[neophilia]

Wow what a vague topic. Ok, here's my dilemma: I have a TiVo and a Playstation 2 (and eventually a HTPC) I'd like to get online in my family room. My cable modem and computers are all in my office, way too far to run an ethernet cable to the other room.

So the question is, what's the best way to hook all this up wirelessly? Can I buy 2 wireless routers and have one connected to the computers and cable modem while the other bridges the cable connection wirelessly to the TiVo and PS2? Or is this a recipe for disaster?

Basically, I'd like to avoid buying 2-3 wireless adapters (1 for TiVo, 1 for PS2, one for future PC) and just plug those into a 'wired' line..

Bit of a newb here.. Help?

Thanks!
-peter

[John Strung]

Put a wireless router in the ofice and a wireless-to-ethernet bridge (like the LinkSys WET11 or WET54g, or similar D-Link products) in the family room.

Uplink the WET11 to a hub or switch and plug all the devices in the family room into the hub. The WET11 will bridge the wired LAN in the familty room to the Wireless Router and wired LAN in the office.

[neophilia]

Originally posted by John Strung:
Put a wireless router in the ofice and a wireless-to-ethernet bridge (like the LinkSys WET11 or WET54g, or similar D-Link products) in the family room.

Uplink the WET11 to a hub or switch and plug all the devices in the family room into the hub. The WET11 will bridge the wired LAN in the familty room to the Wireless Router and wired LAN in the office.

Thanks for the quick reply.

So is a dedicated wireless bridge the only way to go? A search on newegg.com shows the WET11 running $80 which seems absolutely absurd as the 802.11g Linksys router is also about $80.. which raises another long-standing question of mine, why the heck is the Linksys 802.11b WAP the same price as their 802.11b router?
-peter

[John Strung]

That is a mystery I have never been able to figure out. Seems like the router part is free.

[si_lance]

I have a theory on this...
wireless routers are for new people and they often price war among the big players (Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, etc.), but the WAPs and Bridges are for people who already have either a router or a wireless router so they try to get away with trying to screw them (or to be politically correct recoup their losses).

p.s. if there is a PC near the Tivo/PS2 you can use it as a bridge by using "connection sharing". You could get a wireless USB nic to connect to the wireless router from the PC, and then use the PC's cat5 nic to connect to a hub for the PS2 and Tivo, but of course this PC would have to be on for the Tivo/PS2 to have connectivity. This is the el-cheapo way of doing it sort of. A new computer costs more than a wireless bridge, but if it's there why not use it?