Nick Soapdish June 5, 2006 Share Nick Soapdish Member June 5, 2006 I'm thinking of getting a wireless router so I can use the net all over my house. I have WOW cable network. What do I need to know about wireless routers and does a difference in speed really mean that much. Also can I get a router that is similar to the speed I have right now. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo June 5, 2006 Share Cujo Member June 5, 2006 dlink dgl 4300 if you have the money. for internet usage any router in stores today will vastly exceed your bandwidth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Soapdish June 5, 2006 Author Share Nick Soapdish Member June 5, 2006 does that actually make that big a difference, the gamefuel! thing>? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobalt June 5, 2006 Share Cobalt Member June 5, 2006 Anyone who I have talked to who has the Gamefuel router absolutely loves it. It comes into play even more if you live in a household where certain people *wink* sister *wink* are cruising myspace, kazaa, limewire, and a bunch of other stuff while you are trying to game. Stuff like that can really hurt your ping but the gamefuel router will prioritize the information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appalachian_fox June 5, 2006 Share appalachian_fox Member June 5, 2006 My understanding of GameFuel is that it prioritizes game traffic so bandwidth hogs don't cause jitter on your broadband link. That being the case, it depends on if you live with other 'net users and if you like to multitask (Gotta have that YouTube on the lappy while fragging away in CS on the desktop, for example). If you don't have the money for the mac daddy router (I hear it's "the bomb"*, to beat a dead horse) most routers will allow you to set traffic priorities and classes. I can do the exact same thing with a WRT54G (Linksys) router: The difference being I must change all the settings by hand whereas GameFuel automagically handles everything. * -- I assume "the kids" still say "the bomb" when they mean something is really cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo June 5, 2006 Share Cujo Member June 5, 2006 * -- I assume "the kids" still say "the bomb" when they mean something is really cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwEEziL June 5, 2006 Share dwEEziL Member June 5, 2006 Who's gonna pay that much money for a home router? Jeez, I can get the same priortization with an 286 box and a linux boot disk as my router. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Soapdish June 5, 2006 Author Share Nick Soapdish Member June 5, 2006 how hard is it to set the priorities? how low MBPS can I go on a wireless to get good performance all the same? Where can I buy a cheap flatscreen tv? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice_Berge_00 June 6, 2006 Share Ice_Berge_00 GC Alumni June 6, 2006 The cost of the router really depends on what you need it for. If you're gonna be gaming (especially FPS games) over the wireless you'll need faster speed (G or better), where as any speed, even B, is usually good for internet browsing. I've done CS, Warcraft 3 and WOW over my G without any problems. I've used Netgear and Linksys myself. I'm getting to the point where I think Linksys is better than Netgear, my next router will be a Linksys for sure. I've had problems in the past with upgrading the firmware on my Netgear, and hamachi + World of Warcraft really don't get along with it. A couple of my buddies have Linksys routers that they really like, one of them does a lot of work on his network and traffic control. The first question you have to ask is what do you want to be able to do over your wireless? Then what features/controls do you want in your router. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwEEziL June 6, 2006 Share dwEEziL Member June 6, 2006 I disagree. G realy isn't gonna do much for you since at that point your ISP is gonna be the bottle neck. If anyone gets above 54Mbps, I want to see their tracert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo June 6, 2006 Share Cujo Member June 6, 2006 B should be just fine for any net browsing/gaming on a normal household connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EbilDustBunny June 6, 2006 Share EbilDustBunny GC Alumni June 6, 2006 check out the new wireless N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appalachian_fox June 6, 2006 Share appalachian_fox Member June 6, 2006 I used B on Linksys, D-Link and Netgear setups and had in large part flawless gaming performance. It all depends on how far you are from the router and the corresponding signal strength (Well, actually, what speed it will negotiate, which is in large part determined by distance weighted by obstructions / multipathing based on doorways and number of bounces, etc., but signal strength is the real metric in the end). If you are going to be close, no problem. If you are on the other end of a large house, there might be issues. Also, that bandwidth is shared by every node on the network: The analogy is everyone shares one network cable. So, lots of users, even if they are not using the 'net at all, can cause high latency and jitter levels. If you will be reasonably close to the router and don't have a lot of other computers that will be on the network at the same time, B should be fine. Of course, G isn't really more expensive these days, so that would be fine as well, and it's pretty much guaranteed that you'll get WPA in a G-router (it's almost a guarantee in the B-routers these days, maybe with a flash update, but check first). As far as setting packet priorities, it isn't hard if you have a basic understanding of what a router does. If you run into problems, there are plenty of people on the forums who will help you out. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymo June 6, 2006 Share anonymo Member June 6, 2006 Yeah you don't need that gaming router...it's a complete gimmick if you know what you are doing (shame cujo shame!)...and considering what you have to pay to get 10mbs+ (excluding shazzz) from your isp, a 801.11b router should do you fine. I set my speeds to 5.5mbs as it allows for a more stable signal and of course because I'm on DSL at 1.8 mbs and I don't use it for transferring data over the network. Of course the biggest consideration is what is between you and the router. If there are a lot of other wireless signals in your area you will get collisions in the data stream which will cause serious choke in CS (or loss, but generally choke, it depends on the setup) Getting signal is one thing, keeping it and stopping collisions/interference is another... oh yeah...and don't waste your money on a cheap flatscreen tv...they don't exist...if you want LCD/Plasma then I can only recommend one of each...Best LCD available **Edit Scratch the Mac LCD, I found one I like a lot more! Samsung 24" and Only Plasma worth paying anything for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Soapdish June 6, 2006 Author Share Nick Soapdish Member June 6, 2006 im planning on keeping the router in my family room and moving my soundsystem and pole dancing freaks up to my room for my CSS action. is a one floor difference going to make a big deal? anyone have a cheap plasma tv for sale? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymo June 6, 2006 Share anonymo Member June 6, 2006 im planning on keeping the router in my family room and moving my soundsystem and pole dancing freaks up to my room for my CSS action. is a one floor difference going to make a big deal? anyone have a cheap plasma tv for sale? I can get you a cheap plasma but you will want to beat me with a wet fish for taking your money...DON'T BUY A CHEAP PLASMA!!! only buy a Hitachi...they are the only company that makes good plasmas...they also make most of the plasmas on the market (Sony, LG etc...) but save the quality for themselves...I can't stress this enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo June 6, 2006 Share Cujo Member June 6, 2006 anon, my normal wireless routers don't have gigabit lan or packet prioritization. in fact, very few routers have packet prioritization and this was the first when it came out. yes, i use gigabit lan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appalachian_fox June 7, 2006 Share appalachian_fox Member June 7, 2006 im planning on keeping the router in my family room and moving my soundsystem and pole dancing freaks up to my room for my CSS action. is a one floor difference going to make a big deal? anyone have a cheap plasma tv for sale? A one floor difference shouldn't be that big of a deal. Of course, it depends on other things. If your receiver is straight above it you'll get less attenuation from the floor than if it is, say, 10' above and 10' away: The straight-path signal will go through the floor at a 45 degree angle, which will make the floor appear thicker to the signal. Again, though, a one floor difference shouldn't cause you problems. anon, my normal wireless routers don't have gigabit lan or packet prioritization. in fact, very few routers have packet prioritization and this was the first when it came out. My Linksys WRT54G does packet prioritization and has done so for...years. I don't know which firmware rev started it, but it may have been there since the beginning. Also, if you go the WRT54G route and use some of the open-source firmware (check your hardware rev. first) I hear you can do wholesale bandwidth shaping (and if you are quick with the Linux hacking, you can probably write any traffic shaping algorithm you desires). Again, you have to set it up yourself, GameFuel does it automagically for you, but if you don't have the money you don't have to sacrifice functionality. And it's important to remember that packet prioritization is only important if you multitask with bandwidth hogs or if you have other heavy Internet users, and that will not keep other users from stealing Wireless bandwidth, just 'Net bandwidth (which has been covered in this topic is generally much less than your Wireless bandwidth, especially when you consider that your xMbps is only guaranteed up to your ISP, not all the way to whomever you connect to). The one thing you won't get in other SOHO routers (currently, at least that I am aware of) is Gigabit Ethernet. If you have Gigabit ports, great. Wire everything up and your file transfers between computers will be an order of magnitude faster. I can't say enough positive things about GigE over copper. Of course, there are few power users who currently can actually use that kind of bandwidth. Keep in mind, though, if streaming high-def video to the living room, etc. is something you want to get into, the day of gigabit speeds in the home will come sooner rather than later. My two cents? The gaming router is the "mac daddy" (sp) of the routers: It has remarkable stability from what I have heard, plus all the benefits of automagic packet prioritization and Gigabit Ethernet at a relatively low cost per port (considering it's a 4-port SOHO Wireless-G router). If you don't want to spend the money, there are plenty of great routers out there. I plugged the WRT54G, but the bottom line is pretty much any router you find on the shelves these days in your Best Buy or on the pages at Newegg will suffice. You might want to check that the router model you choose does WPA security and packet prioritization, other than that go nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymo June 7, 2006 Share anonymo Member June 7, 2006 anon, my normal wireless routers don't have gigabit lan or packet prioritization. in fact, very few routers have packet prioritization and this was the first when it came out. yes, i use gigabit lan. ah, rgr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Soapdish June 7, 2006 Author Share Nick Soapdish Member June 7, 2006 thnx for the info fellas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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