Pimp my internet

[gement]

Dear Lazyweb,

I tried shopping for a router and got buried in alphabet soup. It's been too long since I read up on how the kids are making the guldurned contraptions these days, and I really don't have the time right now.

I want a device that I plug into the cable modem which gives up to 8 computers the ability to access password-protected wireless internet throughout a two-story house. It's okay if some outreaches of the house have weak signal. I'd prefer something name-brand and relatively robust so we don't have to fiddle with it and it will play well with whatever random card someone is using.

I will learn to configure whatever I end up getting. I'd prefer something user-friendly, but I am a smart cookie and I can adapt. Please advise.

Comments

[tylik.livejournal.com]

Ping stolen_tea - or just look and see what he picked up a bit ago.

[stolen-tea.livejournal.com]

Linksys WRT54GL. The L is important, as it stands for Linux, which means the device is hackable. If, you know, you ever feel the itch. :)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190

It works fine so far. The technology's a bit old, but in that "tried and true" way, so I think it's a pretty safe bet. And at $50.99 after rebate, with free shipping, the price is quite reasonable.

[tithonium.livejournal.com]

If you have a mac with which to configure it, airports are nice, solid, reliable. not terribly cheap, BUT an airport express will go a/b/g/n, act as a base station, and costs $100.

As I understand it, netgears are good too. But I have no experience with non-apple base stations made in this century.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

I've been happy with my Linksys SRX 200, and it reaches everywhere in the two-story Abbey. It handles 802.11b or g. It handles a lot of the pain of plugging into your ISP for you, like MAC address cloning. We use WEP security, which uses a password to generate 128-bit keys.