Q: I am planning to broadband and also plan to share with three computers and one laptop in the house. I have friends come hangout a lot in my house with their laptops. So, I think going 802.11b wireless networks at home.
My choices boil down to this:
Linksys BEFW11S4 EtherFast Wireless Access Point, plus Cable / DSL Router with Switch w/4-Port USB adapter for desktops and PC card for laptops. I usually get Dell.
or
The D-Link combo with a similar wireless router / switch + a PC card adapter from Costco for about $ 100 after rebate. Probably get the USB adapter from Costco or Bestbuy.
My questions are: what setup is better? Both brands claim that their wireless gear, some special higher transfer rate, as 22mb D-Link do when using the matching acess point W / adapters. Is it really useful or just marketing BS? On a side note, the laptop a Dell 8200 is the addition of the wireless option built a better deal than the PC Card adapter? I think that Dell charge $ 90 – $ 100 for that and its a mini-PCI card to add to the laptop.
thanks
Re:I have a D-Link DWL-650+ in my laptop and a DWL-520+ for my desktop. Both of those cards are 22mbit ones. Downstairs, I have a DI-713p, a regular 11mbit router. The configuration works great. I get a strong signal from pretty much anywhere in the house and transfers between computers are usually around 400-600K/sec through the router. If I set the two cards to adhoc mode and 22mbit, I can get about 820K/sec between the two computers.
Re:I have the linksys BEFW11S4 and their PCI adapter.
Both of them work great and had 0 problems installing them. The client comp that had win ME didnt work tho, had to reformat it (something with ICS got messed up) and it took me 2 mins to get it working after a fresh install.
My range is also good with the linksys, i get 50%-60% signal strength downstairs and 70-90% across the house upstairs.
I didn't know people had this much problems with linksys stuff, i just got a linksys PCMCIA card for my laptop that i will be getting. If I have any problems with it, ill make sure to check out Dlink or Microsoft if I have any problems.
Re:Thanks for everbody's help. I'll get the D-Link router/switch+ PCIMIA card combo from Costco B&M. If I don't like it, returning it won't be a problem.
Re:Linksys translated into English, and I quote, "either your component will eventually fail, or you will get piss poor conntection compared to other similar products".
Had lousy signal strength with their PC cards, had two different wireless routers go back, 2 WAP11's and their wired multiport VPN router. The replacements are working fine though.
I have installed SMC wireless routers for people and they work great. At this point, I would pick something within your price range first, then choose 22mpbs if you can afford it, and a router that can take an external antenna to boost singal if needed.
Avoid Linksys clients like the plauge. Orinoco wireless clients are awesome, but are not 22mbps. With multiple people using it at the same time or for gaming, I would choose 22mpbs.
Re:I hate my D-Link DI-704P router…I've never tried wireless networking but I certainly can't recommend DLINK tech support to anyone. They know nothing…
Re:my dlink 614+ router is working great. no problems at all. using it with a microsoft mn-520 pc card and they are both working great too. the netgear wifi card my dad has works great with it too. i got the router on sale and it seems to be on sale again in the hot deals forum. it was #6 on TechTV's Top 20 Gifts of 2002.:)
Re:I really don't like Linksys PCMCIA 802.11 cards… I have a version 2, 2.5, and 3, and none of them will autodetect the SSID of any of the wireless networks I've gone to. I've had to manually enter it every time. The Microsoft card that I use now and all the other cards I've tried (Netgear, Compaq, Orinoco, D-Link) have no problem letting you know what wireless networks are available and let you connect right up (assuming that the AP is broadcasting the SSID). The Linksys 802.11 PCI cards that I have do this without any problem, so why won't the PCMCIA cards?
As far as the routers go, I currently use the Microsoft MN-500 and love it (although I'm only using it as a bridge), but I've also had Linksys, D-Link and Netgear, and they all work fairly well. My Netgear died on me and when I called support to get it replaced, I got someone whos accent was so heavy that I really couldn't understand him at all. I asked to speak to someone else and he wouldn't let me, he just kept repeating himself. I didn't want to wait another 50 minutes on hold, so I just went and bought the MS router. I don't recommend or use Netgear anymore for that reason.
Re:A large amount of wireless based products are based on the Prism chip, and GST based controllers.
The newer 22mbs 802.11b products are based on a Texas Instruments DSP.
Re:You guys are crazy if you think dlink or Linksys or even Cisco uses all diffrent stuff. A large amount of wireless based products are based on the Prism chip, and GST based controllers. They are pretty much all the same dlink/linksys both use the same stuff. There are certainly differances but if your just going for a basic wireless setup its not going to make all that much differance what you use.
Re:If that's that propriety DLink throughput then you're going to need DLink wifi card(s) too,
Its not proprietary, there are 22mbs 802.11b products coming out from US robotics and others. Its also backward compatible with 11mbs rates so its a feature worth getting.
Re:Originally posted by: guy
did some research on this. It looks like the D-Link's new TI chipset's 22mbit mode sounds very good to me.
If that's that propriety DLink throughput then you're going to need DLink wifi card(s) too, IIRC. Just a note: I've had Linksys for a year and I have had no problems at all with it. However (get this) if I try to join a game using GameSpy Arcade it will lock up my Linksys and forces me to reboot. Other than that I have no problems at all. <kevin_costner_in_JFK>The choice… is yours.</k_c_i_J>
Re:I have a D-Link router, a D-Link wireless access point, and a D-Link USB wireless network card and they work great. I had a few problems getting the USB nic to install properly in W2K, but D-Link tech support was very helpful and we got it going. I would heartily recommend D-Link. Now if I could just get those rebates from Office Max for the wireless AP and USB nic, I would be totally thrilled…
Re:did some research on this. It looks like the D-Link's new TI chipset's 22mbit mode sounds very good to me.
Re:My personal favorite is Cisco.
You can pick up a Cisco 350 enterprise series AP for around $550. Cheap!
What? You meant consumer grade? Well in that case I'd recommend either D-Link or Netgear, both have worked well in my workplace and home. I've never used Linksys, but given the problems my friends have with Linksys I think it must be junk.
Merry Christmas!
Re:thanks for those replyed. Anyone else?
Re:I've got a linksys wireless PC card and a D-Link Access point right now. I also had a D-Link wireless card, but switched it off for the linksys card because it wasn't working quite right. My linksys has been working perfectly, except in windows XP, but the D-link had the same problem in XP (Its probably a hardware issue with my laptop).
Re:D-Link. Personally, I had nothing but bad luck with Linksys but individual experiences may vary. Currently, D-link has the best features for the money, IMO. It also has a longer warranty.
Re:At my school, they had been using the same Linksys wireless setup for a while now. It works great and no problem with Mac powerbook use also. A relative of my with the same Linksys also like it. I'm think if that works for them, it should be good enough for me.
My roomate wants the D-Link combo from Costco (http://www.costco.com/product.asp?catid=84&subid=2488&prdid=10025914&hierid=2489&log=&navtop=). Partly because it's cheaper and it's from B&M store. I have not problem what so ever with Costco rebates.
Re:You're talking about 1999. This is the year 2002 (almost 2003). I own nothing but Linksys AND Dlink networking gear (a couple Dlink network cards, Linksys network cards, and a Linksys router) and they own. My Linksys router has been with me for 2 years now and I've had no problems.
In any case, for wireless access I'd go with D-Link.
Re:I'll just say this: In 1999, Quake 2 was the only netplay game taken seriously by the Professional Gamers League. Linksys released a "PGL Certified" network card that was 100% impossible to play Quake 2 with. That's right, a compatability problem with a specific piece of software. When playing over a network or online, the game would freeze for a few seconds and leave all who were connected to you lagging for even longer! I tried it on various motherboards (Everything from SiS to Via to Intel) on at least 6 systems with different Internet connections and the problem was definately the card. We even got it replaced 3 times (Because "surely a PGL certified card can't be at fault"). I came to the conclusion that Linksys was CRAP and their marketing department is full of liars.
But I still own two different USB network adapters from them (Of course, those are expected to be impossible to play games over)
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