Thinkpads Forum

Hello,
I am considering getting a wireless router for my home. I want to be able to work on my thinkpad anywhere in the house, and don't want to make a schedule with my son over internet connection times. I currently have a Westell modem provided by my hish speed internet provider (phone company), as assume I just plug the wireless router into the modem and am good to go. Could you tell me some of the preffered routers and let me know what security precautions I need to take, and if there are any comaptabillity problems with Ubuntu & Ubuntu Studio.

Happy Easter,

John

P.S. all our laptops (shown in signature) are wireless ready....

You say you have a modem supplied by your 'hish speed internet provider'. I assume it is a DSL modem attached to your USB port. (I also assume you mean high rather than hish. )

Anyway, forget the kit supplied by your ISP and buy a decent wireless router modem.
There are lots of makes available; 3Com, Netgear, Belkin, etc, etc. No doubt someone from your local area will be able to advise.

Make sure it has an in-built firewall and make sure you use WPA-PSK wireless connections.

Also change the password on your new wireless router to something other than 'admin'.

I hope this helps.

johnny9fingers wrote:Hello,
I am considering getting a wireless router for my home. I want to be able to work on my thinkpad anywhere in the house, and don't want to make a schedule with my son over internet connection times. I currently have a Westell modem provided by my hish speed internet provider (phone company), as assume I just plug the wireless router into the modem and am good to go. Could you tell me some of the preffered routers and let me know what security precautions I need to take, and if there are any comaptabillity problems with Ubuntu & Ubuntu Studio.

Greetings and Welcome to the Forum!

I just installed a new Wi-Fi router in my house as my old one was ready to be replaced. My choice was based on an extended, excellent personal experience at a friends house with my newly revamped ThinkPad T60p. I have two Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB@7200rpm hard drives, each partitioned for two operating systems for a total of four on the machine. XP & Vista Business in the Mainbay, and Ubuntu 8.04.1 & OpenSUSE in the Ultrabay. Despite some of the mixed reviews I've read, I chose a Linksys Wireless-N Broadband Router. It performs very well with a very good range, contrary to some reviews. I've had it installed for over a month and no matter which of my ThinkPads, MacBook Pros, or other machines I use with it, the results are always excellent. Immediate fast connection and no drop outs. That speaks volumes as I have a very large house that is quite spread out.

The installation is a snap and before you know it you're done. Also I must say that tech support is amazing, as I called them for some general questions and they were very courteous, helpful, and the tech was quite knowledgeable. Plus it's a 24/7 free service.

I could not be happier.

Here is a link for you:
http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/WRT160N

Cheers...

Good post, archer6, I forgot about Linksys.

I second that opinion on Linksys.

I just upgraded my home network from an older Motorola wireless G router to a Linksys WRT610N. Even after reading all the bad reviews and reported problems. I wanted a dual band router with gig ports (and no 'good neighbor policy'). After over a month of use, I must say I am impressed! Speed and coverage are much, much better. Ours is a very big house as well, an old Victorian, thick plaster walls, sturdy construction, and there is no where in the house that I can't pick up a really good signal. The best wireless speed, reported by windows, was 54Mbps on G, now, I never see less than 270Mbps.

Yes, setup on the 610 can be a bit of a bother, but, once dialed in, it is rock solid. We're streaming movies to our wireless laptops and to our wired Thinkcentre's with no drops or stuttering.

We're on Embarq DSL with their standard 660 modem.

gb_ibmguy wrote:once dialed in, it is rock solid.

I've been running a Linksys WRT600N for over a year now and that's been my experience too.

Cheers,

Bill B.

I also recommend the Linksys WRT600N. I've had one since they were first available.

I needed a two radio router because my network has both Wireless-G and Wireless-N devices. It's worked flawlessly from the very beginning. It replaced an old Linksys router that provided excellent service for a long time.

I also replaced a modem I'd got from my ISP with a Linksys modem and that ended frequent problems connecting to my ISP.

I'm a long time Linksys user and will continue to use their products in the future.

I guess you more or less get wat you pay for. Basic ADSL modem-routers are available for very little these days (here in France, about 70 euro), and the branded ones like Netgear, Linksys and Belkin are usually better than the stuff you get from an internet provider. Pro models may cost five to ten times as much as a basic consumer version.
Some things to be wary of: be careful with firmware upgrades - it may be neccessary to hard reset the router after it has been flashed (not rebooting but resetting, thus completely clearing the memory and then menually re-entering the login configuration or reloading it from a backup file). Happened to me with a Netgear recently. Involved some high-tech tool, too (big paperclip to press a recessed reset button). And if there is any irregularity, the usual way to get everything running again is to switch computers and router off, first reboot the router and only after it is positively working and connected to the web (all lights green) reboot the computers connected to it. These things may be mentioned in the manual, which is more often than not on a CD.
Best security is WPA with a list of authorized computers set in the router. Meaning that even if someone finds the login code, they cannot use the wifi net if the MAC address of the network card in their laptop has not been authorized to work with the router.

If you don't need to stream video, then you can get a good G router for much less. I manage a couple of medium sized local networks and find the Buffalo WRT- G54S and WRT-HP-G54 to be rock solid running DD-WRT replacement firmware. They say that they are good with stock firmware as well.

The HP version (high power) is possibly the best consumer router out there with years on the market, it's still going strong. It sells for $60- $70 new in the US and fetches almost as much on Ebay used. The non-HP version is also very good but is discontinued. Find it on Ebay for $30 USD, more or less. They hold their value because people know.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid ... Categories
http://cgi.ebay.com/Buffalo-Wireless-G- ... 1|294%3A50

Note: If you are going for the HP, check the included antenna. Get the one with a 4db gain antenna.

These routers, as well as the good but somewhat less effective Linksys WRT54GL, can run DDWRT or Tomato firmwares, both Linux based and free.

In sum, if you need video streaming, go for the Linksys N. If you need extra coverage or want to use external antenna but don't need video streaming, then get a Buffalo HP. If you are on a budget and don't really need high power, then the Buffalo WRT-G54S is an excellent router to buy used.

Steve