Linksys router

Yesterday, I finally decided it was time to install the Linksys WRT54G (wireless router, 54Mbps, 802.11g) ($50, BestBuy)* I had lounging in a bag, replacing the Netgear 802.11g router I had bought about 9 months ago.  Home networks are semi-complex things, so let me give you the whole story....

 

I've had some spotty service with Comcast lately, dating back about ... 9 months.  Nine months ago, I stayed home from work to do some stuff for my theater company and the show I was directing.  Got on to my computer to pull some information out of GMail, and I couldn't connect to the Internet.  I had been having problems like this, and usually if I rebooted the router and/or the computer, everything was cool.  But that day it wasn't.  Couldn't get on no how through the router.  Got so desperate that I wired directly into the modem, which worked for a little while, but then didn't do so well.  Nothing I tried seemed to help the trickle, and after a day of running around trying to find an Internet connection, I decided the time had come to redo my system.  The Linksys wireless router I had was kinda old - 802.11b, I think - and it had done its service well for about three years, and seeing as the lifetime of most electronics these days is about two years ... well, I figured it was time to upgrade. 

 

I did a little research and ordered a Netgear network plug adapter to use the electrical wires in the house to hardwire my laptop in the basement, and a Netgear 802.11g router to more or less go with it.  Reasonable name, I figured, plus there should be no problem with the plug adapters, as they were the same brand.  Got everything from Amazon, hooked it up, and it seemed to work like a charm.  Only afterwards did my father-in-law say something to the effect of, "Wish you would have asked me.  I had a Netgear router; worst thing ever.  When I started having problems with Comcast, the Netgear router would just wig out, and I had to reboot it all the time - like once or twice a day."  I hadn't had that problem yet, but it did give me pause.

 

There was no problem through the spring and summer.  But this fall, the problems started to mount.  The Internet was having a real hard time staying on for more than a day; it seemed I was constantly rebooting both router and modem.  And I started to notice that the modem - which was a rental deal from Comcast that I got about 5 years ago - was running HOT.  When it got that way, it wouldn't connect to the Internet at all, and I generally had to leave it unplugged for a time until it cooled down and then would connect again.  So, I reasoned, my modem was pretty well shot, and some of the problems I had earlier that year might have been pre-onset modem failure, or something.  Again, did some quick research (because when your network is going down, you just want it up again - fast!), and purchased a Motorola SURFboard cable modem ($80 at BestBuy).  Had a bit of a time with Comcast.  First, it seems that as soon as I unplugged my old modem and installed the new modem, Comcast's network went down.  A call to customer service basically went, "Well, there's an outage in your area, so we can't really doing anything about it."  So, I waited about half a day, and then tried and failed to hook the Motorola modem up.  I called them back because, it seems, you have to register the modem with them.  Guy was nice enough on the phone, got the new modem registered, removed my $3 a month charge for modem rental (which over the life of the modem was something like $144-$180, or about twice what the new one was worth), and so I was pretty content.

 

So there I was with basically brand new kit: Motorola cable modem, Netgear router, and Netgear plug adapters.  And it seemed to all work pretty well - for about a month.  And then things start to degrade ... again.  The past three weeks, I had been resetting the modem and router every day.  I actually bought another plug adapter to hardwire my computer, the TiVo, and my wife's computer - because it seems to work a little better hardwired than wireless.  But I'm thinking, this is just wrong.  This is a new modem and a new router - at least one of these things should be working.  When I looked on the modem, all the lights seemed to be bllinking happily enough; ditto for the router.  But, see, I suspected the router because of what my father-in-law said.  So the next time it went out and I needed to reboot the system, I just rebooted the Netgear router.  Presto - thing works like a charm; until the next day, when I have to reboot the router again.  At this point I was getting pretty tired of constantly rebooting a newish router, but also of my wife, every morning, yelling down the stairs - "The Internet's out again!"  I actually went out and bought a new Linksys router about ten days ago, but hadn't installed it yet.

 

Friday into Saturday was the last straw.  Came home to find no Internet, but this time I couldn't get it back on - even with rebooting modem and router.  Called Comcast Saturday to complain and found out there was another outage in the area.  Internet came back around 3:00pm, but I actually had them come out to take a look at things on Sunday.  They, of course, claim nothing was wrong and that I was getting an excellent signal both inside and outside the house.  But since that time, even with the Netgear router, the Intenet has remained on the whole time.

 

Nevertheless, for reasons I won't mention, I decided to replace the Netgear router with the Linksys.  I felt pretty foolish at the time - I had what was now a fully functioning router, even though I had suspicions about it and Comcast.  But forge ahead I did.

 

Now, that was a rather circuituitous route to get down to bottom line:  Linksys router = Nice. 

 

I had the whole network back up and running within half an hour.  Ran into a couple of snags (either I managed to set the modem to standby, or unhooking the wires caused it to go to standby), but the software on the Linksys is a very nice feature.  Helped get around the problem and then helped re-establish the connections to the rest of my network (my laptop, the TiVo, my N800....).  What's more, there is a very nice network visualization that will help with troubleshooting network problems.  Plus, I had always been happy with my old Linksys, so....

 

We'll see how this set up goes.  At least now I can be reasonable sure the next time something goes up that it's Comcast....

*- A note on this.  I noticed that there were a hell of a lot of router alternatives out there.  Linksys has a SpeedBoost model which gives you "twice the speed" of this model - but still only is rated at 54Mbps over an 802.11g connection.  802.11n gives you speeds "up to 12 times faster."  But, like with most electronics, that's simply overkill.  Check out this site; cable modem speeds, while faster than DSL, are merely 1.0Mbps.  Compared with that, even the old 802.11b wireless connections are 10 times faster than your connection to the Internet.  What most people want to do with a router is split up their Internet connection to multiple computers and devices.  Faster wireless speeds will help you if you are streaming music and video between your network devices, but it's not going to help you get a faster Internet connection.  What's more, they cost a hell of a lot more.  The model I bought is $50.  The SpeedBoost model is regularly $90!  The newest wireless N device from Linksys? $120.  The wireless N with all the bells and whistles? $280!!! 

 

Unless you are planning to do some heavy file sharing between devices on your network, go with a plain old, cheap 802.11g device - at 54 times your Internet connection speed, it'll be okay.