Silly Wireless Question!!

[MinaMACMan]

Hello all,

Hope everyone is enjoying there weekends. I just have a quick question on Wireless Routers. I am expecting my MacBook on Tuesday Morning... (FINALLY :black: ) but I was gonna go to buy a wireless router and I am not sure if there is a specific brand and model that will work better with my MacBook. I used to use Linksys before and D-Link.
I did looked at the apple Airport Extreme, but its too expensive and I have no need for wireless printing and all the other fancy stuff. Just wanna be able to access the Web from around the house thats all.

Let Me hear what you guys think and whats your suggesstions. Thanks in Advance.

Cheers.

 

[Kash]

Macs use the same wireless technology as Windows based PCs, so it will work with essentially any router. I stick with Linksys and Dlink for the quality. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Netgear and Belkin wireless products.

Just stick with a good company like Linksys or Dlink and buy whatever you can afford. :black:

 

[dtravis7]

All my Macs here both Intel or Power PC work great with my Linksys WRT54g. I have 2 of them at different ends of the house. They work great. Never had an issue with any Macs or PC's.

 

[MinaMACMan]

What about this New Fangled thing. you know how there is 802.1b and 802.1g now there is the N.

and I've seen in the Apple Store a download to enable the N abelity on all the MAC product lines. is it worth the extra money?!

Router from D-Link with N is about $70-80 and software from apple is $1.99.

Let me know.

Cheers

 

[jaynorris]

There are better wireless routers out there that have 802.11N. I admit I just purchased the Airport Extreme Base Station 802.11N and I can't say I'm happy with it. Anyone want to offer me $185 for it? Just kidding, but seriously I've used cheaper better routers than the Airport Extreme Base station that offer more functionality and have better security built in it.

-Jay

 

[TheCustomer99]

Go with the Linksys WRT54G. You can't go wrong with that.

 

[Kash]

Go with the Linksys WRT54G. You can't go wrong with that.

I totally agree. I have the WRT54GL (got it so that I could add my own firmware) and it has been a great experience. You can get the non-Linux firmware version for cheaper, and it'll work just as great since it uses the same hardware :black:

 

[cwa107]

Macs use the same wireless technology as Windows based PCs, so it will work with essentially any router. I stick with Linksys and Dlink for the quality. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Netgear and Belkin wireless products.

Just stick with a good company like Linksys or Dlink and buy whatever you can afford. :black:

Ditto. I'd recommend the new AirPort Extreme as well, but IMO, the 'Extreme' refers to the price. It seems like a good unit, but if I was in the market, I'd have a hard time justifying the premium over a similar Linksys or D-Link model.

 

[MinaMACMan]

Well. I am currently looking at the D-Link RangeBooster N Wireless-N Router it goes for $80 at Best Buy. But I don't know much about the "N Wireless-N" portion. if some one can enlighten me it'd be greatly appreciated.

 

[Kash]

802.11n is just the latest version of the Wi-Fi spec. It's actually still awaiting certification, so it's possible that any N hardware you buy today may not be fully compatible with certified N hardware.

If you just plan on using one computer with your wireless network, then there's really no point in shelling out that much money for a 802.11n router as you won't see any benefit to it. Regular 802.11g is more than enough for even the most robust internet connections (I have 30Mb down/2Mb up and my 802.11g router is more than capable). So the only thing you really need to use it for is range and sharing files between computers. Even then, to get the most out of it, ALL of your hardware has to be 802.11n capable.

I suggest saving some money and just getting yourself a regular 802.11g router, which are dirt-cheap nowadays.

 

[MinaMACMan]

Kash,
Thanks for the info. I appreciate it. I will go for the good old G routers, And save the extra bucks.

Your help is always greatly appreciated.

 

[hagios1972]

i use DLink D604T and it is working well with my macbook.

 

[comthre3]

Dlink or linksys is the way to go. never go with an SMC or netgear. had problems with both MBP 15"

 

[dtravis7]

Dlink or linksys is the way to go. never go with an SMC or netgear. had problems with both MBP 15"

I used to love Netgear. They went way down hill with some of their 54 and 108 routers. They seem to overheat and lock up very easily. My 108 does all the time where the linksys's run 24 a day with out one lockup. Maybe one reset a year if that. My friends 54g and later 108 Netgear both locked and overheated. He had to run a large fan pointed at it all the time or he would loose his connection. My old 11Mbps Netgear was very reliable, but somewhere they took a wrong turn. Their support forums are full of people with lockup problems and their support really reeks. Too bad. Oh well, I will just stick with what has always worked well here, Linksys.

The new Airport Extreme is a good router and with the Pre N it's very fast and has great range, but there are other much cheaper PreN routers out there that work just as well for way less $$$. The main thing the AE has going for it is the USB Printing and Multi Hard Drive support. If you need that then it's a good deal. Otherwise it's a lot of $$$ and with a Firewall with no Statefull Packet Inspection and Just NAT redirection. For $180 I expect a real SPI Firewall.

 

[ndwgolf]

Go with the Linksys WRT54G. You can't go wrong with that.

But if you go with that then you wont be able to access an airport express that is hooked up with itunes (i think i am correct with that)

 

[cwa107]

But if you go with that then you wont be able to access an airport express that is hooked up with itunes (i think i am correct with that)

Not true. The two can be bridged and compliment each other.

 

[ndwgolf]

ok good stuff