Router buying help please! I'm such a n00b...

DaRuSsIaMaN

DaRuSsIaMaN

Geek Comrade
I am intimidated by routers. Seriously. I bought one a few years back basically just by browsing through a bunch of reviews shown up by search engine of routers in a certain price range until one convinced me. But now I need a new one and this time I need a wireless one (actually probably 2 of them -- one in my parents' house, one in my apartment ... but I could just get 2 of the same one). And I feel really lost. There are so many of them! And they all seem basically the same, but with different prices! lol. And they have all these descriptions of features and supports of standards which i know hardly anything about. Can I get some help with understanding how they differ and what some of the descriptions/features mean and which to look for? I'd like one well suited for Linux (I'm guessing some are better supported by Linux than others?), since my dad uses it almost exclusively. But other than that I guess it doesn't need to be a really good one. Just kind of intermediate (for home use) price range I guess.
 
DaRuSsIaMaN said:
I am intimidated by routers. Seriously, this time I need a wireless one (actually probably 2 of them, And I feel really lost. There are so many of them! And they all seem basically the same, but with different prices! lol. And they have all these descriptions of features and supports of standards which i know hardly anything about. Can I get some help with understanding how they differ and what some of the descriptions/features mean and which to look for? I'd like one well suited for Linux (I'm guessing some are better supported by Linux than others?)
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relax routers are basically very easy to install and setup, as for linux: it will just work, so you can setup the router in XP and reboot into linux, and it will just work (probably cos it doesn't know how to not work) don't know how things are where you live, but here in UK it's cheaper to buy online, as for how much to pay for one (in UK, about £35, in US about $50 - $60) in UK this isn't bad

Edit: if you want to use VoIP you'll need a router with a built in gateway or one with NAT support, i think almost all router come with a built in firewall
 
Yeah but I need help shopping for one, not setting it up... For example it says in the specs that it supports such and such standards (IEEE 802.xx) or such and such protocols. Is that a big deal? Or they also list varying security features. Is that important? I still can't quite figure out why one router is like $50 and another like $120. They usually seem pretty similar except that one supports more IEEE standards, for instance. Is it really awesome if it supports certain IEEE standards, which other routers don't, which make it so much more expensive? I mean the way it looks to me now is basically I should just buy like the cheapest one I can find, since I don't really understand what the differences are all about... But if I do that I'll probably end up regretting it later once I figure out why it sucks.
 
generally the dearer routers include other stuff like: included VoIP software, but be careful chooseing one, you need to get one that'll word with your provider, how do your currently connect to net ?
 
donkey42 said:
how do your currently connect to net ?
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I use cable internet. (And have a cable modem, of course)

Hmm, and I'm pretty sure I'm not interested in stuff like VoIP. I just need one which will handle 4-5 megabits/sec WAN transfer rate (since that's the speed I get with my provider) in *encrypted* wireless. It should also have decent range cuz my dad would like to be able to work on his laptop in the backyard. And other than that ... I dunno what else I would want. I'm not going to be transferring any files between the comps on the network, so no need for a really fast router, I guess. Just as long as it handles the full speed of the cable modem. Is this even a concern? Do all modern-day routers handle that speed (4-5Mbps) with no probs at all?
 
Russian said:
It should also have decent range cuz my dad would like to be able to work on his laptop in the backyard.
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You dont have to worry about this coz you can increase the range by using extension antennas any time.
 
i dont know hardly anything about cable routers, except that DSL and cable routers are not usually interchangable, but i think some router support both cable & DSL, i'll do some research and come back with a router, but wait until you get other replies, to be sure i'm correct
 
Thx for the suggestion.

Actually the cable/DSL isn't a problem at all with routers. They all connect to the modem with an ethernet cable, right? So it's really your modem that's the issue, isn't it? I got a cable modem so all I do is plug in a router with ethernet cable and i'm good
 
DaRuSsIaMaN said:
Thx for the suggestion.

Actually the cable/DSL isn't a problem at all with routers. They all connect to the modem with an ethernet cable, right? So it's really your modem that's the issue, isn't it? I got a cable modem so all I do is plug in a router with ethernet cable and i'm good
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like i said i don't know much about cable, but the way with DSL is:
a router is a modem too, you just plug RJ45 (ethernet) cable from network card to router, but that's DSL, no clue how a cable setup works, sorry, but i suspect its the same as DSL
 
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