British Expatriate Network

Just moved into new apartment and while it has internet cable outlets in every room I was thinking of setting up a wireless system, just in case I want to surf on the bog.

So has anyone set up a warless zone in their apartment? If so, what router/equipment did you find worked well? And is it worth it?

Cheers ears.

Once you have wireless you will wonder how you coped without it, and you will find yourself surfing on the bog, not that I have ever done it roll Maybe TMI there...

Anyway, the linksys ones have always been good, especially since they are basically the home version of Cisco these days.

Just make sure you have enough security set up, Mac Filtering and WEP should deter most.

Having said that, have you checked to see if anyone else within the apartments near you has wireless set up, who knows they may be happy to allow you to "Borrow" their connection? lol

Moving in today and will check that first. But as I am trying to set up TV and broadband comes as a bundle I thought I'd explore that option.

I use that and its been extremely good.

I've got an Apple Airport Extreme that's been really good and feeds my office PC, laptop and Xbox 360 which are spread around the house.

WPA is a better security option than WEP as WEP seems to broadcast the encryption key in plaintext which is nuts. WPA is still not perfect but it changes the key more often than most people could crack it. MAC filtering is ok for stopping someone next door getting into your network but the packets that travel round the network contain the information anyone needs to pretend to have an authorised MAC address if they bother to 'sniff' them - so best used in conjunction with other security methods. WEP requires a long password to be entered on authorised machines - usually around 13 or more characters.

One thing to test out is different locations for the wireless router. I had mine in my office for a while, next to the desktop PC and it wasn't getting good coverage around the house.

I started moving it around and then when I found the sweetest spot, halfway down my stairs, I put it there and then ran cables back to the office. The coverage is really good and all the devices connect at almost full strength around and outside my house.

Mels brother set up her comp in the bed/sit room and we have the linksys cisco system seems to be working satisfactory

[quote="pilgrim_007 @ 1st June 2006, 908 am"]I've got an Apple Airport Extreme that's been really good and feeds my office PC, laptop and Xbox 360 which are spread around the house.

Can you use other than Airport Extreme units for Mac? I never know what's compatible. After purchasing the card and the unit it can get a bit pricey! What do you reccomend Pilgrim? Oh we have two Macs both with annoying trip over ethernet cables. grin

Yes, you don't have to use Apple's router which is quite a bit more expensive than most units. I probably wouldn't have bought it myself (work purchase) either. You just need something that is the same standard as your card - usually 802.11b or 802.11g. I think there is an 'a' designation too but that's really for Media Center and sending video over wireless.

The Linksys routers that everyone has mentioned so far seem decent and are cheap. They used to be a bit dodgy but I haven't heard too many bad things about them lately. I do like the look of the Apple one - it looks like a little alien flying saucer stuck on my wall but not worth the premium for the fancy looks, IMO.

As I have a Power Book I'll explore the airport extreme. I can then run my Ipod off it too. Cheers for all the imput people.

Definitely get a brand name, a Linksys or a D-Link or something. I have a Belkin and I am not too happy with it despite its name brand status.

The only thing you have to watch with the various encryption standards is that some devices do not support some of them. The same with the broadcast standards, so get one that is b/g at the very least.

And if you get a card or router that is junk, don't be afraid to take it back and try another one - even if it is a later revision of that same model.

We have a Netgear thingummajig. It's great.

Our ex neighbour runs a puter shop below us.. he has offered us the gear etc to test his own 'wireless' network.. all legal.. he is part of the big Canuck Rogers network, so all this info is great...... his brother is an IT guy and i guess owns part of the business.. so we said yeah.. we can test it. His main concerns were from meetings, about the health issue.. so it was good to hear that, not just the usual blurb on what was the hottest deal etc........ is it just the 'little' guys who care what you get?

I buy a lot of Netgear stuff for work when they need quick and dirty hubs, switches, network cards etc. Cheap and I've always found them to be very reliable.

Linksys and Netgear are great. Could never get a signal with all Belkin equipment. Had to get Belkin to take it all back for Belkin 'store' credit.

I could get a great connection with linksys router and belkin wireless adaptor but not with netgear router and belkin....linksys wireless adaptor works great with it tho...

I fried my linksys router by downloading the wrong firmware but it was time to upgrade to wireless g anyway and netgear was on sale...no probs at all when I installed it - it picked up all my adaptors and laptops bar the belkin one immediately.

The Netgear wotchamacallit is much better.