Wireless modem - recommendations

[monutdfc]

Ordered a new laptop with "N" wireless technology - apparently it's backward compatible with g- and b- wireless; anyone recommend a "N" wireless modem? (or router, but I have UTV internet which is not easy to set up with a router - something to do with DNS numbers)

[dahamsta]

All of the manufacturers make them now. Go with one of the big boys: Netgear, D-Link, Belkin, Buffalo. I use D-Link and find them fine.

adam

[monutdfc]

Thanks.
I had a D-Link one before but it got a virus or something and stopped working.
Even before it stopped working the security wouldn't set-up on it - I'd go through all the steps but it would never ask for the password.

[Dodge]

Not a recommendation, as I don't know enough about them but I use Netgear and haven't had a single problem with it

[dahamsta]

I had a D-Link one before but it got a virus or something and stopped working.
Even before it stopped working the security wouldn't set-up on it - I'd go through all the steps but it would never ask for the password.

Routers generally don't get viruses, their operating systems are installed on read-only memory and their write memory is very limited. So it probably just broke.

Can't really comment on the password issue as I don't know what password you're talking about, wireless or security. If wireless, it would need to have been configured with WEP or WPA; if security I'm sure it would have been explained in the manual. Course if it was broken, that would account for it too.

I'm not defending D-Link per se, my current router certainly has a few faults, but routers can be quite complex and problems can often caused by, um, Operator Error.

adam

[monutdfc]

Managed to get a Linksys that my cousin gave me a couple of years ago going (had problems before, someting to do with UTV Internet and DNS numbers) - well it works on the laptop but now the desktop upstairs has no network connection (something to do with IP numbers, that's the weekend's challenge!).
It's "g" standard, thinking of buying an "N" standard one for the extra speed.

[dahamsta]

If you get an error message, post it in full.

[monutdfc]

Appreciate the offer Dahamsta
I have broadband through a Creative modem into a Linksys wireless router with 4 ethernet cable ports. Can surf the internet no problem on the laptop through the wireless link.
Have a cable from the linksys router into the desktop.
The IP address of the modem is 192.168.1.1
The IP address of the router is 192.168.1.2
When I have TCP/IP settings set to "obtain IP addresses automatically" I get a message that the "local area connection has limited or no connectivity" ipconfig tells me my IP address is 169.254.96.52. This happens if I have "local DHCP Server" enabled or disabled on the router.

If I enable the "local DHCP server" on the router and channge the TCP/IP settings on the desktop to "Use the following IP address" and put in 192.168.1.X (where X runs through the DHCP address range) then I get a message telling me "local area connection is now connected"; however, I still can't access the internet or the control panels for either the modem or the router.

ipconfig tells me the IP address on the laptop is 192.168.1.4

At a loss now!

[dahamsta]

When you say "modem", do you actually mean a modem or is it a NIC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_card)? You can tell by comparing the ports on the router and the Creative thingy, if the one on the router is wider, you have a modem and you're going nowhere...

As well as that it's odd to use .2 on the router and .1 on the computer, routers usually have .1. But not always, it's more a convention than a rule. If there's an IP conflict though, you'll get the "limited or no connectivity" error.

Oh, and if you enable DHCP on the router then you should be telling the desktop to get an IP address automatically, not setting one manually.

(169.254.96.52 is is a link local (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3330) block btw. "It is allocated for communication between hosts on a single link. Hosts obtain these addresses by auto-configuration, such as when a DHCP server may not be found.")

adam

[monutdfc]

Finally did it! :)
First of all, I wasn't going to get it to work because at some point I got the modem cable and the ethernet cable the wrong way round! Reversed them and it wouldn't work at all. Reset the router and changed its IP address to 192.168.2.1 (per the Linksys website) and hey presto! working on both PCs.
Thanks for the help dahamsta, definitely pointed me in the right direction.

Now to get printer and file sharing working!