You may have just bought your first computer home and are anxious to connect it to the internet and start browsing, or perhaps you just need to move your current computer. You can choose to extend the wires across your home, or you can buy a wireless router.
What is a wireless router? In short, it is a device that connects you to your modem-it will not connect you directly to the internet, so if you don’t currently have a modem you either need to buy a router/modem combination or buy the modem first.
It is the modem that connects to the internet, and in turn will pass information to your computer from the internet and vice versa. It normally does this through a wire that is plugged into a port in the back of your computer or internet. The wire has to be connected at all times for you to get a connection and so if you wish to move your computer or laptop, you need a longer wire. Read the rest of this entry →
Occasionally, problems may occur with your wireless router. When they do you are likely to lose all or partial access to the internet, and so you will want to resolve them as quickly as possible.
The first thing to do is work out whether you have completely lost access, or whether it is just running very slowly. If it is down completely then it is likely that your internet service provider is having problems and you may not be able to overcome it.
When your net goes down completely your modem will normally display a warning signal in the form of a flashing light, or the absence of the light that normally indicates that the internet is working.
Your router may also display a similar warning-the modem input light may change to red, may flash or may stop showing.
When this happens you can try and reboot both the router and the modem. However if this does not work you are likely to have to wait till your service provider corrects the problem. Read the rest of this entry →
When you first bring your router home, you can run it straight out of the box. It is often possible to simply plug it into the mains, plug the modem into it and search for the wireless signal. You can connect your computer to it right away with a nice, clean, strong signal and are away!
But then so can everyone else who can see your signal. The problem is that a wireless router will broadcast its presence far and wide, within the limits of it’s signal strength.
If it is in the very middle of your home, then it may not reach far outside but set it next to a wall and you could be providing a free internet service for all of your neighbors. Read the rest of this entry →
The storage link allows you to attach a USB External hard drive, and share it for all users of your home network. If your home is like many homes these days, you have multiple laptops, and would love to share some files.
This Linksys router with it’s Storage Link allow you to set this up quickly and easily. It supports all versions of Microsoft Windows, and also recent versions of Mac OS.
The attached storage is also a great place for you to backup your critical files. Having a couple USB drives you can swap out, would let you keep one drive running, and have a backup copy put away in a safe place.
Setting up the Linksys attached storage is very simple, just hook up the USB drive, open My Computer on your PC, and then type the router name in the address bar at the top. The Linksys setup CD will have asked you to assign as name to your router.
We love having network attached storage in our home. We share our pictures, and family documents on the attached drive, giving everyone quick access.
The router is also a great Wireless-N router. The coverage and speed of Wireless-N is great covering every corner of our home. Linksys has always made great quality products, and this router is not an exception.
The WRT160NL is a great value, for getting both a high quality wireless router, but also getting a solution for sharing files on your home network.
The Linksys WRT54GS Wireless-G Broadband Router makes setting up a home or office network much easier.
It comes together with the documents needed in order to install it well. However, some users complained that the web interface is difficult to navigate, instructions are hard to understand and the security setup should be explained better for novices.
Drop link has also been observed. Some offshore users also complained about the lack of offshore services.
The Fast Start guide will try its best to illustrate the setup process. Judging by the comments of several users, it is better to have basic networking knowledge in order to use this router.
The Linksys WRT54GS has a web-based configuration tool that gives you the access to other networking settings like the DHCP server and client settings. Read the rest of this entry →
