router for home network with cable connection
I apologize in advance for asking such a beginner's question, but I am planning to get cable high speed internet and want to get a router before I do (to save money). I have an old desktop, running win98se, and a newish laptop, winxp with wireless capacity. Also an old mac which I'm not planning to connect to the home network-- it's too old.
What kind of a router would I need? I'd appreciate any advice anyone can give me.
Thanks for putting up with this ignorant question.
Ellen
Software/Hardware used:
Software/Hardware used:
ASKED:
July 12, 2006 6:41 PM
UPDATED:
July 14, 2006 10:24 AM
Answer Wiki:
hello ellen,
i assume that you mean that you wish to use a CABLE connection from NTL as opposed to a BT ADLS connection.
on that assumption you are best looking at a DLINK DI624 router. This has wifi and also 4port cat5 connections.
Therefore you can connect your laptop wirelessly and have the win98se station connected using a cat5 cable (as long as there is a cat5 network card installed.)
It may be possible to use either a usb wifi transmitter from the win98 workstation but USB on that OS is not the best. You could ultimately get a PCI based wifi adapter that could be installed in the workstation and would then allow you to connect wirelessly.
The cable modem can be connected to the router via the ethernet(rj45) cable and is very straight forward to use.
One point to make is that the Cable companies do not support WIFI connections and as soon as you mention wifi they terminate the call saying they do not support it.
If it an ADSL based internet connection then the DLINK DSL624M is a very good and reliable option.
I have used other brands that were cheaper but always found that DLINK was much better and more reliable.
I hope this helps.
Dax
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JUst a note you also need to invest in a firewall. The Dline router mentioned may have one installed already. If not then you will need to find a solution that does.
I think a good and cheap solution is a LINKSYS WRT54G router (CISCO technology). Switch 4 ports for wired connections, WIFI 54 Mo and an integra
I think for a good, cheap and secure solution for you: LINKSYS WRT54G router (CISCO technology). 4 ports switch for wired connections, WIFI 54 Mo and an integrated firewall… and Easy to configure.
I have one running since more than 1 year without any reboot: 3 Wifi and 2 wired connections always connected on ‘net.
All good answers. I personally do not use WiFi (not secure enough). I use Linksys wired cable routers with 4 ports. The installation with the latest version is very simple. Follow the instructions and you will be running in a few minutes.
two main mfg’s, linksys and netgear, linksys is now owned by cisco. both easy to set up. Go with wireless, for the extra 20 bucks or so, it is much better. Your laptop already has wireless capability and your desktop you can connect via wire.
After that, go with whichever one you can get the best deal on price-wise.
Setting it up is simple, I would change the default IP numbering scheme and the passwords though.
Matt
I have Linksys WRG54 4 port wireless the one with two antennas on cable and it works like a charm. My dad connects using wireless PCI card on the second floor, sometime I need two PCs so I break out my laptop with wireless. Setup is fairly easy and make sure you use a network key so no one can connect to your wireless outside of your permission. I say this because I go to my friends house and I can connect with my laptop. Not only that protect your data you never know who is connecting to your wireless.
I think a good and cheap solution is a LINKSYS WRT54G router (CISCO technology). Switch 4 ports for wired connections, with an access list and the SSID turned off will provide you with the security that you need, unless your in a corperate office. However for home use this is good sound set up. Make sure to change the name of the wireless AP from factory setting of Linksys. Do an ipconfig /all and get your MAC address for your wireless cards if you use more than one. The access list will keep most people out and turning off the broadcast SSID will keep it hidden enough your neighbor will not see you out there. I have also used this router at home for more than a year.
Good luck
Most of the low-end routers now have integrated firewall capability. They all allow you to block ports, start with 135, 139, 445, 666, and 999. There are a few more that I use, a google search should clue you in to which ones to block look for trinoo ports also.
Wireless is totally secure. With most they at least have 64bit encryption (although you need to enable it, refer to instructions.) Also, most allow you to use ACLs allowing only the MAC addresses that you choose to connect via wireless. Anyone who can “spoof” your MAC or snort your wireless to spoof it, is going to get past your firewall anyway.
All routers allow you to log traffic and email logs anyway, so you can keep an eye on ACL violations and traffic in general to monitor intrusion attempts, viral infections and even spy/adware attempts.