Wireless ADSL Routers

Having decided I was going to get the ebuyer ADSL router/4 port switch, I
have now decided that an 11mbps wireless setup might be more appropriate.
Having realised that wireless kit was cheaper than I thought, I almost wish
I had been thinking about this from the beginning!

I wonder, please, if anyone can answer a few questions....

I want to link 3 PC's (1 XP, 1 2000, and one 98se) to the ADSL, and figured
something like the D-Link DSL-604 would be good. According to the review on
adslguide.org it often drops the wireless connection. Has anyone got one of
these that has experience of this? And anyone had any particularly good or
bad experience with this model?

Is 128-bit encryption sufficient, or even over the top for home use?

Assuming my maths is correct, once an 11mbps link is shared between 2 of the
PC's on a 512k service, there wont be any drop in connection speed? (other
than the fact that they are sharing the adsl link, same as they would
through a wired switch, and assuming good signal strength) (BTW the third Pc
would plug straight into the switch)

Finally, If anyone can recommend a Wireless Router/ADSL modem/Switch with
built in firewall then I'd be most interested to hear your comments -
although I cant really afford a Draytech Vigor!!

Thanks in advance,

Dan

"Danyool" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:bne6q3$ee$(E-Mail Removed):

> I want to link 3 PC's (1 XP, 1 2000, and one 98se) to the ADSL,
> and figured something like the D-Link DSL-604 would be good.
> According to the review on adslguide.org it often drops the
> wireless connection. Has anyone got one of these that has
> experience of this? And anyone had any particularly good or bad
> experience with this model?

I purchased a D-Link DSL-604+ for a small network (2 desktops, 1
laptop, 1 print server) in August 2003.

I have had no problems with dropping either the ADSL or wireless
connections. Generally, it performs well.

I *did* have an initial problem with the router 'hanging'. This was
cured by later firmware releases.

Generally, I can recommend it. It's a neat box and works well. Should
you decide to purchase one, just remember to download the latest
firmware from the D-link ftp site.

> Is 128-bit encryption sufficient, or even over the top for home
> use?

It is said that WEP encryption can be easily broken. I wouldn't worry
too much about this - 128 bit is probably good enough, and the D-Link
box also offers 256 bit encryption (not sure all the other devices it
needs to communicate with also do...)

> Assuming my maths is correct, once an 11mbps link is shared
> between 2 of the PC's on a 512k service, there wont be any drop in
> connection speed?

Not quite sure what you mean here. Each PC will communicate at 11
Mbit/s to the router (note that the DSL-604+ supports 22 Mbit/s). And
the ADSL line won't strictly be 'shared' in the sense of 'divided' -
each concurrent Internet user will be contending for the available
bandwidth. Given the nature of much Internet usage (stop/start
browsing, rather than continuous traffic) you are unlikely to see
much if any degradation of service with 3 PCs. Unless perhaps they
are all running concurrent Internet games...

> Finally, If anyone can recommend a Wireless Router/ADSL
> modem/Switch with built in firewall then I'd be most interested to
> hear your comments - although I cant really afford a Draytech
> Vigor!!

The DSL-604+ does have a built-in firewall. The manual just doesn't
give much info on how to use it. What it doesn't have is any logging.
I have a software firewall installed on each PC.

One final thing - my laptop was originally running Win98SE. I fitted
a D-Link Wireless card + a D-Link Ethernet card. The Wireless LAN
worked fine. However, I could not get the laptop to work
satisfactorily with the router on a wired LAN. I upgraded to WinXP,
and all is fine - it's to do with DHCP server configuration under
Win98SE, I think...


Hope this helps

--

Richard Perkin
To email me, change the AT in the address below
richard.perkinATvolcanomail.com

It's is not, it isn't ain't, and it's it's, not its, if you mean it
is. If you don't, it's its. Then too, it's hers. It isn't her's.
It isn't our's either. It's ours, and likewise yours and theirs.
-- Oxford University Press, Edpress News

> Not quite sure what you mean here. Each PC will communicate at 11
> Mbit/s to the router (note that the DSL-604+ supports 22 Mbit/s). And
> the ADSL line won't strictly be 'shared' in the sense of 'divided' -
> each concurrent Internet user will be contending for the available
> bandwidth. Given the nature of much Internet usage (stop/start
> browsing, rather than continuous traffic) you are unlikely to see
> much if any degradation of service with 3 PCs. Unless perhaps they
> are all running concurrent Internet games...


Thats axactly what I wanted to know, so thanks!

Dan