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We're finally going to catch up with technology and get wireless internet in our house - we're always racing each other to the modem to see who can plug it into their computer first . The two computers are a new iMac and an older PC laptop that doesn't have inbuilt wireless, planning to buy a plug-in receiver for it. I've found a few good deals on eBay for routers, but I don't really know anything about how it all works, so got a few questions before I buy something.

1. Does it matter that we have a Mac and a PC? Can they use the same router or does the Mac need a special Mac-designed one?

2. Do you need to have a router that is the same brand as the modem - we have a D-Link ADSL modem but looking at other brands of routers.

3. Is there any difference between routers at all, besides speed?

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

1. Anything that supports 802.11g is fine. Macs included.

2. Buy a Linksys WRT54G. Don't buy a D-link at any cost.

3. See #2

Oi, lay off the D-links buddy



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

agreeing with calla here...

we've got d-links because whenever we buy a linksys it only lasts a few months. D-links in our house are virtually indestructible.

the linksys wrt54g is one of the worst products linksys has ever made. dunno if that's true in australia but i have had nothing but problems supporting that router here in the states. if you have the same hardware, version 5 and 6 of that router are terrible.

---

"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

How Ya all tell me....

I read this thread with interest and then glanced over
at the two boxes, and what do I see but Linksys on one of
them.

Well, its been working for nearly a year now with no
problems, and we don't use the wireless part, we just
ran hardlines to each computer. Perhaps, we will be
ok.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

What's wrong with DLink?

Aside from their interface being pretty rubbish, they do the job

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I like to think that whoever designed marine life was thinking of it as basically an entertainment medium. That would explain some of the things down there, some of the unearthly biological contraptions

The d-link always dropped our calls,

Oh and we couldnt get my laptop to work on it for ages last july.

^_^

No problems with any of my 4 d-link products. Their attempt at NAS is garbage, but i've great luck with wireless products.

link sys... i swear by them. i have a BEFSR41 (wired), and a WKPC54G (wireless). and yes i have alot of computers... and i love them both. alot easier than dlink and NEVER had problems and i have been running my original BEFSR41 for 6 years now.

everybody i know has gone linksys. i have one friend who ran dlink for a while and never got any of them to work. she switched to a linksys wireless and was online with all the pcs in less than 5 minutes


but to answer your question. routers should know no difference between pc and mac as long as the network configurations are correct... trying to get them two to file share is a whole other story

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

I prefer dlink. I've had the fewest issues with it but 2 things to keep in mind. Dlink works best and sometimes only works if all the wireless cards in the computers are also dlink brand. The modem and anything hardwired(plugged in by cable)doesn't matter just the wireless cards. 2nd Dlink has horrible technical support. Your better off asking people on a forum for help than calling or emailing the company. We've had a dlink system setup for probably 5years now and running 4 computers(mostly dell desktops and toshiba laptops) with minimal issues.

My next choice would be Netgear. A bit more reliable than Dlink in some ways but not as adaptable to different hardware such as it won't run the new nintendo Wii and it dies more frequently than the dlink. All it requires is pressing the restart button or unplugging and plugging it back in to make it work again but it gets annoying. I would only use linksys if your going hardwired instead of wireless. Most of the linksys systems I've seen have a poor signal range and get interrupted easily.

The oldschool netgear, yeah. I went off netgear when they went all white and Mac. If I want a fashion statement, I'll buy a cool pair of shoes but I want my computer to be functional!

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I like to think that whoever designed marine life was thinking of it as basically an entertainment medium. That would explain some of the things down there, some of the unearthly biological contraptions

trying to get them two to file share is a whole other story

That's fine, we've got no real need to network between the two. Main objective is to allow us both to use the internet at the same time, and to allow the laptop to be used in other parts of the house.

Thanks for the advice all - seems like a pretty subjective thing as far as brands go! All of those brands have come up on eBay, so I think I'll be basing my decision on what's going cheapest...

Oh, one more thing, you don't need the same brand plug-in card thingy for the laptop as the router, right? What should we be looking out for with those?

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

well as i said, the WRT54G is the worst product on the market, v5 and v6 only. any model of that router of v4 and before were some of the best on the market. any other router linksys makes is great. it's the WRT54G, v5+ that sucks so bad.

personally, i always recommend dlink to everyone because in general dlink is a solid brand that can do just about everything you need. netgear makes the best networking adapters on the market (both wired *and* wireless), but as long as you stick to the major brands on the router (except for the linksys wrt54g ) it should all work.

and i use my dlink wireless router with my mac and pc simultaneously. the mac can see the pc shares, but the pc can't see the mac shares without a *lot* of work.

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

Going for the cheapest is usually a bad thing unless you know something about what your buying. If you have absolutely no experience with networks, noone around to set it up for you, and not alot of time to mess with it and ask questions I'd lean towards getting a netgear over dlink. Netgear is also my boyfriend's first choice and he just upgraded his router to the latest one. I love the dlink but it isn't the most user friendly. He hates using it because the interface is somewhat complicated. It also has tons of options. After several years of messing with it I still don't know what a couple things do. Works the best of any router I've tried and can do anything I want but figuring out how to get it to do what I want is usually somewhat time consuming. Dlink was the cheapest though when I got mine.

I've been told by several people you don't need the same wireless card as the router. However everytime I use cards in the office computers that are not dlink they don't get a good signal. As soon as I switch them back to dlink they work perfect. But I've used my dlink card to connect my laptop to several different netgear routers with no difference. A few other people I've talked to thought their dlink router was a bit picky about card brand as well so if going with dlink I'd try to get all the same cards. The modem definitely doesn't matter though. Pretty much everyone I know uses a free modem their internet provider gave them.

The netgear ones actually seem to be the cheapest, and there are plenty of wireless cards to match, so I think we'll go with them.

Plus I like the white Mac-ish style - it goes well with my Mac.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

Only 1 other suggestion I have on the wireless. Make sure you find one that isnt difficult to setup the wirless as secure. if your in a house, you are normally ok (i'd still set it up). but if your in an apartment complex, you should go secure no matter what.

I know people who live in apartments and wasnt secure and never knew why their connection was slow. after looking, we found people were using their wireless connection and getting online for free.

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

If you go with secure encryption and find your internet is going slower than molasses running up a tree in winter, at least hide your SSID (your network name). That way any average joe can't just walk up and latch onto your internet. They'd have to know the specific SSID first, and chances are that's slim.