireless b/g
n routers are backwards compatible with g

speak english to the guy

[eblend]

check pm

[fast95pony]

I picked up DIR-655 this morning,added all the security.
My wife came home with a Mac Notebook,and I cannot get it linked.
Tried for 4 hours.Getting frustrated.
I'll try again tomorrow....

[Team_Mclaren]

whats missing?
1. can you find the connection?
2. password is right?
3. connected but no strength?
4. connected but nothing works still?

[szw]

sometimes when a computer has trouble connecting I turn off all security and and the computer manages to connect. once you get them all connected and working, then setup the security. Not sure why this happens but I have to do this occasionally when my gf's computer can't connect to my network.

[Shaolin]

Originally posted by fast95pony
I picked up DIR-655 this morning,added all the security.
My wife came home with a Mac Notebook,and I cannot get it linked.
Tried for 4 hours.Getting frustrated.
I'll try again tomorrow....

Did you follow the instructions to the T on the router? I got the exact same router as you (I went from wired to wireless), and basically it took me 3 tries to do it because I didn't follow the instructions to the T.

Best of luck.

[lint]

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1590360&tstart=180

google dlink wrt-655 and macbook, there seem to be quite a few people who have problems with that combination.

[eblend]

Originally posted by fast95pony
I picked up DIR-655 this morning,added all the security.
My wife came home with a Mac Notebook,and I cannot get it linked.
Tried for 4 hours.Getting frustrated.
I'll try again tomorrow....

damn who would have though, one of the top consumer routers doesn't work with apple, fuck i hate all apple crap

[black_2.5RS]

Wireless is shit. I hate it. Microwave on....internet out......cordless phone on.....internet out......dryer on.....internet out......

To fix, I had to screw around w/ the router by slowing it down so it could essentially send more reconnection packets. Yes, it's super stable now - but slower and invest 3-4 weeks of reading various forums, screwing around and talking w/ linksys.

* I didn't cheap out and buy a crappy wireless router or a wireless card...technology is just not mature yet. Stay wired if you can. If you must go wireless:
a) Make sure your wireless router and wireless card are the same brand if possible.
b) Try to stick the wireless router in the middle of the house to get even distribution.
c) I like to raise the router off the floor (as high as possible) since alot stuff tends to sit on the floor - my theory is the more stuff your signal must cross / pass through to hit your card - the greater the risk your signal goes to the pooper.
d) Be sure to try and buy stuff not working in the 2.4 GHz band (ie: most cordless phones tend to work in this band). Essentially, if you use your phone near a computer, your computer gets confused and drops the signal....see earlier comment about internet out.

[CivicDXR]

Bear in mind that Wireless N (IEEE 802.11n) is not completely finalized yet, its still at the draft stages, so standards for it have not been completed. It should be finalized with next year. So all the routers that are 'Wireless N' are actually Pre-N or draft-N. Things could change very easily for it.

As for the original questions:

1- Wired is better
2- Its all really personal preference, I've used both, but my Linksys ones seem to be more stable.




Originally posted by lint
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1590360&tstart=180

google dlink wrt-655 and macbook, there seem to be quite a few people who have problems with that combination.

I had one of those routers for a little bit, didn't have any issues connecting at all to my MB and MBP... weird...

if it helps, I find that locking the DHCP down to give the MAC address a certain IP works well for the MB...

[fast95pony]

Thanks for all the tips. I got the Wii connected. I'm going to play some more today with the Notebook.

[fast95pony]

Thanks for the link !! That explains a lot !


Originally posted by lint
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1590360&tstart=180

google dlink wrt-655 and macbook, there seem to be quite a few people who have problems with that combination.

[jwslam]

Originally posted by black_2.5RS
Wireless is shit. I hate it. dryer on.....internet out......


wtf. dryer?!?!

[fast95pony]

Fixed it !

I plugged the laptop into ethernet,and discovered it was missing an airport update.Downloaded and ran the update.Then I powered down the modem and router,re-started everything,unplugged the laptop and went through the wireless connect,and it connected !

So far it's working great.

Thanks for your help , guys ! :thumbsup:

[adam c]

Originally posted by jwslam


wtf. dryer?!?!

must be all that static electricity

[Fuji]

Originally posted by Mibz
1. See above.

2. You're going to hear people say D-Link is better than Linksys is better than D-Link and, honestly, you can't put too much weight into any of them. They're just like cars, people have good experiences and bad experiences.

My buddy has used a DIR-655 on stock firmware without problems for a few months now and my WRT-350N /w DD-WRT has been solid for... I think nearly a year now. I recommend both.

I would suggest spending the extra money and going with N, you'll thank yourself in a year.

3. Preferably WPA AES or WPA2 AES authentication. I don't agree with MAC filtering. The authentication will stop 99% of attacks by itself and the 1% that REALLY wants to get in will know how to spoof MACs anyway. It just makes it harder for YOU to use your own network with no tangible benefit.

I do agree with the password complexity above though.

The key with WPA2 is to use the full 64 key length - don't be lazy, and obfuscate the key enough that its not guessable. I prefer to build mine using hex rather than a passphrase.

I got the new dual channel N and it's pretty sweet, works just as great as my WRT54G... the dlink i had kept dropping the connection so i threw it in the garbage.