So two brothers and I are getting an apartment next semester. The apartment comes with internet, but now wifi. Considering that all three of us have laptops, I have a playstation and a PSP, and at least of my bros has a gaming system, wifi is a requirement. So we're investing in a router. However, I have no idea how any of this wifi or routers working since I've never had my own before. Even now, I'm stealing my neighbor's lol Anyway, any suggestions for good ones, price ranges, anything I should know about them? I don't know how big the apartment is in square feet (for signal strength?) but I do have a floor plan if that helps. Spoiler
The living area would probably be the best area, as it is centrally located. The higher up you can put it, the better, so if you have any shelves that'd be a good place for it. Routers have price ranges all across the board, though--it depends on what you're looking for. As you've outlined it, you need to support all of these: - Gaming systems x 3 (Playstation 3, brother's console, PSP) - Laptops x 3 So, a total of six devices. Not exactly a small list but it's not bad. I'm assuming not everything would be on at the same time (ie, when you're playing PS3 you're probably not playing PSP), but even so. Since the router would be in the living room, you could consider wiring some connections if they're nearby. If any of you are handy, and the apartment building allows it, you could run wires into the bedroom(s). The connections would be a lot more reliable and faster. You would have to pay for the cables, of course, whereas Wi-Fi you just hook up and go, but wired connections tend to have a lot less headache. But either way, Wi-Fi is nice to have. Now, onto shopping for the actual router. The biased part of me always recommends Cisco/Linksys routers, I just have good experiences with them and it probably doesn't help that working with them is one of the career paths I'm considering. One thing to consider is what standard the router uses--there's 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n. N is the most recent, fastest, and if you're looking to get a new router, probably what you should shoot for. Some routers are compatible with all of them, which is nice if some of your laptops are older and their wireless cards don't support 802.11n. It'd say IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n in the specs if it was compatible with all of them. What it really comes down to is how much are you willing to spend on it. I'm assuming you'd be splitting the cost between the three of you, since the others would be using the Wi-Fi too, in which case you might be able to put a slightly higher price tag on it than if you were going it alone. If you're on a budget though that can be considered. =] I can't see you spending more than $200 on it, if even that. I'd say anywhere in the $40 to $200 price range can be considered. Also, moving to Tech and Tech Support. ;o
This is the one I have hooked up: http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-M20-Cis...f=sr_1_36?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1310779124&sr=1-36 I love it. We have 4 laptops, one desktop PC, a printer, the Wii, an Xbox 360, a DSi XL, two iPod Touches, a Nook Color, a tablet, and a BluRay player all hooked up to this thing. It works best for us since we have so many WiFi dependent tech toys, and it's able to support many of them online at the same time. We also like how ours gives us two locked networks: one private locked network that uses a WEP key and recognizes each device's MAC address, while there's a separate guest one that requires a password the system generates every few days. This way if i invite a friend over and he wishes to get online i can share the password with him, it won't be the same one the next time he visits, and the next door neighbor's not mooching off our bandwidth.
Haha, that's actually the one I was planning on recommending. But a MAC address filter is the best way imo to lock it down, you should definitely set that up. =]
Just to point out something that was mentioned above... don't pay attention and spend monney depending on the security of the router because 1)all routers nowadays have the ability to change their security from wep to wpa and wpa2. The only purely crackable is wep, and it's not that easy anyways 2)think the position you're now, stealing from your neighbor internet... now after you get a router you will be shifting roles... ha had given you (maybe unawaringly) internet, wouldn't you give him? Even if you dont have a password and he is connecting through your router, I doubt you will notice anyways, unless he's downloading stuff all day.
If his internet is faster. However, I think Misty covered it all, but I would recommend D-Link. I have this http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DIR-65...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1311146937&sr=1-1 badboy set up at home, and it works great.
even so there's still no reason for his neighbor to use his internet if his neighbors internet works just fine.
Thanks, guys, I'm putting all of this into consideration. Keep suggestions coming, if you can~ @Kubo, well it wouldn't be the same neighbor for one xD And I have been playing with the idea of making the network open to whoever for that exact reason (I've been in the position of mooching wifi), but it would depend on my two roommates if we split the cost.
