[Gamoe]

Okay. I've got an DSL connection and will have two Macs. Right now, its working fine with 1 Mac, but when the new Mac comes home, I'll want to share the connection. I have an 802.11b PCI card for my old Mac (a Power Mac 8600).

I will be getting an eMac. I will have the router physically next to the eMac, so I will want to simply use a cable to connect the eMac, but my 8600 will then be in another room.

I would like an 802.11g router, in case I later get another Airport Extreme compatible Mac, but it's not necessary. I'm looking for something relatively low cost (unlike Apple's Airport base station).

Anybody have any suggestions or experience to share?

[ghporter]

Linksys, D-Link, SMC, Netgear, to name a few, all produce wireless routers that work fine. Keep your eye on sales prices, because there are promotions going on all the time. Also, online stores often give great deals.

At Buy.com right now you can get (with free shipping):
Linksys BEFW11S4 $79.99
SMC SMC7004VWBR $64.79
Netgear MR814 $68.99 (BEFORE $20 rebate)

Most of the time I advise people to go with products like the Linksys and SMC, which have two antennas, because the antenna arrangement gives them a slight performance edge over single antenna products like the Netgear box. But for less than $50, go with Netgear!

All of these products use your browser for setup, so it doesn't matter what platform you use them with. All are easy to set up (with the possible exception of the wireless encryption keys), and all WILL work with any AirPort (11Mbps) equipment.

[John Strung]

Make sure your 802.11b PCI card has Mac drivers.

[Gamoe]

So, I can use any of these to make a wired connection to my eMac too, right? Also, will I need my current DSL "modem" or will this replace it as well?

I've never done any networking like this (did localtalk for a while!), and never wireless, yet.

[ghporter]

The DSL modem is just that-a modem. The DSL signal must be converted to ethernet before you can use it. While some "DSL modems" are actually more than that, don't bet on yours being anything but a modem unless it specifically says so in its documentation. If the ISP didn't give you any documentation, just plug into it and don't even worry about what's going on in that box.

You connect this way:
DSL phone line --> DSL Modem
DSL Modem ethernet --> router WAN
router LAN --> eMac
router LAN --> etc.
router wireless --> iBook
router wireless --> etc.

(It's difficult to do ASCII art on this forum, sorry.)

[Gamoe]

But for less than $50, go with Netgear!

Thanks GHPorter, I'm posting from my new eMac, and I've already ordered one from Buy.com!

[l008com]

Originally posted by Gabriel Morales:
Thanks GHPorter, I'm posting from my new eMac, and I've already ordered one from Buy.com!

I ordered the Linksys Wireless B to connect a bunch of wired macs and soon a wireless. But the thing was total junk, It was a pain in the ass to get computer to get online, and if you reboot one, they'd all get booted off. That router was junk and I'm in the process of returning it right now. But from what i can tell i'm the only one to ever have a problem with a linksys product so whatever

[ghporter]

Originally posted by l008com:
I ordered the Linksys Wireless B to connect a bunch of wired macs and soon a wireless. But the thing was total junk, It was a pain in the ass to get computer to get online, and if you reboot one, they'd all get booted off. That router was junk and I'm in the process of returning it right now. But from what i can tell i'm the only one to ever have a problem with a linksys product so whatever

No, you're by no means the only customer to have problems with a Linksys produce, particularly their wireless router. On the other hand, Linksys has the biggest market share for home/small office networking equipment in the US, so it's likely that their product failure rate is no worse than anyone else's-they just have more products in the hands of consumers, so that fairly low percentage of failures translates into a noticable number of bad boxes.

Linksys' tech suppport by phone is often a cause for "concern," if not just plain anger. They make very nice products-I have several-but unless you have some sort of serious on-hand tech support to diagnose a problem so you can walk the telephone tech through enough to get your problem elevated, you spend a lot of time on the phone with someone that seems to have your Aunt Gladys' understanding of the hardware.

[Gamoe]

Received the wireless router today. With a little trouble I set it up to work with my eMac.

Was having trouble with the Wireless PC Card in my 8600. It seems it was caused by interference. But, everything's working fine now!

[morgan]

Originally posted by l008com:
I ordered the Linksys Wireless B to connect a bunch of wired macs and soon a wireless. But the thing was total junk, It was a pain in the ass to get computer to get online, and if you reboot one, they'd all get booted off. That router was junk and I'm in the process of returning it right now. But from what i can tell i'm the only one to ever have a problem with a linksys product so whatever

Yeah, I'm with you. I just bought mine last weekend and I think I'm going to return it. I've got my problem narrowed down to this: my desktop mac wired works fine and as it should. But when I use my powerbook via wireless, when I wake it from sleep it seems to then lock out the whole router. Neither machine can ping it or get out. I have to reset the router and then everything works fine. What a pain in the butt. So it's probably going back and I'll try the dlink or SMC next.

[ghporter]

morgan,

The issue you're having isn't at all connected with the wireless router. It's because your computer goes to sleep-and the AirPort card gets amnesia. There are several ways to address this problem, with the simplest being to just disconnect from the network, wait a minute, and reconnect to the network.