Wireless router advise

[twittkop]

My wireless router died last night, so I'm thinking about buying a La Fonera+. I have a neighbor that likes to use my wireless network every once in a while, so it would be nice to make a little money off of them.

Has anybody used this router before? Is it a reliable router? How is the signal strength? Would you recommend it to your friends?

 

[keepngoal]

Or buy a normal router, setup the security (WPA, WPA-PSK and/or MAC filtering) and charge him $10/month for all the bandwidth he wants.

Otherwise, i haven't set on of those up .... so I can't help ya with that.

-keep.

 

[ISUFan22]

I have a Linksys and love it - no problems with it at all. Plus, it's very easy to setup a secure network with their routers. I bought mine back in '01 I think and I'm sure that functionality has gotten even easier now.

 

[bos]

Never heard of them. Im partial to Linksys personally. And I agree with Keep, use MAC address filtering. WEP is good too but it does degrade the throughput at times, whereas MAC doesnt. Could use both for extra security!

 

[keepngoal]

Could use both for extra security!

:biggrin::biggrin::notworthy::notworthy::yes::yes:

 

[cyclonemaniac7]

I've used both a Linksys and a Belkin. I've never had any major troubles with either. Several people have advised me to stay away from D-Link though. I think your best bet is to read reviews online of specific brands and models.

 

[bos]

I've used both a Linksys and a Belkin. I've never had any major troubles with either. Several people have advised me to stay away from D-Link though. I think your best bet is to read reviews online of specific brands and models.

I have set up some Belkins as well. They seem very reliable.

 

[twittkop]

I have a Linksys and love it - no problems with it at all. Plus, it's very easy to setup a secure network with their routers. I bought mine back in '01 I think and I'm sure that functionality has gotten even easier now.

It was my Linksys WRT54GS that died. It was my fault that it died though. I upgraded the firmware on it to turn it into one of these Fon routers. I was having difficulty getting online after the firmware upgrade, so I tried to install the latest firmware from Linksys, but the upgrade crapped out in the middle, now it won't boot up.

 

[keepngoal]

ahhh.... you made it a brick .... that sucks.

get the same kind but setup the security so your neighbor isn't freeloading.

-keep.

 

[DaddyMac]

I've used both a Linksys and a Belkin. I've never had any major troubles with either. Several people have advised me to stay away from D-Link though. I think your best bet is to read reviews online of specific brands and models.

I have an older DLink. Works just fine and have had it for maybe 3 years.

I also have a Linksys (not wireless) router. And have to say that the setups on the Linksys are better - as is the tech support.

Well, I don't know how good Linksys's tech support is... but DLink's bites.

I'm not impressed with the range of the Linksys. But again, it was one of their lesser models and a bit older.

 

[bos]

All of my neighbors have wireless so I cant offer them anything.....dangit. Is it illegal to offer internet access to neighbors and vice versa? I would love to amp it up and offer it to everyone but Im sure cableone would burn my house down.

 

[tejasclone]

While we're on the topic, if I wanted to get a wireless router for my home, can I just pick up any wireless router and plug it into the cable modem?

 

[bos]

While we're on the topic, if I wanted to get a wireless router for my home, can I just pick up any wireless router and plug it into the cable modem?

Yes. Might be a little setup, but in most cases for cable its plug n play. With DSL they still use PPOE correct?

 

[twittkop]

All of my neighbors have wireless so I cant offer them anything.....dangit. Is it illegal to offer internet access to neighbors and vice versa? I would love to amp it up and offer it to everyone but Im sure cableone would burn my house down.

I don't think it's illegal to offer internet access to your neighbors, but it may be a violation of the terms and conditions of your ISP.

 

[keepngoal]

All of my neighbors have wireless so I cant offer them anything.....dangit. Is it illegal to offer internet access to neighbors and vice versa? I would love to amp it up and offer it to everyone but Im sure cableone would burn my house down.

I am sure it is against the EULA you have with your provider.

- keep.

 

[bos]

I am sure it is against the EULA you have with your provider.

- keep.

I love Eula, shes pretty.


I know with cableone, you have a transfer limit every month. I think they limit you to 2gb or something like that before they bandwidth rate you to crap level. So for me to have 10 people on downloading whatever it would kill us all. Probably raise a few red flags back at headquarters as well if I hit that limit every month. I dont think Qwest limits it though.

 

[jbhtexas]

Just out of curiosity, have you contaced Linksys tech support? They might have a few tricks to bring your router back to life...

 

[bos]

Just out of curiosity, have you contaced Linksys tech support? They might have a few tricks to bring your router back to life...

Yeah but dont tell them you hacked it! Tell them this happened during a firmware upgrade from them.

 

[cytech]

Yeah your ISP would not be to happy, but there is nothing they could do to stop you really unless you told them you were selling it.
As for routers like most have said I am a Cisco man at heart, so my favorite is linksys, and I have had more problems with netgear or dlink as well, but they work too. And belkins are good too. And with the amount of wireless routers I have used I have never heard of La Fonera+ so can't say anything good or bad about them really.

And definitely setup security on it, also someone mentioned a lose of throughput on WEP securtiy, I have not heard that one before, does anyone have a link to information about that or can they provide more information?

 

[twittkop]

Just out of curiosity, have you contaced Linksys tech support? They might have a few tricks to bring your router back to life...

I have not called Linksys tech support yet. It was late last night when I killed my router. I'll try to call them tonight after work.