Wireless router in apartment questions.

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by shoop008, Dec 19, 2003.

  1. shoop008

    shoop008 Private E-2

    I'm looking into buying a wireless router for my apartment. I'm trying to decide between the linksys 54mbps router G, or a Linksys Etherfast 11mbps router.(both are 2.4ghz.). I'm worried about other people in the complex trying to use my network and phone interference. Will that be a problem? My other question is whether i still have to keep my printer connected to a pc or can it connect to a router. If not, is there some other affordable device that can handle both?
    I'm going to running a laptap with a wireless card and a wired pc. Both run with WindowsXP.
     
  2. Dane

    Dane Private E-2

    You really have to be carefull when you set up a wireless network, over here, many stores lie and say its no problem but it is a problem, however you can set things like WEP encryption and limiting access by MAC or IP address to secure you network, you need to set that up within your router, many routers have a webbased interface and its pretty easy to set up.

    Some printers can be plugged into the LAN, but they need a RJ-45 adapter (LAN plug) to do so, if it doesnt have one you have to buy a printserver (I think thats what they are called in english) they cost from I think $70 and up, give or take $10.
     
    Last edited: Dec 20, 2003
  3. Draith

    Draith Private E-2

    Hey Shoop,

    first i wanna recommend you go with the 54mbps router. Since it follows the G standard, it's most likely backwards compatible with any computer running the B standard - which is the slower 11mbps protocol.

    As for interference, in an apartment building, there's a chance you'll run into interference whether or not you have a portable phone since other residents are likely to have them, plus microwaves have been known to cause interference on the 2.4ghz spectrum. None the less, you do have the option of using different "channels" in that frequency, so you just choose the channel with the least interference. Besides, since the wireless network is going to be in your apartment, you will likely be accessing the network fairly close to the router, so there's a good chance you won't have to worry too much about this problem.

    As for security, this shouldn't be too bad. Yes, people might be able to listen in on your transmissions if they wanted to, however a few things to consider:

    -not everyone who will be able to pick up your signal, which won't be like miles (excepting certain circumstances) will be a malicious cracker trying to sniff your traffic.

    -none the less you can enable WEP encryption, which will give you a degree of protection and require them to still crack open your key before being able to decrypt your transmission.

    -In terms of worrying about people connecting and mooching your network connectivity, you can setup your router to only accept connections from specified MAC addresses. So that only your two computers can connect.

    As for your printer, you can look for a printserver router that'll connect directly to your printer. That or follow Dane's suggestion, or you can keep the printer connected to a computer (the desktop?) and share access to it on your network.

    there you go :)
    o Draith
     

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