Which Linksys wireless router is better?

Question

I don't care about the money just want a good wireless router for a new laptop

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=5250809&type=product&id=1051384664188

http://www.buy.com/prod/linksys-wireless-g-wrt54gl-broadband-router-1-x-wan-4-x-lan-wireless/q/loc/101/202046565.html#cRevSec

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8741356&type=product&id=1202648529060

By the way i have DSL internet

Answer 1

The first link you have is a "Access Point" - not a router.  That would be used if you need to expand the coverage of an existing network.

Either of the second or third links would do the job.

I like the Belkin 54G router because it's the cheapest name-brand one I've found ($39 at most office stores) and I know it works (I've installed 3 of them) but the brand is really up to you.  Only one of those Belkins has gone bad, and Belkin replaced it for free.  I don't know if all routers include this but the Belkin one comes with a setup CD that guides you through plugging everything in correctly and automatically programs the router to work as well as guiding you through enabling security.

If you only care about internet, 802.11b (11Mbps) is plenty fast. They don't really sell these anymore but what they do sell is 802.11g (54Mbps) which replaces and is backwards compatible with 802.11b.  This is also what most built-in WiFi laptops and handhelds sold today use. I wouldn't get anything else because it's just a waste of money. Residential broadband internet is usually only 1-5Mbps so even WiFi-b is plenty fast.

If you plan to do file-sharing, you care about the wireless speed more so go with 802.11g (54Mbps) or the new 802.11n (108Mbps).  I should say I've never actually seen 802.11n in action but from what I understand it's compatible with all 4 standards (a/b/g/n) and claims to be wider-range.

Put your wireless router as high up as you can and as far from electrical and metal things as you can, that'll give you the best coverage.  Try to put it in the middle of where you expect to be (usually the middle of the house).  If you have 2.4GHz cordless phones you may want to replace them with 5.8GHz, 900MHz, or the new DECT6.0 phones that won't cause interference.  Also, wireless video senders, or wireless cameras that run on 2.4GHz should be set to the farthest channel from your router (e.g. set video sender to 1 or A and put the router on channel 11).

Make sure you secure the wireless to keep others from piggybacking and/or monitoring your private information:

1. Change the web-admin password of your router (even if it's wired this is good) so not anyone can get into the config page.

2. Change the default SSID (name) and don't use something that identifies you, your location, or your brand of router to outsiders (e.g. "Home", "Cox.net", "My Network", "Wireless", etc).

2. Enable WPA-PSK, WPA-PSK2, or if those aren't supported MINIMUM of WEP128. Refer to the manual or call the manufacturer for directions.

3. Don't hide the SSID. It just makes your life harder and it's easily found out anyways.

4. Don't bother with MAC filtering, if someone can crack your security they probably know how to spoof your MAC address which will circomvent the filtering.

5. Don't use static-IP, it just makes your life harder. Anyone with the slightest knowledge about networking knows how to use a static IP.

The reason you don't want to identify your router's brand/location/owner:

1. Default passwords and settings are available online. Knowing the brand makes it easier to bypass these.

2. Knowing where it is makes it easier to get a stronger signal while staying away. This gives the attacker an advantage of getting a strong signal and being hidden.

3. Knowing who owns it makes guessing your password easier. Most people use names, dates, and other personal info for passwords (bad practice) and if they know you they probably know the things you would use for a password.

Answer 2

Most ISPs will supply a router with their service. Often these will have wireless capabilities. It used to be the case that you could just look for the antennas to verify you had wireless. However, the latest routers use internal antennas, so the lack of a visible antenna is no guarantee the router doesn't have wireless. Before you buy anything, read the manual for the router you have (if you have one) to see if you already have wireless Internet.

As to your listed choices, the first one, the Linksys - 2.4GHz Wireless-G Access Point isn't a router at all. It's a wireless access point or WAP. You would use this in addition to an existing router to add wireless Internet capabilities if the router does not provide them. This may be what you want if you have a router supplied by your ISP, but the router is wired Internet only. You plug a cable from your existing router into the WAP. (You set the WAP up using the USB port first.) This WAP uses the same wireless technology as the WRT54G line, so the performance will be similar.

Your second pick, the WRT54GL, is a Linux-based version of Linksys' WRT54G link. Interestingly, the original WRT54G was Linux-based, and some owners downloaded the software (as it was based on open-source software so Linksys was required to make it available), modified it to add features and in some cases stability. In one of their later revisions of the product, Linksys replaced the Linux code with less-flexible static code. That version used less memory and therefore reduced cost to build. It was supposed to be functionally identical to the previous version, but various forums, blogs, etc. claim that's not the case. Then Linksys made the original version of the WRT54G wireless router available as the WRT54GL (L meaning Linux) at a slightly higher price. It's a competent router with medium range and good speed. I haven't had the L version myself, but owned several of the WRT54G routers when they were all Linux-based.

Your last pick, the WRT100 is functionally equivalent to the WRT54G series, but with enhanced internal antennas. If your new laptop comes with MIMO wireless capability (which is pretty unusual, btw) you would also get better speed. Most likely you wouldn't see a speed difference between the two. However, I recently bought the WRT160N http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?... as I'm starting to switch over to wireless N from wireless G. The range of this unit is noticeably better even when just using it for wireless G networking. The WRT100 is based on the same antenna technology, so I would expect you would get better range than you would with the WRT54G. If you live in a larger house or multiple floor townhouse, this is a good thing.

Answer 3

http://www.buy.com/prod/linksys-wireless...