Simple effective wifi router, help

Hi all,
A friends daughter got an Ipad, he now wants to get a wifi router so
she can get online at home, (she's 10).
I don't know if the Ipad is G or N, probably doesn't matter, many are
both now.
I want to recommend a couple of routers he can get and be happy with.
He's never had wifi in the house, so just a simple effective router.
I'll probably send a couple of Newegg links.
Thanks, Mikek

On Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:39:33 -0600, amdx <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> A friends daughter got an Ipad, he now wants to get a wifi router so
>she can get online at home, (she's 10).

She's spoiled.

> I don't know if the Ipad is G or N, probably doesn't matter, many are
>both now.

Presumably, it's an iPad 2. That does 802.11 a/b/g/n
<http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/>
If she lives in a really RF polluted environment, I would be tempted
to suggest getting a dual band wireless router or access point.

> I want to recommend a couple of routers he can get and be happy with.
>He's never had wifi in the house, so just a simple effective router.
>I'll probably send a couple of Newegg links.

I only see broken routers, so I can't offer many recommendations for
anything that works. Same with manufacturers. They all suck, but
some suck less. This week, I like DLink, mostly because I can get
them cheap in quantity.

For a 10 year old, I would expect whatever is purchased would probably
be destroyed within a few months. Therefore, cheap is of paramount
importance. I've had good luck (i.e. no failures) with bottom of the
line DLink DIR-601 router. Priced around $25. It's 2.4GHz only,
non-MIMO, and fairly basic. I've installed about 10 of them in the
last 6 months, without any problems. No clue on long term life, but
with a 10 year old, my guess(tm) would be it's not going to be an
issue.

However, if you want all the fancy features, the DLink DIR-825 does it
all. It seems to be targeted at the Apple market (i.e. white plastic
box). About $100. I've only installed one, which doesn't offer much
of a track record. There are also some models in between, which I
haven't tried.

<http://www.dlink.com/products/category/?cid=1>

Speaking of selling to the Mac crowd, Netgear has an Aiport Extreme
clone. Imitation and flattery?
<http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wirelessrouters/high-performance/WNDRMAC.aspx>
Sorry, no experience.

Make sure she gets a not-easily-removable rubberized protective case
and possibly Applecare in case it gets dropped anyway.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On 1/12/2012 11:11 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:39:33 -0600, amdx<(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>> A friends daughter got an Ipad, he now wants to get a wifi router so
>> she can get online at home, (she's 10).
>
> She's spoiled.
>
>> I don't know if the Ipad is G or N, probably doesn't matter, many are
>> both now.
>
> Presumably, it's an iPad 2. That does 802.11 a/b/g/n
> <http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/>
> If she lives in a really RF polluted environment, I would be tempted
> to suggest getting a dual band wireless router or access point.
>
>> I want to recommend a couple of routers he can get and be happy with.
>> He's never had wifi in the house, so just a simple effective router.
>> I'll probably send a couple of Newegg links.
>
> I only see broken routers, so I can't offer many recommendations for
> anything that works. Same with manufacturers. They all suck, but
> some suck less. This week, I like DLink, mostly because I can get
> them cheap in quantity.
>
> For a 10 year old, I would expect whatever is purchased would probably
> be destroyed within a few months. Therefore, cheap is of paramount
> importance. I've had good luck (i.e. no failures) with bottom of the
> line DLink DIR-601 router. Priced around $25. It's 2.4GHz only,
> non-MIMO, and fairly basic. I've installed about 10 of them in the
> last 6 months, without any problems. No clue on long term life, but
> with a 10 year old, my guess(tm) would be it's not going to be an
> issue.
>
> However, if you want all the fancy features, the DLink DIR-825 does it
> all. It seems to be targeted at the Apple market (i.e. white plastic
> box). About $100. I've only installed one, which doesn't offer much
> of a track record. There are also some models in between, which I
> haven't tried.
>
> <http://www.dlink.com/products/category/?cid=1>
>
> Speaking of selling to the Mac crowd, Netgear has an Aiport Extreme
> clone. Imitation and flattery?
> <http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wirelessrouters/high-performance/WNDRMAC.aspx>
> Sorry, no experience.
>
> Make sure she gets a not-easily-removable rubberized protective case
> and possibly Applecare in case it gets dropped anyway.
>

Thanks Jeff,
I'll pass it along.
Mikek

On 1/12/2012 9:11 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:39:33 -0600, amdx<(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>> A friends daughter got an Ipad, he now wants to get a wifi router so
>> she can get online at home, (she's 10).
>
> She's spoiled.
>
>> I don't know if the Ipad is G or N, probably doesn't matter, many are
>> both now.
>
> Presumably, it's an iPad 2. That does 802.11 a/b/g/n
> <http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/>
> If she lives in a really RF polluted environment, I would be tempted
> to suggest getting a dual band wireless router or access point.
>
>> I want to recommend a couple of routers he can get and be happy with.
>> He's never had wifi in the house, so just a simple effective router.
>> I'll probably send a couple of Newegg links.
>
> I only see broken routers, so I can't offer many recommendations for
> anything that works. Same with manufacturers. They all suck, but
> some suck less. This week, I like DLink, mostly because I can get
> them cheap in quantity.
>
> For a 10 year old, I would expect whatever is purchased would probably
> be destroyed within a few months. Therefore, cheap is of paramount
> importance. I've had good luck (i.e. no failures) with bottom of the
> line DLink DIR-601 router. Priced around $25. It's 2.4GHz only,
> non-MIMO, and fairly basic. I've installed about 10 of them in the
> last 6 months, without any problems. No clue on long term life, but
> with a 10 year old, my guess(tm) would be it's not going to be an
> issue.
>
> However, if you want all the fancy features, the DLink DIR-825 does it
> all. It seems to be targeted at the Apple market (i.e. white plastic
> box). About $100. I've only installed one, which doesn't offer much
> of a track record. There are also some models in between, which I
> haven't tried.
>
> <http://www.dlink.com/products/category/?cid=1>
>
> Speaking of selling to the Mac crowd, Netgear has an Aiport Extreme
> clone. Imitation and flattery?
> <http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wirelessrouters/high-performance/WNDRMAC.aspx>
> Sorry, no experience.
>
> Make sure she gets a not-easily-removable rubberized protective case
> and possibly Applecare in case it gets dropped anyway.
>
You know me and my netgear experiences. Of course maybe I emit some
negative field that breaks netgear routers.

Before I trashed my last Netgear router, I opened it up to see what kind
of antenna they use. It had diversity (I'm still not convinced MIMO does
much good.) The antenna proper is about an inch of wire. It then
connects to a tube that has an insulator in the middle and metal on the
outside. The coax is then feed to what looks like a small ferrite filter.

Ironic, but the wall warts on my netgear never failed, so I use them for
other stuff. Most people have the wall wart croak.

> Ironic, but the wall warts on my netgear never failed, so I use them for
> other stuff. Most people have the wall wart croak.

When you use them for other stuff don't you get concerned if the output
voltage and the mA exactly correct for the device? A friend gave me a
Netgear router but didn't give me the wallwart until a few days later. In
the meantime I used my previous D-Link wallwart, which had a slightly
different mA rating.

John

On Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:31:51 -0500, "JohnJ"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>> Ironic, but the wall warts on my netgear never failed, so I use them for
>> other stuff. Most people have the wall wart croak.
>
>When you use them for other stuff don't you get concerned if the output
>voltage and the mA exactly correct for the device? A friend gave me a
>Netgear router but didn't give me the wallwart until a few days later. In
>the meantime I used my previous D-Link wallwart, which had a slightly
>different mA rating.

Here's how I look at it:
1. The connector has to physically fit.
2. The polarity has to be correct, (usually center positive).
3. The current type (AC vs DC) has to be correct.
4. The voltage should be close. Some devices are quite tolerant.
5. The current rating should be close. Higher is fine.

On Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:04:39 -0800, miso <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>You know me and my netgear experiences. Of course maybe I emit some
>negative field that breaks netgear routers.

Karma failure. Do good things and your equipment will work better.

>Before I trashed my last Netgear router, I opened it up to see what kind
>of antenna they use.

Some things are best left unasked. For example, you really shouldn't
ask what is inside salami and wireless routers.

>It had diversity (I'm still not convinced MIMO does
>much good.) The antenna proper is about an inch of wire. It then
>connects to a tube that has an insulator in the middle and metal on the
>outside. The coax is then feed to what looks like a small ferrite filter.

Weird. The tube is probably a 1/4 wave sleeve balun. No clue on the
ferrites. Probably something to make the FCC happy by blocking the
radiation of lower frequencies.

>Ironic, but the wall warts on my netgear never failed, so I use them for
>other stuff. Most people have the wall wart croak.

We've been here before. Netgear power supply guts:
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/repair/slides/Netgear%20DSA-12R-12.html>
I should have taken a photo of the other side of the board. There
were two jumpers and some component glued in place. As I recall, the
one in the photo did not magically recover when I replaced the obvious
bulging capacitor. However, 3 others recovered nicely.

The real problem is that many really good consumer devices get a bad
reputation because of failing power supplies. For example, the
consensus was that the 2wire 2701HG-B has a high failure rate. I
certainly had my share of failures with this router. However, I kept
the routers and wall warts because my sense of smell told me they were
repairable. When I cracked open the PS, the problem was obvious:
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/repair/index.html>
I've been rotating out the power supplies with my customers, and have
magically fixed several "reliability" issues (hangs, crashes,
weirdness, etc). There are probably more routers that are perfectly
good, but where the PS is junk.

Happy Friday the 13th.
--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com (E-Mail Removed)
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

"Jeff Liebermann"

>
> Make sure she gets a not-easily-removable rubberized protective case
> and possibly Applecare in case it gets dropped anyway.

Unless something has changed Applecare does not cover physical damage.

On Sat, 14 Jan 2012 05:36:29 -0600, "NotMe" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>"Jeff Liebermann"
>> Make sure she gets a not-easily-removable rubberized protective case
>> and possibly Applecare in case it gets dropped anyway.
>
>Unless something has changed Applecare does not cover physical damage.

Assumptions vary:
<http://www.iphonelife.com/issues/2011May-June/HowGetDamageRepaired>
but in this case, you're correct. The warranty and AppleCare only
cover manufacturers defects.

Apple will label the slightest dent, ding, or crack as evidence of
abuse, resulting in voiding the warranty. I played middleman for a
friend trying to get her iPhone 3G fixed under warranty. Wi-Fi
functionality had decided to quit. She had AppleCare. However, since
the phone appeared to have been dropped (cracked glass in one corner),
Apple declared the phone to have been abused, and therefore not
covered. The debate went back and forth for about 2 months, with no
progress.

Square Trade and others cover physical damage.
<http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/ipad-landing>
<http://www.worthavegroup.com/ipad>


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On 1/13/2012 4:56 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:31:51 -0500, "JohnJ"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>> Ironic, but the wall warts on my netgear never failed, so I use them for
>>> other stuff. Most people have the wall wart croak.
>>
>> When you use them for other stuff don't you get concerned if the output
>> voltage and the mA exactly correct for the device? A friend gave me a
>> Netgear router but didn't give me the wallwart until a few days later. In
>> the meantime I used my previous D-Link wallwart, which had a slightly
>> different mA rating.
>
> Here's how I look at it:
> 1. The connector has to physically fit.
> 2. The polarity has to be correct, (usually center positive).
> 3. The current type (AC vs DC) has to be correct.
> 4. The voltage should be close. Some devices are quite tolerant.
> 5. The current rating should be close. Higher is fine.
>

Many walwarts are regulated these days. For the ones that aren't,
generally they do 16V for a 12V wall wart.

Technically higher current can mean higher voltage if it is the
unregulated type. You don't want to be too much out of spec.

The whole notion of a wall-wart is to have some hell hole in China have
the legal responsibility of contacting the mains. If the wall-wart
catches fire, good luck suing the manufacturer.