Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => Broadband Hardware => Topic started by: Yorkie on July 08, 2008, 11:52:44 AM
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I am considering going wireless - as you know my wiring leaves a lot to be desired, any suggestions which model would be best.
I should add I have a Zyxel Prestige 660R, although my speeds could be better I have never lost a connection or had dropouts so in that respect I'm very stable.
I have been looking on Ebuyer but there is so much choice I've ground to a halt.
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If you're happy with the Zyxel, then this package (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145248) might be a good bet. It includes a USB wireless adaptor as well, so you wouldn't need to buy anything extra unless you have more than one PC.
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I dont know your budget Yorkie, but judging from the list (http://www.ebuyer.com/search/?intStoreID=8&intCatID=39&intSubcatUID=477) in price order, the first one that catches my eye is the Netgear DG834Gv4.
The router on my own personal wish list to try is the Netgear DG834GT, but I appreciate the price is a lot more expensive and hard to justify. (Hence why I havent got one).
For a long while on these forums we recommended the Netgear routers for its interface and stability.. it fell out of flavour for a short while and we started recommending the Speedtouch, but since Netgear now use broadcom chipsets and Speedtouch have now started restricting what users can do in the interface, so Netgear would be my own choice.
If youre looking netgear check out Amazon prices which are normally about the cheapest in the UK for retailing Netgears, plus they do free P+P on them.
If your looking at a bundle the netgear bundle on Amazon is £51.59, which on the face of it may seem more expensive than the Zyzel bundle on ebuyer, but because you get free P+P, it actually works out at about £2.50 cheaper and IMHO you get a much better router.
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BTw - this is a shameless plug and Im honestly not saying this for the sake of it, cause I'd still recommend the Netgear anyhow -
and if you go through the link on this page here (http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/index.htm), the site gets 80p.
Im not bothered if you do or not - just thought I'd mention it.
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Errr.... I may be out of order butting in here, but as the OP already has a router, isn't it worth at least considering the (probably cheaper) option of adding a wireless AP rather than replacing the router?
rwm32
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Feel free to butt in :)
A wireless access point might be a little cheaper but not much, and it's a extra layer of complication. It wouldn't get my vote, but it's certainly worth considering.
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:)
I agree about the extra complexity -- but I'd say it's fairly marginal, and sometimes it's the only way:
When I needed to set up a wireless bridge, I discovered that the implementation of the core technology (WDS) is still vendor-dependent when it comes to WPA security. This means that unless both ends of the bridge are from the same vendor, you are likely to be limited to WEP for security. Inter-vendor WPA2-PSK over WDS is very hit & miss -- mostly miss.
So now I have two Netgear APs in bridge mode, a properly-secured WLAN, excellent coverage throughout the house, and a wired VPN connection two floors away from the router... Not really so very complicated!
rwm32
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As you may have guessed I'm dithering. Thought I had better check out my ISPs web site and both makes and models get a recommendation, so that didn't help.
I think the Netgear has more going for it, because there are people on here familiar with that make. On the other hand the Zyxel was supplied by my ISP so their customer support may be more familiar with that make.
See I'm dithering.
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The router on my own personal wish list to try is the Netgear DG834GT, but I appreciate the price is a lot more expensive and hard to justify.
Off-topic alert!
I found myself thinking, what's she on about? Expensive? Then I started thinking.....
Hmm lets see now, I paid £49.99 for that very router from UKO. The best price I found online was about £40, but I figured that I'd use UKO's router so they couldn't shift the blame if problems occurred. That was last October and obviously the cost of the router wasn't subsidised by UKO in any way.
63.88/49.99 = 1.278 or a 27.8% increase in price over the last year.
This, just to take another example - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/52459 - has increased by about the same.
3.3% inflation? Where is this place with 3.3% inflation because I want to move there!
Sorry :-[
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Several years ago I was looking at going wireless, and I got a USRobitics AP. Just my own opinion, but I wish I hadnt bothered.. it wasnt that much cheaper and I ended up buying a new wireless router a few months later anyhow.
>> has increased by about the same.
Yeah I cant understand why its so much more, a couple of years ago my mate asked me to recommend a wireless router and go fit it for her. Although I'd originally suggested the DG834G, she ended up getting the GT from Amazon as it was only a couple of quid extra as part of a bundle deal.
Why the GT is so much more expensive now, Ive no idea really.. but you're right, the prices do seem to be going up a heck of a lot. In Argos, just for the DG834G its £63. ???
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>> has increased by about the same.
Yeah I cant understand why its so much more, a couple of years ago my mate asked me to recommend a wireless router and go fit it for her. Although I'd originally suggested the DG834G, she ended up getting the GT from Amazon as it was only a couple of quid extra as part of a bundle deal.
Why the GT is so much more expensive now, Ive no idea really.. but you're right, the prices do seem to be going up a heck of a lot. In Argos, just for the DG834G its £63. ???
The pound and the dollar (US) are going down the toilet kitz. In the case of the dollar (US) it'll be a permanent (defacto) devaluation, in the case of the pound our only escape route is the Eurozone but they'd be mad to accept a basketcase of an economy like ours in the near-term future.
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/fds/hi/business/market_data/currency/11/13/twelve_month.stm
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Rant Alert:
Tesco Direct are useless.
Thank you for listening.
Okay here comes a thicko question is this only for people with cable broadband or is it a dual one
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.202-7904.aspx
Why Tesco you may ask, well because I've got £23.50 in vouchers. My god that cat can trench :lol:
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I'd say it was probably the WGR614 (http://www.netgear.co.uk/wireless_firewall_router_wgr614.php).
From the description its just a "router" and it doesnt have an adsl modem, which is what you would need to connect to your ISP.
The other clue is that it if the product description includes the word cable.. in which case it wont include the adsl modem part.
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Thanks for that Kitz, I had a feeling it wasn't what I thought it was, and as you can see Tesco don't overburden you with model numbers. All the other Netgears are out of stock :(
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yw yorkie.
Glad you asked rather than getting a router that wouldnt work with adsl.
Why Tesco dont put the model no's on Ive no idea.
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I thought I'd give you all an early warning in case you want to book a day out tomorrow, wireless router should be arriving, ordered it from Dabs (someones got to pay Ezzers wages ;D)
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Where's everyone gone? The place suddenly emptied. :lol:
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Its okay you can all come out of hiding now, I'm connected wirelessly not without a little help from the nice man at Namesco (sorry was that spam), couldn't remember account password.
Just one little question, I'm on a 5g cap per month which is sufficient for my needs, and use NetMeter to monitor my dowload usage, it doesn't work with wireless, is there anything that does.
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It should do.. I dont have netmeter on this particular machine Im on right now but its something like (guessing)
Go to options
General tab
then at the bottom theres something that should say something like
"Network interface to monitor"
There should be a drop down box
Either select your wireless card - or set it to all interfaces.
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Silly me, never thought to look in options and change connection setting. Thanks Kitz, I'm a happy but hungry bunny now.
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Just to add my pennies-worth.
Don't be surprised when using the wireless connection of the slowness if copying files or trying to view movies.
Although I guess with a 5GB limit you do not download large files so that should not be a problem.
(If I copy a 4GB file from one PC to the other using a wired connection it takes approx 6 minutes.
To copy the same file with a wireless connection can take 2 hours)
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I'm back, bet you never noticed I'd gone. As you may have guessed from other posts I've now moved me and lappy upstairs. Wireless still works and at quite a good speed, well for me 'cos as you know I have dodgy wiring.
I was expecting a slight drop in speed, but I think it may have gone up slightly it certainly appears to be more consistent.
Did I mention it was a Netgear, hardest part was fitting the feet, definitely had a cockle first two attempts. ;D
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>> Did I mention it was a Netgear, hardest part was fitting the feet
If that is the feet to make it stand upright instead of lying flat, then just remember that doing that concentrates all of the heat to the top of the router into one place.
At least lying flat the heat is dissipated more evenly.
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I'm currently "playing" with a Netgear, and yes it gets very hot compared to some other routers particularly underneath.
Your post Yorkie has reminded me and Ive just this minute clipped the feet on to see if makes any difference.
(Makes a change to having the ST propped upside down for a similar reason :lol: )
Well done Yorkie for getting it all sorted :thumbs: