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Purchasing a router at the moment, what to expect?

R

rhagen

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 13, 2007
185
1
San Diego, California
In an hour I am going to purchase " LINKSYS WRT54GL IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g Wireless-G Broadband Router" and I am just wondering what is the experience like installing a router. This will be the first one I install, so I am not sure what to expect. I been reading some horror stories though. I will give a break down of my situation at home (back from college). The computers going to be hooked up are: My 2.16 MacBook (wireless) and 3 desktop PC's (wired). I have Road Runner Time-Warner Cable. Will this be an easy install?

Also, we are using a linksys router that we got about 3 years ago. Upgrading due to wanting an wireless connect for my MacBook around the house.

Thanks
 
Pretty easy, but make sure you have WPA security is on, don't use WEP, it can be hacked in 60 seconds. If its anything like my netgear you should just have to plug the modem into the router and go from there with the auto-setup.
 
I have a linksys and love it. I carry it everywhere I go. When I am at a friends house I install it for the day/evening so I can use my computer anywhere if needed and still can hard wire his/her computer. Comes in very handy. My only problem was that I had to use a PC to do the initial set up, which is very very easy if you have some exp. with networking.

Nowadays I think you just have to plug it in correctly and as long as your ISP does not marry the IP address(s) they provide to you to a specific device your fine.

In my case I had to call up my ISP to release my IP's and allow them to marry new devices and I had to use a PC to make some initial settings such as putting a password on my wireless connection. However, once I did set up my router using my PC, I have full access to it via my Mac. Not sure why I had the initial problem.

I have a WRT54GC.
 
time warner isn't going to help you set it up at all. the guy who set up cable earlier this year refused to even so much as touch my router, as much as he wanted to plug it in and I'd be the one setting up the router settings. however, it's pretty much a plug-and-go situation, and possibly changing one or two settings in your router.

get the wrt54gl so you can install dd-wrt on it (wired connection though, don't forget).

it's a great thing, I have one and have had one for a long time, works flawlessly. Uptime is a hell of a lot better than the cable, that's for sure :rolleyes:
 
I recently got one of the new apple airport extremes and could not be happier. I've used netgear and linksys before and while they were fine most of the time, I also experienced quite a few dropped connections with both of them. The Netgear just stopped working one day and the linksys started acting up too so I splurged on the Apple one. It's wonderful: shared printing and hard drives is effortless and I have no dropped connections anymore. Speed, range and the admin software apple provides are all excellent. And the unit itself is heavy and confidence-instiling. Very expensive, but so is buying cheaper router after router....

Highly recommended.
 
Not to scare you or anything, but i have had that router and it is not bad, but i really expected it to be easier to work with since linksys is usally great. Not bad, but could be more user friendly. Definatly read manual and get used to it.
 
PDE said:
I recently got one of the new apple airport extremes and could not be happier....
Click to expand...
yeah but it only has max 3 ethernet ports vs. the linksys's 4 and still not GigE, the admin software is not as great as you say it is (i switched from apple to linksys explicitly because of the software, nothing else), and dropped connections means nothing :rolleyes: It's also more expensive than the linksys router mentioned - $50 vs. $180...yeah that's a no brainer all right..

I mean, I've never had a dropped wifi connection on any wireless router or wireless-enabled device of mine unless it was because of signal strength.
 
janey said:
yeah but it only has max 3 ethernet ports vs. the linksys's 4 and still not GigE, the admin software is not as great as you say it is (i switched from apple to linksys explicitly because of the software, nothing else), and dropped connections means nothing :rolleyes: It's also more expensive than the linksys router mentioned - $50 vs. $180...yeah that's a no brainer all right..

I mean, I've never had a dropped wifi connection on any wireless router or wireless-enabled device of mine unless it was because of signal strength.
Click to expand...

Well, ethernet ports doesn't matter as it's so cheap to add that with a hub if you really need it. GigE - if you need that for your internal network then maybe that's an issue, but I think most people don't. Depends on what you need.

As for the software, have you used Apple's updated software? The one that comes with the newer units? It is really excellent and I'd prefer it any day over the linksys configuration webpanel, but that's a personal thing.

Dropped connections mean a lot if you're using things like slimdevice's slimbox since it means you'll be disconnected when you're in the middle of enjoying a really great program or music! It's also annoying when you're working on the net and need to access something and then, suddenly, no internet and you have to go reset the stupid router. With my routers it had nothing to do with signal strength.

PRice? Well, yes, it's much more expensive. No question about that. Since my experience hasn't been very good with netgear and linksys,this router was worth every single penny and more. I do think you get what you pay for in this case. And I forgot how nice it is to share my USB laser wirelessly - and to have a USB2 hard drive hooked up so everyboy on my network can back up or just download to it.
 
PDE said:
Well, ethernet ports doesn't matter as it's so cheap to add that with a hub if you really need it.
Click to expand...
Why add extra hardware? The OP already needs a minimum of 3 ethernet ports.
PDE said:
As for the software, have you used Apple's updated software? The one that comes with the newer units? It is really excellent and I'd prefer it any day over the linksys configuration webpanel, but that's a personal thing.
Click to expand...
Yes I have, and I still think it's awful. The web-based interface means I can do whatever I feel like doing anytime I want without having to reboot for every teeny change or installing nonexistant software for my Linux boxen. Even if it's not pretty, it is functional and gives me a lot more control than Apple does for the Airport base stations.
PDE said:
Dropped connections mean a lot if you're using things...
Click to expand...
Weird, cause I have never ever had that problem. If I did and it didn't have anything to do with signal strength, it was always because the cable/DSL flaked out.
PDE said:
PRice? Well, yes, it's much more expensive...
Click to expand...
There are some cases where you get what you pay for, but there is nothing wrong with not paying too much for hardware you don't need.

I have a raid5'd NAS for my networked storage needs, goodbye crappy USB2.0 and buying unnecessary hardware or using it with only one computer. I have a free ethernet port to plug it in along with the other desktops. My printer is also networked! Hmm, I only paid $50 shipped for my router. Amazing how much you can do with it.
 
Ok, I am installing the GL seems like its going pretty smooth. How do I had a password so people can't steal my wireless.

edit: Ok, I just completed the setup. Other then how to set a password for wireless.... How do I make sure WPA security is on. I didn't see anything about this.
 
janey said:
Why add extra hardware? The OP already needs a minimum of 3 ethernet ports.

Yes I have, and I still think it's awful. The web-based interface means I can do whatever I feel like doing anytime I want without having to reboot for every teeny change or installing nonexistant software for my Linux boxen. Even if it's not pretty, it is functional and gives me a lot more control than Apple does for the Airport base stations.

Weird, cause I have never ever had that problem. If I did and it didn't have anything to do with signal strength, it was always because the cable/DSL flaked out.

There are some cases where you get what you pay for, but there is nothing wrong with not paying too much for hardware you don't need.

I have a raid5'd NAS for my networked storage needs, goodbye crappy USB2.0 and buying unnecessary hardware or using it with only one computer. I have a free ethernet port to plug it in along with the other desktops. My printer is also networked! Hmm, I only paid $50 shipped for my router. Amazing how much you can do with it.
Click to expand...



All sounds great! You seem to have figured it all out.
 
wow, this was an easy experience for me. Everything is working correctly. It feels good to have wireless connection haha.

WPA or WPA2 which one should i turn on?

I cannot figure out how to make a password yet in the linksys settings.

How do I make this a trusted connection for my mac also???
 
rhagen said:
...
Click to expand...
Not having ever touched the pile of **** that is the linksys default admin webapp, I wouldn't know.

However, all you need to do to make it a trusted connection is to go to the Network prefpane in System Preferences, and then go to "By default join...", select "Preferred networks", and add your new network. This is also something you could have discovered by searching the forums, as I'm fairly sure this is now my third time answering that question on this forum in less than a week...
 
rhagen said:
WPA or WPA2 which one should i turn on?
Click to expand...

WPA2 is better if all of your equipment supports it (for example, my wireless printer doesn't - it only supports WPA). WPA is still good enough security. Choose AES encryption if available (and again if all of your equipment supports it), otherwise TKIP when using WPA/WPA2.
 
rhagen said:
WPA or WPA2 which one should i turn on?


How do I make this a trusted connection for my mac also???
Click to expand...

Not that I know which one is better but I use WPA and its 8 character password. I havent had any problems so far.

your Mac will ask you if you want to make this connection a trusted one. In the preferences section, you can change the hierarchy of the networks that you frequently use. so the moment your Mac detects any of your trusted networks/routers, it will automatically log on; giving you WiFi access.
 
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