Wireless Routers
 

Don't laugh, but I'm still using an 802.11b wireless router. I decided to upgrade to the "g" or "n" version. Is there a Linksys wireless router in either "g" or "n" that is also a print server capability? I'd like to hook up one printer that the kids can print to wirelessly.

Any link would be appreciated. Thanks.

I know they had a B version that was a miserable failure, and they make a wireless print server, but that's not a router.

US Robotics makes a Max G router one usb print server that I think goes for around 80 dollars

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/def...px?EDC=1344207

Many printers today has built-in ethernet ports. They can be connected to the router/switch directly. I only use ethernet printers at home, no more USB printers and no need for print servers. Setup is straight forward also, everything done in Windows.

And more than a few also have wireless built-in. I'd go for either of those over the access point as a print server if at all possible.

Unless the b router is dead, no need to replace it unless you're trying to stream media around the house or you have FiOS or something like that. Otherwise the upstream connection is still the slow point in the network.

My HP C7280 multifunction (print, scan, copy, fax) has wireless capability and has been working great for about 4 months now. You do need to install some software on each computer that you want to use wirelessly with the unit. When you do, each computer has full access to all print and scan features.

So my old B router is still ok and I am not missing much with the new superduper whizbang technology of "g" and "n"?

No, unless you are having some problems with distance or you transfer large files wirelessly over your network +100MB, you will not really notice any difference.

The software should only be necessary for the scan/fax piece. Plain printing should just require a driver and not the HP bloatware crap that they have on the CD.

I kind of agree that unless you do large file transfers or media streaming, 802.11b is probably sufficient.

However, I don't think too many 802.11b APs had the strong encryption protocols. I have a 802.11g AP which has WPA and I am thinking about getting a new one to get WPA2. I don't really do anything super secret (i.e. online banking) over wireless at home because of security concerns. Also, the AP is potentially a weak link in your home network's security.

On the print server, it might be better to get one that's Ethernet on one side and USB (or whatever your printer's interface is) and just attach to your router (most APs are also routers).

I quite likely need to purchase a new wireless access point / firewall in the not too distant future. Does anyone have any suggestions as to whether or not to wait until the n stuff is fully baked? I believe it's going to be finalised in November, 2008, correct?

Let me toss another question into the mix - I'd like to upgrade my router to something supports both printing and attached storage, where I can connect one of those external hard disks to the router and use it for file storage and backup

Any good models to recommend that aren't too pricey?

I don't think you need anything special in the router. It's the NAS enclosure that has to deal with the computers. The router just forwards traffic between different ports, it doesn't know or care what is the data being transmitted. (This is a slight simplification in that there is such a thing as high priority traffic).

Also, you can simply buy another switch (those are quite inexpensive now) and connect to your router and get more ports to connect to network-ready printers, computers, NAS enclosures, etc.

A few words about NAS enclosures. I have a Netgear Storage Central SC101 and it stinks. Special software has to be installed in order for a computer to see the drives. It's slow, and it doesn't seem to like one of my drives. Oh, and it uses a proprietary data format so if you stick a hard drive from your computer into it, it gets wiped first and you see an empty drive when you connect to it. Of course, it was only around $50 so I guess I shouldn't have expected too much. It's disappointing because I am quite happy with my Netgear AP/router/switch.

To xyzzy, do you have any 802.11n equipped mobile devices? If not, do you plan to acquire them in the near future? If not, I think you should hold off on the draft-N AP purchase. They are still relatively expensive while 802.11g ones are fairly inexpensive. You can probably buy an 802.11g now, wait until you actually have 802.11n mobile devices, then upgrade to an 802.11n AP and spend roughly the same money as buying a draft-N AP now. Just my opinion of course.

Have you looked at the Apple Time Capsule? Slightly pricey but works extremely well for this type of requirement.

The first thing to consider is how fast your internet connection is - you are most unlikely to have a better than 3Mbps service if you are in the USA.

802.11b does 11Mbps, so even with a poor connection on your wireless link, the chokepoint for anything coming from the internet is your ISP, not your wireless connection.

If you want to stream HD video from a server on your own network, you need to look at 802.11n, otherwise, you would not notice any material difference from upgrading.

If you do upgrade, it is important to realize that if there is any device on the network that works at a lower rate (e.g. you have an 808.11b laptop and an 802.11n router) then the router will service all devices, n, b or g at the lowest rate of any of the clients, thus it is as if they were all b. Upgrading requires everything in your system to be upgraded before any benefit transpires at all.

If you have a printer that you are happy with then you can add a wired print server (e.g. Netgear PS101 or ZOT), they are very cheap on ebay to network enable it, provided you have a spare port on your existing router.

The issues of wireless security can be overblown - if you are using online banking, for example, the entire session, including the password session, is encrypted using SSL by your browser, so someone sniffing the session over the wireless link would not get anything of any use to them. Even using WEP is only a risk for other stuff if you think someone is seriously interested in your data and prepared to spend a long time gathering traffic in the vicinitiy of your house and then spending a fair bit of time finding the decryption key, only to see only the stuff you did that wasn't SSL protected by your browser.

I did, but the customer reviews (on Apple's own website, no less) were pretty harsh and negative.