Wireless network woes

My dad has the Belkin Pre-N router setup in his house. He says is absolutely great. Before that he had a Linksys router with a signal booster strapped to it which did the trick but was too slow. I now have the old linksys setup which suits me perfectly.

I'm not sure you'll be able to use the advantages of the Pre-N technology if you don't have the card that is compatible. Is the pcmcia card mac-compatible? If so , that might be good option for you. Otherwise try getting a signal booster for your linksys router! You might be able to find one on ebay for a decent price (possibly used).

 

Out of interest, upgrading to Tiger seems to have doubled my airport range. Seriously better than before....

 

Same here. Although I have to say that the airport reception measurement is a highly-inaccurate yardstick for your actual ability to surf the web efficiently. With 50% reception the connection jumps so much that it is a real pain to try to surf the internet. But its progress I guess.

 

The pre-N wireless router is a pretty pricey effort as well. Without the Pre-N card I wouldn't bother. You may find that when N is actually certified in 2006 (I believe), you'll have router that is actually incompatible with the "real" N certification. Then you'll be stuck with a sub-optimal solution.

What about repeaters?

 

I wouldn't bother with such a complicated setup. Save yourself the effort and get one of these:
http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=33&scid=38&prid=629

They're about $80 so not a bad price either. Cheaper and less hassle than setting up a second router.

 

I would suggest changing your wireless router configuration to try different channels first. If that doesn't help, then see if you can move the router away from microwaves and cordless phones (2.5GHz) and other routers (did you say there was an airport express near the Linksys?). Wireless interference can be hard to figure out but might most likely be the culprit. As for firmware, it's better to stick with the manufacturer's version - the ones that you get on the net (like for $20) would most probably achieve longer ranges by increasing the power output (thus frying the components inside and reducing the life of your router...which means you'd see unreliable performance sooner).

As suggested by others, I would also recommend not going for any pre-N stuff - it may seem like it provides a lot more than the current routers, but you might be stuck with something that's not good for the long term. Even if you do decide to go for pre-N (or even A), get the right cards for the Mac too.

Although routers like the WRTGS (with speedbooster or other proprietary technology) require the same kind of card on the computer for optimum performance, the performance of those routers in standard '54G' mode is better than WRTG54.

If you can spare a lot of money, then you could also look at the SRX series from Linksys.

If there's one thing I've learned from wireless, it's that interference and poor quality routers can make life hell.