Title pretty much says it all. We need a wireless router that accept a direct plug as well. The wife wants the ability to roam around the house with her laptop, and I want the ability to keep the tower plugged directly into the DSL, not wireless at all. Who has experience with these devices and can tell me which ones are the cheapest, most reliable, and easiest to set up?
I had a LinkSys for a few years before it up and died. So I went to Fry’s and picked up the cheapest router they had and it’s been working like a champ. I have the same setup you are talking about. Most of my computers are wired directly to it and the wireless portion is used by my wife’s MacBook and the kid’s various gaming devices ( and the rest of the neighborhood for all I know).
LinkSys, NetGear, and D-Link are all good brands; as long as your setup isn’t especially weird, any WiFi router with a built-in Ethernet switch should work. Plug your DSL modem into the router, and your tower into the switch.
Check Wednesday’s LA Times – there should be a one-page Fry’s ad, usually at the back of the sports or business section. Chances are Fry’s will have at least one WiFi router on sale; if they don’t, wait for the Friday LA Times, which should have a multi-page Fry’s ad good through the weekend.
You might consider the range you will need. A bottom-level router might not have enough oomph for a large house, so if this is yours, you might need either a beefier one or a repeater. Sometimes a better antenna works if you can replace the default one. Or an RF amp.
I cannot recommend, but I will say to stay away from Belkin. I have been fairly dissatisfied with their router, especially with the user-unfriendly configuration.
I wondered about this. We bought a cheapie wireless router a few years ago, but not we are getting ready to move to a house that is twice a big. I was thinking we may need a new router to make up for the size difference.
Newegg has a ton of wireless routers available. Most importantly, they have reviews for almost all of them so you can get an idea of what’s hot and what’s crap for your money.
Relative power from one router model to another is not going to help if the placement in your new house is suboptimal. Better to go with a repeater or two. It’s the only way to be sure.
If you anticipate that the PC being linked will be at the far end of the wireless router’s range (with multiple walls in house about 60 - 80 feet or so) it would make sense to go with an N or G-MIMO router even if your PC only used a G adapter. Makes a big difference (in my experience) in having a steady, non-dropped signal vs a plain G wireless router. Cost is typically 25 - 80 extra.