Wireless access points

[GT98]

Anyone have any experances using one of these? Who makes the best one? Suggestions?

Thanks

[agallag]

The best one? Probably Cisco, but you'll pay a hefty premium, if you can even find one. They're generally not sold at retail. I have a netgear wireless/router/switch combo, and I'm quite happy with it so far. The linksys ones are pretty popular as well, so they're probably pretty decent. Linksys is usually cheaper too. Of course, linksys is now owned by cisco, so who know what that will mean in the future...

[Taz]

You want to be looking at ones which support the new wireless G standard as they can run at 54Mbps.

More info and a list of equipment supporting it here :- http://www.54g.org/

[Wombat]

Linksys still has pretty iffy quality. After buying my router, I started reading the tech support forums, Linksys firmwares seem to always break one thing when trying to fix another.

Another brand to look at: Netgear. Around the same price point as Linksys, not as popular, but the people that I know that have them are happy.

Avoid: D-Link, especially their wireless stuff. Belkin is average quality with high prices.

[Stringy]

First you have to decide on which kind of wireless you want...
11a, 11b, or the newer 11g

I tried 11a, and had trouble with range, it wasn't that great - it was a netgear, product seemed well made though the transmittion type didn't fare well in my install...

I now have a Linksys 11g, so far so good, but I'm not wow'ed over or anything... Tech support is spotty...
The product works well, and now that Cisco bought them they are alittle more appealing...


Craig

[Wombat]

You don't need to choose between b and g. G is backwards compatible. There's very little reason for home owners to want 11a now that 11g is around.

[Stringy]

Might want to read on on this site, SmallNetBuilder
he reviews quite a few products and it quite thurough...

his site did crash alittle while back though, some links are not complete just yet...


the 5Ghz frequency was appealing since it would not be interfered with by household noise... ie microwave, cordless phones etc...
G is a better choice in the long run...


Craig

[Technoid]

Originally posted by Wombat
.....
Another brand to look at: Netgear. Around the same price point as Linksys, not as popular, but the people that I know that have them are happy........

Yup, got one of their routers and it's better than great

[agallag]

One really nice thing about netgear routers is the built in Dyndns.org client. Makes accessing my home network from work much easier.