Question on wireless router??

[Clay]

Due to an expanding family, Im moving my "office" to a different room of the house Ive been remodeling. I currently have Time Warner Road Runner cable internet, and Im happy with it. I also have Time Warner digital phone, which runs though the cable as well.

My issue is my old 'office', soon to be my son's new room, is the the room where I have my computer and of course my cable internet modem. The phone line also runs off of this modem, so all of the wiring associated with the cable internet, and phone runs to this unit. Maybe you see where Im going with this.

My new office does not have any cable or phone lines in it, so I would have to run all new lines to feed the modem and phone lines. Im at a point where I can probably do this (drywall just getting ready to be finished, so I can pull 1 sheet down if need be).

What Ive been pondering is just putting in a wireless network. Leaving the cable modem in my sons room (probably behind a book shelf), and adding a wireless card to my computer. At some point my wife is getting a laptop with wireless as well, so I was going to add a wireless network anyway, just wasn't planning to have my main computer on it.

So what say you? Will I loose anything go from a wired connection to a wireless setup?? The distance is small, maybe 40 or 50 feet. I guess the thing Im most worried about is loosing speed more than anything.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Clay

 

[melensdad]

I use a couple of them (home and stores), the speeds are very good, no issues at all. 2 of mine are Apple wi-fi routers, one is a LinkSys.

 

[cosermann]

No, you won't lose anything. They're great and you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner, imo. Secure it properly and you won't have any issues. Wireless print servers are out there now also that give you flexibility in locating and sharing your printer in the house too. The Linksys units are popular and work well.

 

[Clay]

excellent, this is what I was hoping for

 

[IndyBeerman]

Also on your internet phone service you might consider what I'm thinking of. The use of a gaming router from what I have been told can be used for your internet phone.

Right now I have a cat 5 cable running along the under the baseboard to my linksys phone adapter, and I'm considering using this to eliminate the cat 5 and move it to the living room to better see if there is a connection problem.

I'm also planning on getting a 2 port wireless usp print server so we can share our printers.

I'm currently using a NetGear Wireless N router and have my old PC hooked up using a AirLink wireless N usb stubbie that's 40 feet away and going through the ceiling and 2 walls with no I'll effect.

Also when I first got the above USB adapter I was picking all 3 neighbors that have wireless with 75% or greater signal strength with no connection problems, and the closest of the 3 houses being 190 fet and the farthest at 290 and I've connected to all three then let them all know they was all unsecured.

So do make sure that you get one with as many security measures as possible, mine has WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES] and uses a 63 character pass phrase.

 

[clfergus]

You will be fine... I work from home doing IT work and tunnel into a server in Atlanta where my home base is. My modem sits in my downstairs where we have a desktop with wireless card. My work laptop is upstairs and my wifes roaming laptop moves all around. Never have any issues which would be a no no for my work.

Just make sure you get a good quality router, thats the key. I use the Linksys 2.4ghz speedbooster with the matching wireless ethernet card and they have worked great for 3 years now.

 

[Fletch]

I'll be the dissenting voice and say that while wireless is very handy to have, I would never pass up an opportunity to run hard lines. I have both in my house, and definitely prefer the hard line to the wireless. YMMV.

 

[CountryBoy19]

I'll weigh in here. I've been almost completely wireless for about 3 or 4 years now. I love it. I have a Linksys router which I loaded a 3rd party firmware on. I added a heat sink to the transmitter/booster and installed a fan. I then boosted the factory output of 51 watts or whatever it is up to 175 (I can go as high as 251). Now I can get wireless almost anywhere (even outside). And with the 3rd party firmware the customization and security possibilities are almost endless. I am very happy with my setup and wouldn't trade it for anything.

 

[JustGone]

It depends! how many things the signal has to go through...you CAN lose connection quality the further away you get from the router. But if you see that your not getting a full connection to the router you can buy an amplifier and put it somewhere between the router and your computer =)

I also 2nd what Fletch has said I always prefer a hardline

 

[Django]

Using MAC filtering as the only means for security is a bad idea. Sure, WEP is weak, but MAC addresses are sent in cleartext so any nutjob with a laptop and wireshark could sit and wait for you to connect then simply clone your MAC address. BAM! They're in.

Suppressing SSID sounds good in theory, but it only shuts down the beacon. You'd still have probes/requests/acknowledgments popping off the SSID, and it tends to make it a PiTA for users.

Best practice IMO is simply to change admin/pass and enable WPA2. then you don't need to log in and add exceptions every time you want to add a device.
MAC filtering + WPA isn't a bad thing, but if someone wants to get in, they will find a way.

--edit--
on amplifiers: they will amplify everything, errors and all. Repeaters will reconstruct the message and rebroadcast. Amplifiers = bad.

With 802.11g (common) max speed is 54Mbit/s but it is common to only see half that (especially through walls)
802.11n will get you up to 70Mbit/s but the range is smaller than 802.11g

I would rather have a gigabit router and drill holes >.>

--edit--
Big +1 on wireless printers/print servers!
much better to have a printer in an open location for anyone to use than having to hunt down and turn on a computer acting as a print server, possibly disrupting someone else.

 

[jennybird]

I love my wireless! I can lay in my hammock if I want to and talk to you guys!

Oh, and we don't have any problems with speed. Runs great.

 

[IndyBeerman]

I love my wireless! I can lay in my hammock if I want to and talk to you guys!

Oh, and we don't have any problems with speed. Runs great.

phhhhhssssssss Or howeever you type a raspberry sound.

It's a good thing I'm on vacation Jenny.

The bummer is I'm all alone here at the house. Maybe need to go blow some

's up.

 

[bigus_D]

Most users won't notice a problem with wireless speeds. If you move large files, however, wireless may not be sufficient.

I'm guessing that since you asked the question, you probably aren't moving the volume of files I'm talking about... But, it couldn't hurt to pull a little more wire just in case.