Wireless routers

[Guest arunhallan]

Netgear MR814

D-Link DI-614+

Microsoft MN-700

Anyone have any information on them, i know the spec etc i just want to know how well they work in real life. Im not networking anything complex, i just want to be able to connect a few computers up thru cable and wireless

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

I use the belkin router wireless + 3 lan works fine :)

[Guest Stuart P]

Recently set up a similar netgear model at work, the DG814, to use as a stand-alone AP for diagnosing/testing wifi on laptops. The DG supports 802.11g (faster than the MR), URL content filtering, logging etc.

First impressions - excellent. Good documentation; very easy and intuitive interface to set up the router / access point. Security ok - you can disable SSID broadcasting and lock it down to particular client MAC addresses if you like. I imagine the MR will be to a similar standard.

Netgear's website seems pretty good for support - try putting the MR through their knowledgebase and see if the FAQ's are likely to be useful to you. Sorry not got any experience of the Dlink or MS.

We had a basic wifi network in place within 5 minutes of opening the box!

Stu.

[Guest clv101]

Here's a list of the latest and greatest - they are just appearing in the shops (on-line) now but I doubt you’ll get one this side of New Year.

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/default_Sh...?ShopGroupID=38

[Guest clv101]

Double post :roll:

[Guest bdmoore]

I've had the D-Link DI-614+ for about 8 months now and have had no complaints at all. I use it with my 1MB NTL cable connection, but AFAIK it works fine with ADSL too.

I've got 2pcs hard wired into it and use the WLAN for my laptop and XBox for Live / XBC play. The firewall and other config options are excellent, port forwarding for apps that need it is pretty easy to set up. The only thing that doesn't work perfectly is the remote management, but I VPN into my server and can then access the web interface using the local IP from anywhere.

The european support isn't great, but I use the US firmware updates and have not had any problems.

Overall I'd highly recommend this router but haven't tried the others so it's a fairly one sided review I'm afraid!

Let me know if you want any more info :)

[Guest spacecowboy6982]

Excuse my stupidity but is this like splitting an internet connection so that two computers can get access ? Unluckily fo rme my sister got a PC for Xmas and my Dad is wanting to split the 1mb connection so that bot hcomputers have broadband. Is this the same thing we're talking about :?: Sorry if its not lol :oops:

spacecowboy

[Guest bdmoore]

Hi SpaceCowboy,

Yes this does enable you to share an internet connection. A router is basically a more complex version of a network hub - you connect your broadband connection to the WAN port and the PCs to the LAN ports - typical home / small office routers such as the ones we're discussing here have 4 LAN ports. This then creates you a home network so that the PCs can share data etc (provided they are on the same domain / workgroup) and all PCs can then share the same internet connection. Most routers also have built in firewalls (effectively a hardware replacement for ZoneAlarm etc but a lot more powerful) and some also have built in wireless access points so you can also connect to the network / internet using 80.211b/g devices.

You can do all this without a router - you connect the modem to one PC (you would have to use USB unless you have 2 ethernet ports) and then use either a crossover cable or a basic network hub and two standard ethernet cables to connect the two PCs together. You then have to configure the PC connected to the net to share it's internet connection (this basically creates a software version of a router) and both PCs can access the net. One of the main disadvantages to this is that the main pc must be on for the second PC to use the connection.

A decent home router will set you back around £50 - £60, one with wireless will be around £100 but it's a lot less hassle in the long run, and is well worth the initial investment!!

HTH - let me know if you want any more info :)

[Guest idavid]

let me get this right. i would like to be able to run two laptops off one broadband coneection. trouble is, that i cannot guarantee one laptop as always being there. so i need a wireless router... (think thats right so far), but... what about my little free modem i got with freeserve (broadband) does this plug into the router? or does the router contain its own modem? cheers guys!

[Guest spacecowboy6982]

Cheers for that info. :!: Best I can find anywhere. Unfortunatly AOL provided us wit ha crappy external modem and theres no "hole" for a certain "plug thing" we need :?: :!: :?:

I'll no doubt PM you if Im really stuck lol - cheers :!:

spacecowboy

[Guest superkingdave]

i think aol are notorious for not allowing you to share an internet connection...

we had a dial up at uni with aol but we had to get some other software to allow us to share it :)