Best value and construction and ease of use on the market: Linksys BEFSR41
4-port router.
A statement about Linksys routers, and a couple of questions at the
bottom of this post. (kind of a lengthy post).
Gotta say something here about Linksys.. (& I will be doing the
wireless router thing very soon for two computers & one cable modem
beginning next month - out computer bucks for this month).
My friend of 35+ years (since high school) bought a Linksys
non-wireless router a couple of months ago off of Amazon. He had 3
computers to network into a cable modem. (Power crazy guy - I can see
maybe 2 computers for one person, one for the Internet & one for
everything else, but 3?), & Linksys sent him an 8 port router, though
he says he only paid for a 4 port router.
So he hooked everything up. All 3 were now connected. However, his
supposed 2000 Kbps cable connection was down to 300 Kbps download
speed with any of the 3 computers. I told him it should just about be
plug & play, but he kept thinking it was his fault, & it could be
fixed with the right settings. He called Linksys & that didn't help,
but they must have assured him the router was good because he kept
trying to get it right, & then he talked to someone else, & kept
tried some more settings. He for some reason believed that routers
like he had had to be set up by an knowledgeable installer.
Finally he gave up last week. He bought a 4 port Netgear
non-wireless, again off of Amazon. He plugged the 3 computers in,
and boom, it worked correctly.
And also, this is weird, his 2000 Kbps download speed, confirmed that
that was about the limit for his cable server in Modesto, Ca
(charter.net), and also tested before with one computer not hooked up
to any network, & several times too, at
www.DSLreports.com, and yes,
he got around the 2000 Kbps limit in those tests. Well, he ran a
test after all 3 computers were hooked up to the new Netgear router,
and he got about 2800 Kbps!
He mentioned to me that charter.net there where he lives does have a
higher speed plan. I'll tell you, I don't know how routers or modems
work on cable, but could this router actually be improving his speed
over the speed he is supposed to be getting with his 1st tier plan?
Or is the speed reported just a mistake? If there is a higher speed
plan like he has available to him, does that mean it is always "on",
or does the cable ISP have to flip a switch somewhere for it to be
available to him?
He also mentioned he checked on Amazon and 2 others sites before he
gave up on the Linksys, and he said that there were other people
having mucho problems with Linksys routers.
So you will definitely not be seeing me buying a Linksys router.
--------
Now, a couple of questions unrelated to Linksys.
(1) I am going to go wireless, unlike my friend.. 2 computers for me
as mentioned up top (one for another person in the house). One
computer (my computer) will be right next to the router & modem. I
know I need a receiver/transmitter for the 2nd computer, but what
about my computer - is there a way to hook up using a wired interface?
Or am I stuck having to get a PCI card for my computer?
2nd question coming - the 2nd computer I bought used, a $50 Dell
Optiplex G1 Celeron running at 400 MHz with 64 MBs RAM, running
Windows 98. Seems pretty stable so far. Just fine for the Internet &
broadband (I saw it running on DSL before I bought it). Now,
apologies in advance for not knowing this, but I stopped computing
mid-90s with a 386, & 486s were emerging on the market, & I had very
limited Internet experience (BBS days). So it was pre-PCI slots. Now
I've taken up computing again starting almost a year ago (and I am
super-hooked). I have a pretty modern Athalon & Win XP. What I'd
like to know, if anyone knows so I don't have to investigate anywhere
else (I can ask in the Dell newsgroup if no one knows), does this P2 I
bought have PCI slots in it? I don't know much about it. I am going
to crack it open, but to be honest, I don't know what a PCI slot looks
like without opening up my Athalon too. The NIC & monitor connection
in the Dell P2 are integrated into the motherboard. And just in case
the answer is "no PCI slots", then are there wireless sender/receivers
that can hook up to this thing?
Thanks you guys,
Big Mac
