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Wireless/Wired Router questions

A

andcraig

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 28, 2005
107
0
Now..the setup
Windows machine and powerbook both in the basement.
Regular router and wireless AP set up upstairs..the basement recieves flaky to no wireless signal. Theres a cable running from the router down to the basement to hook up the desktop.
Currently i need to switch the ethernet cable between desktop and laptop depending on which i want to use...and this isn't working too well. Darn impractical.

Soooo...i'm curious as to what wireless routers people would recommend.
I was initially drawn to the airport express..but lack of wired lan connection and price kinda turned me off to it.
I've heard good things about linksys..but am curious as to what people have experience with..preferably good experience.

Also ( i should really know this since i'm doing cisco networking..but obvious things like this can't be covered) - if i have this new router hooked up through the upstairs router..i'd just need to be sure to disable dhcp on the downstairs router neh?
Or does that even matter at all.

thanks for any help.

Oh..and i'm looking for something less than 50 bucks preferrably..or at least in that price range...hence why airport extreme is far too expensive.
 
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paperinacup

macrumors 6502
Mar 30, 2005
413
0
You cannot go wrong with Linksys or Netgear. Those are the top selling routers. I have had 3 Linksys routers and 1 problem on one of them. I called tech support and they setup a warranty exchange. Just whatever you do do NOT get a 802.11b router. Find a 802.11g.

The Linksys WRT54G is a very good router.
 
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purdueboiler87

macrumors member
Aug 5, 2005
82
2
Clearwater, FL
I second the Linksys WRT54G choice. I have both Mac and PCs on with no problems. I even get a signal in my front yard (router is located in back corner of the house).
 
ITASOR

ITASOR

macrumors 601
Mar 20, 2005
4,398
3
I recommend the Linksys WRT54G, as well. After getting 6 replacements for my NETGEAR MR814, I just bought the Linksys. Few replacements of those and everything is working good. Good signal, even on the opposite end of my house.

I recommend the Linksys high gain antennas as well. They really help.
 
wPod

wPod

macrumors 68000
Aug 19, 2003
1,654
0
Denver, CO
i agree with the WRT54G it rocks, and has an easily hacked firmware, wich means you can essentially program it to do whatever you want. for example, my favorite, i have a hack that allows the router to use WDS wich then allows me to connect an airpot express through WDS to extend my network as well as use the normal functions such as airtunes. but, just out of curiostiy, why does the router live upstairs while all the computers live in the basement? you could always get a cheap 4 or 5 port switch to connect to the one wire you have running down to the basement. or plug in an airport express to the wire in the basement if you really want wireless down there.
 
A

andcraig

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 28, 2005
107
0
The router and such is upstairs for the parents to use (their offices are upstairs)
and the cheap switch + airport idea sounds good...but its cheaper to get either the linksys WRT54G or WRT54GC (40 bucks cheaper than the regular G and smaller).
but yeah..thanks for all the help, the WRT54G seems to be unanimously approved of...hopefully i'll pick something up in the next couple of days
 
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