which router

do i need a 50$ router or a 100$ router for use at home with my new laptop to be able to use it outside in my shop or in the livingroom or where ever, and are there different strength routers? i mean do some work over longer distances?

If you are using a brand new laptop it most likely has wireless "N" built in. If it does (probably does) just get a router that supports type n. The brand router you buy is up to you, I've installed good ones and cheap ones in all types of houses and offices and have had very few failures with any. There are a couple different types on the market you can buy right now.

b is slowest/weakest 11Mbps
g is medium speed/range 54Mbps
N is fastest/strongest up to 300Mbps

How far is the shop? Is it in a different building?

Gary

Personally I would buy the cheapest Wireless N router on the shelf at a big box store.

In my experience, Netgear works better than Linksys.

I just bought a refurb Linksys 160N at Tigerdirect for $30 new were $80-100. Works great looks like a saucer, replaced an old G Linksys that was hit bt lightning.

bczoom said:

In my experience, Netgear works better than Linksys.

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My experience is also that Netgear routers are much easier to configure\set up than Linksys. Linksys routers seems to die after 4 years or so. Not that 4 years is a bad lifespan in computer terms, but that has been my experience with them.

jpr62902 said:

My experience is also that Netgear routers are much easier to configureset up than Linksys. Linksys routers seems to die after 4 years or so. Not that 4 years is a bad lifespan in computer terms, but that has been my experience with them.

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Really? I've experienced just the opposite. I have both brands of routers in my network that includes 9 networked computers and a wireless system with computers networked together from four different buildings. I started with Netgear but had to constantly reset the router. Also, if there was lightning anywhere in our county, my router was toast. I plugged in the cheapest Linksys router in the same position two or three years ago and it's never failed due to lightning and I only have to unplug it and plug it back in (reset) it about once ever other month. My one Mac computer doesn't seem to care. It won't network with either brand router.

I have several Linksys switches downstream from my router that feed my guest house, office, original barn office and the office in my new barn. Some of these runs are a few hundred feet underground through conduit. Still, other than my MacBook Pro that won't play with other computers on my network nor play sound on about half of the websites I visit where I need sound, I have no problems.

I had a Linksys. I liked it for programming. However it failed about six months ago and I now have a Netgear and am not very happy with it. Programming is not as flexible as the Linksys and the one thing that upsets me is about every 4 days I have to shut it down and reboot it as it stops working wirelessly.

If you can find an old Linksys, they are nearly bullet proof. They most likely only support 802.11b/g, but that is probably faster than your internet connection anyway, so you will never know the difference. I have a Linksys WRT54G which sits on a top shelf on the second floor of the house and it will easily provide coverage to a 200' - 250' radius around the house. I have never done any actual tests, but I know the lounge in the riding arena is right around 200' from the station, and people connect from there all the time.

I never have to perform a reboot on my router to get it to work right.

This model is still very actively bought and sold on e-bay.

edit: A lot of those listed in my e-bay link are some sort of special T-Mobile version. I DO NOT have this version, and I have no idea if it is the same internal guts. I can assure you it is not the same internal software as mine, so it probably works differently.

DaveNay said:

I have a Linksys WRT54G which sits on a top shelf on the second floor of the house and it will easily provide coverage to a 200' - 250' radius around the house. I

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That is the model of mine that failed about 6 months ago.

thcri said:

That is the model of mine that failed about 6 months ago.

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Mine has been running non-stop for nearly five years. Like I said, it's an older model with older software.

My Linksys router has worked fine for about the last year without touching it. Setup was a bitch... the service department Lady from India got so frustrated with me on the phone she said her supervisor would call me the next day. That never happened but we figured it out anyway.
I can't stand it when someone is trying to assist me with their product and I can't understand what the hell they are saying. And I'm supposed to feel bad when I keep saying "what? say what?"

bczoom said:

In my experience, Netgear works better than Linksys.

Click to expand...

jpr62902 said:

My experience is also that Netgear routers are much easier to configureset up than Linksys. Linksys routers seems to die after 4 years or so. Not that 4 years is a bad lifespan in computer terms, but that has been my experience with them.

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I like Netgear too. They seem more 'professional'. Simple to set up and none ever failed. I don't recall that one ever needed a reboot. They simply work. No need to phone India, just fill in what it asks for.

I wonder if some of the reboots that people describe are actually modem issues. A number of times in the past 10 years PacBell has reconfigured their end of the DSL 'bridge' leaving me me orphaned, and rebooting my DSL modem was required to reconnect. That's not a Router issue.

If you need more range, a repeater at the halfway point works well.

On mine I don't have to re-boot the modem. In fact the one computer that is hard wired to the router continues to work. Just the laptops that are wireless. Rebooting only the router things start to work again.

so the difference between b g and n is speed no matter how fast the connect5ion or laptop is?

garygaboury said:

If you are using a brand new laptop it most likely has wireless "N" built in.

b is slowest/weakest 11Mbps
g is medium speed/range 54Mbps
N is fastest/strongest up to 300Mbps

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I just had to buy a new laptop. It has 1000b/g/n, or gigabit wireless built in. Add "N Gigabit" to the above list. Just bought a gigabit router too, Linksys. Easy set up.