Hey guys, I am about to buy myself an ADSL wireless router to save myself wiring up the whole house again, so I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on the best one's out there and/or what's good to look out for when buying one.

Also I was looking to buy from ebuyer.com, as they usually seem cheap - but if you know of anywhere else please post some links (UK purchase only).

Thanks in advance,

Graham.

Hey Graham,

Welcome back.

I would recommend a Linksys router with MIMO technology. It is a little more expensive than some of the other wireless systems, but absolutely worth it if you have more than one person on the internet at a time. Here is a really good article about why, Linksys Goes Long with MIMO-based Wireless, By Dave Salvator, thanks to ExtremeTech.

I have had several unpleasant run in's with wireless routers, with three of us constantly battling for bandwidth. The new Linksys we installed; the WPC300N, has MIMO (multiple in/multiple out) technology built in, and have been thrilled with it. The only caveat I will add is that you will probably want to make sure that you purchase the Linksys cards as well as the router, in order to avoid any conflicts, and take full advantage of the available speed.

You can also find the MIMO technology as a separate card, but I think you will get better results by having it integrated into your wireless system.

Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

Hey, Thanks for the reply.

I've been looking around, and as I'm not really any use with the hardware side of PC's - I was thinking it'd be best to get a USB adapter with the router. So here are a couple I came up with - I'd appreciate any feedback. Baring in mind the idea is to have the router downstairs and the adapter on the upstairs PC for the internet.

Linksys Wless G B/band Router with SpeedBooster
Along with the Linksys Instant Wireless USB Adapter


or the slightly more expensive option of...


Belkin Pre-N MIMO Wireless Cable/DSL - Internet Gateway Router
with... Belkin Network Adapter / Wireless USB 2.0 802.11g

Also, am I right in thinking that the router would plug right into the phone socket? Thanks for your time,

Graham

Hey Graham,

NP that's what we're here for. LOL.

You already know how I feel about the MIMO technology, and the PreN is getting great reviews, the thing is with the Belkin, just like the Linksys I mentioned before, you need to get the compatible wireless card, in this case the PreN card, or you will have problems.

Here is a great article about that particular model, Pre-N Mature?A review by LegendaryMrDude, courtesy of Ciao! Shopping Intelligence.

How are you currently getting internet access? If you are using a dial up connection, this will not work for you.
You need to have broadband to use a wireless connection.
Here is the Belkin User Manual for more information.

Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

Hey

I have a DSL connection at the moment, ~2mb as long as I don't violate the Fair User Policy again lol. Anyway, so something like this would be better then - the bundle pack including the PCI card?

How do you actually install that card? Hopefully it won't be too complicated! From what I understand, does the computer which the router is plugged into (downstairs for example) have to be turned on in order to recieve a connection on the upstairs computer - or is the router power supply the only thing which needs to be on? It would sort of defeat the object of me getting a wireless router if I needed the PC to be downstairs afterall!

Thanks for your reply,

Graham

Hey Graham,

That looks like a great deal, now you just have to find it when they have it to sell, .

PCI cards are very easy to install, if you give me the make and model of your PC upstairs I would be happy to write a tutorial for you.

The wireless capabilities of the router are not dependant on the status of the wired PC. In fact, you don't need either of the PCs to be wired into the router.

Are you using a modem with your DSL currently? The instructions will probably tell you to connect the router to the modem with the ethernet adapter, and then connect the PCs however you wish. If you only want to purchase one wireless card, the downstairs PC will have a cabled connection.

Does that make sense? Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

Howdy

Yeah I use a modem at the moment. So for example, I would connect the modem to the phone line, the router to the modem, and the wireless card to the PC upstairs and the connection would work? And if I wanted to use the internet on the downstairs PC I would just plug it directly into the router - thus sharing the connection with the PC upstairs too if both were online at the same time?

My PC is custom made:

Windows XP H/E SP2
2.00 ghz AMD Athlong 64
Main Circuit Board: K8S8X 1.00
Bus Clock: 200 mhz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. P1.70
1024mb RAM

Standard floppy disk controller
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller]
SiS PCI IDE Controller

SiS 180 RAID Controller
SiS 7001 PCI to USB Open Host Controller (3x)
SiS PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller
SiS 900-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
SpeedTouch USB ADSL PPP

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 [Display adapter]
C-Media AC97 Audio Device

USB Human Interface Device
HP PS2 Keyboard (2K - 3)
NetScroll+ Mini Traveler [Mouse]
SpeedTouch 330 ADSL Modem
Generic USB Hub
USB Root Hub (4x)

Not the best, but it gets me by Hope that covers it for you anyway, thanks for the reply.

Graham