[oclug] Wireless and other network questions

[Kevin Everets]

On Mon, Sep 12, 2005 at 02:05:02PM -0400, mlist at safenet-inc.com wrote:

> One thing that's bothered me about the D-Links (I've got a DI704 and a
> DI704P)is that I've often had them stop working and need to be re-set --
> this despite using a good surge suppressor.  So, I wonder if there's
> something more reliable/robust that I can purchase, that isn't getting into
> the industrial price ranges. It only takes a few seconds to stop and start
> the box, but when I move everything (except me) to the basement, it will be
> an annoying trip each time).
> 
> Some people rave about LinkSys, while others have switched from LinkSys to
> D-Link, so I figure that they are both on the low side of the quality curve
> -- not bad, mind you, but I could find better.   Given that the small D-Link
> and LinkSys units tend to be in the under-$100 range, I could go two or
> three times that price-point if I thought I was getting something that will
> "just work" from the moment I plug it into my APC UPS until I get sick of
> looking at it ten years from now.  :-)

I used to use a D-Link DI704P, and it was no end of headaches
(constantly needing resetting, sent back to D-Link and got a
replacement which had different resetting problems than the previous).
I ended up replacing it with a Linksys WRT54g which I put openwrt on
so I now have a nice embedded Linux box doing the routing and wireless
connection.  I recommend getting one of those, as it has been much
more reliable (haven't had to reset it yet), and they're still fairly
inexpensive (can be gotten on sale for $55 or so).

> Also, [if I've still got your attention] I've got Magma residential ADSL,
> using a modem that I bought from them in 1999. D'ya suppose I should be
> looking for a modem upgrade by now?

Do you have a reason for a modem upgrade?  You can certainly purchase
third party modems and use them (though there are a few different
standards, most recent modems should support them all).  If you're
using a modem from 1999, you should be fine with most modems you can
buy today.

> Yes [again], I know some of you will wonder why I don't switch to Rogers and
> get faster cable-modem speeds.  Mostly it's a matter of cost. We have
> rabbit-ear antennae on our TVs. We've never managed to justify getting cable
> for the amount of television that we watch, so I would not be enjoying any
> bundled pricing.

I can't justify getting cable, either.  In addition to that, though,
there's also the extra restrictions that Rogers places on your usage
(excessive port blocking, etc).  Also, cable modem speeds don't seem
any faster than DSL speeds these days; they both advertise a maximum
of 5 Mbps down, 800 kbps up.  According to the speed tests at
http://www.dslreports.com/archive, Rogers gets an average of 3162/512
and Magma gets 3179/562 so they're really quite comparable.

Kevin.