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Wireless Router

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XD375

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I know nothing about these, but I want one for Pokémon DS. Can someone explain the prices, how they work, what I must do, etc.? I really need and will appreciate help.
 
Yeah, all they do is sit between your Cable/DSL modem and your computer(s). The goal is to share an internet connection among various machines in the home.

If you have just one computer and currently have it wired into the modem directly, then you'll require a router (most come with one network cable) and another network cable. I recommend Buffalo, but they're pricey (mine was like $71 though it's cheaper now), but most brands are good (avoid D-Link at ALL COSTS). You'll also need an additional network cable, as the one that's linking your computer to the modem now is most likely a crossover cable and therefore would not work with a router.

Then it's a matter of removing the cable connecting your modem to your computer, and running a network cable from the modem to the WAN port on the router, and running the other network cable from one of the 10/100 ports on the router to the computer. Plug it into a power outlet and you should be all set.

You may want to encrypt the wireless connection, but the DS will not support any encryption other than WEP. That's a matter of playing with the settings on your router.

Does that help?

- Trip
 
Trip said:
most brands are good (avoid D-Link at ALL COSTS).

- Trip
Click to expand...
Really? I've had no qualms at all with my D-link and in fact, I think it's been the
most stable wireless router I've used (in which I compare to a Netgear I run at school
which decides to quit it's broadcast on me from time to time)

Bad experience maybe? or is it just technologically inferior?

Whatever the case I'm blind for now, my D-link does precisely what I need it to do.

I hope I'm not implying D-Link is the best dang thing out there, which most likely isn't true,
but I'm just a little curious as to why you think it should be avoided is all.
 
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I'd also like to know that, because I thouroughly freaked out. My modem is a D-Link, you see, and I haven't got my wireless internet yet.
 
Rayne said:
Really? I've had no qualms at all with my D-link and in fact, I think it's been the
most stable wireless router I've used (in which I compare to a Netgear I run at school
which decides to quit it's broadcast on me from time to time)

Bad experience maybe? or is it just technologically inferior?

Whatever the case I'm blind for now, my D-link does precisely what I need it to do.

I hope I'm not implying D-Link is the best dang thing out there, which most likely isn't true,
but I'm just a little curious as to why you think it should be avoided is all.
Click to expand...

Every D-Link product I have ever owned is a piece of JUNK. (I wanted to use a different word there)

The two D-Link routers I've owned, both crashed at least thrice per week (or daily, depending on the amount of traffic sent through it) needing a manual reboot by unplugging and replugging, and both have had their antenna connectors completely break off, rendering them useless for wireless. And it's not just mine; I've found numerous D-Link routers that do the same thing with regards to the crashing. Replaced the router and all their internet-related problems went away in every case.

Further, the D-Link wireless adapter that was in my parents computer, the driver had an enormous memory leak for almost a year, that caused the system to crash every 4 hours. Know how I fixed it? Ran a network cable through the walls to the downstairs computer and pulled the wireless card out of the system.

Not to mention they were sued over misuse of NTP (Network Time Protocol) and over failure to abide by the GPL (essentially, the Linux license). (Separate cases) They lost the GPL case and settled the other, IIRC.

I'll never be buying a D-Link product again, and always refer people to Buffalo products. I bought a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 after reading many positive reviews, and it's the best router I've ever seen. It came out to over $70 after shipping (the price has since dropped), but I've never had it crash or had any kind of trouble with it at all!

- Trip
 
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Trip said:
Trip said:
The two D-Link routers I've owned, both crashed at least thrice per week (or daily, depending on the amount of traffic sent through it) needing a manual reboot by unplugging and replugging
Click to expand...
Those symptoms sound almost exactly related to my netgear right now.

Trip said:
(d-link issues)
- Trip
Click to expand...

Well now, I must be extremely lucky then. For such bad history, I'm surprised
mine is even functioning. I took a chance on e-bay and purchased it from this
guy who explained that the D-Link refused to work for his new cable modem;
it worked fine with the other he had before the switch. Knowing this I took a
gamble anyway and I got away (for now) with a pretty good wireless router
and have rarely had any issues.


XD375 said:
I am too poor to afford a new computer with enough space for Windows XP. Mine's only 6 GB and it ran really slow when I tried it.

So, I have a D-Link, so I need to buy a router, right?
Click to expand...
...A D-Link Ethernet [network] Card right?
If it is that, you right that don't need to add anything to your computer now.
Just so I understand what you said clearly, when buying one be sure not to
confuse wireless router with a normal router. But I'm sure you won't make that mistake.

XD375 said:
Sorry, but I'm finding this really confusing. I need to buy a WAN port and a network cable? How much would all this be?
Click to expand...

Well what you need is the wireless router. You should get an extra
cable [network cable] with your router which you use to connect between your
new router and internet modem [I can assume you have a DSL or cable modem right?]
And the remaining cable (pretty much the cable you were already using between
the computer and the modem) should be used between your router and the
computer's Ethernet port.

That means the only thing you need is the wireless router.

You may already know these tips, but I feel I should put it out there just so others may be informed:

Get the best you can afford on your budget, with technology you
never want to cheap out, but don't feel you need to spend every last chunk
of your money on gear. With technology, you usually have a wide variety to
choose from allowing you to shop around before you decide where to invest
your cash. Say you settle for a linksys router, which is a common and reliable brand.
Since it is common, you may be able to track down several different sites that
sell the same product and even better yet, one of those sites sells it cheaper
than all the rest.

This principle applies to pretty much anything: If you look hard enough you
may be able to find decent hardware at a decent price.

Be sure to search high and low if you have a specific price range in mind.
[e-bay can be a risky place to start, but final prices are good indicators
of the value of routers on the market. When I did this earlier this summer,
I found many routers selling between $13-$30 which may still hold true.]

Also get some opinions on whatever it is you're eying. For that, I suggest
newegg and search for routers there.

Its really nice to know what other people have though about the product you're
potentially investing in.

These are why I find these methods better than going straight for Nintendo's little
Wi-Fi adapter. Sure it's convenient, but it's pricey and limited.
Routers are not impossible to set up and can be potentially useful if you ever
plan on using them for more than just gaming.

One last piece of advice, go for wireless-g. Basically it's the frequency that
the router broadcasts at. Currently there is wireless-a and wireless-b, but those
are much older. There is also a new one called wireless-n; don't get this one.
It's still being adapted and it'll take a bit of time before it's well integrated but
hopefully it'll be a nice little improvement in the future. Right now wireless-g
is your best bet but when you come across speed boosters and other little
features, I don't think they really matter imho.

I hope this clears a few things up or at least helps inform you on making some decisions.
Click to expand...
 
Rayne said:
One last piece of advice, go for wireless-g. Basically it's the frequency that
the router broadcasts at. Currently there is wireless-a and wireless-b, but those
are much older. There is also a new one called wireless-n; don't get this one.
It's still being adapted and it'll take a bit of time before it's well integrated but
hopefully it'll be a nice little improvement in the future. Right now wireless-g
is your best bet but when you come across speed boosters and other little
features, I don't think they really matter imho.
Click to expand...

While you're mostly right, let me clear something up here.

It is NOT just the frequency. 802.11b, g, and n all use the same 2.4 GHz frequency. Only 802.11a is different, using the 5.8 GHz band.

You're right to suggest not to buy 802.11n, because the standard isn't out yet. Companies are making their own interpretation of the standard and selling based on that. It's dumb, but they're trying to sell stuff.

The DS supports 802.11b, but both g and n are backwards compatible to it. 802.11a is not.

And as far as your question, the WAN port is a plug on the router itself. So all you should need is a router and one additional network cable (in addition to the one that comes with the router).

If I remember, I'll try to make you a quick diagram later to maybe help you to understand this a little better.

- Trip
 
It gets worse - there's Pre-N and Draft-N. I don't know whether those are mutually compatible, or whether the latter will be compatible with the final standard (if and when that gets finalised).

Speaking of frequency, quality of wireless service will vary depending on how noisy your neighbourhood is. If everyone around you has a Wi-Fi access point set up, you're not going to get much range or quality. To some extent you can deal with it by using different channels, but the frequencies used by each channel overlaps with neighbouring ones, so, yeah.

Personally, I have no idea what's wrong with the setup my house. It's not particularly big, yet there are some areas where the signal is very poor. (Not to mention the signal quality is not too stable.) Perhaps it's just the layout of the walls and floors in the house.
 
Zhen Lin said:
Personally, I have no idea what's wrong with the setup my house. It's not particularly big, yet there are some areas where the signal is very poor. (Not to mention the signal quality is not too stable.) Perhaps it's just the layout of the walls and floors in the house.
Click to expand...

Any number of things can affect it.

My signal reading drops 30 points when the microwave is on and I'm sitting in the kitchen.

One of my cordless phones used to completely destroy my internet connection (said phone has since been replaced).

Faulty electronics throw out RF all over the place--I had a little TV transmitter that I used to like to play with, except that it would literally interfere with everything (I have it set on channel 14 or something and everything from 2 to 69 shows some level of interference from it).

The LED display on my HD Radio apparently screws with reception on the very band it's supposed to be receiving (I heard this from an engineer at a local HD Radio station). It also causes a minor hit to my wireless internet if I'm in the same room as the radio (next room) of up to 10 points.

My other computer throws out interference, too, considering the side is open. My wireless takes about a 5-point hit when it's on.

Even the wiring and any metal pipes you may have in the walls can cause it to some degree.

The final thing that can cause it is the router itself. The Buffalo I have now gives me much better coverage than the D-Link ever did. With the D-Link, the signal would drop in the kitchen when the microwave came on, but now it's just weak (still usable). Though not a fair test, I can get a hint of signal from my Buffalo across the street, some 600+ feet away (rough guess that's 200 meters?), whereas the D-Link would drop at 400 feet (close to 125 meters?).

As far as the Draft-N and Pre-N, AFAIK they're just different names for the same thing. They're not even compatible BETWEEN BRANDS. Unfortunately, uneducated people do not realize this even though they should not be buying this stuff until it's N and not "Draft-N" and "Pre-N."

- Trip
 
Okay, I just opened a box and foud two D-Link products.

The first is (I have two of them, if that means anything):

D-Link 10Mb Combo 32-bit Ethernet PCI Adapter
(DE-528CT)

The second:

D-Link 4 Port USB Hub
(DSB-H4)

So, I don't need to buy anything?
 
No. One's a card to put in your computer for hooking a network cable to. But, since you already have high speed internet (I'm assuming), then it's just an extra.

The other is a hub for allowing multiple USB devices (USB mice, flash disks, etc) to use one port. Think of a power strip and how it allows more devices to be plugged into one outlet.

- Trip
 
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