[Tolly]

i will be setting up a wireless network in my house/apartment when i go back to school in a few weeks. i'll be using a linksys WRT54GS, and i was wondering if someone could give me some tips/feeback regarding singal strength. the house is split between into two apartments on two different floors, and there will be 8 of us total who will be connecting to the internet. if possible, i'd like us all to be able to connect to one network between our macs and pcs. does this router have a good range or am i going to have to get some sort of signal expander? and is there any limit to how many computers can be connected at one time?

also, i would like to able to stream music through a stereo receiver in the house so i think i will also be purchasing aiport express. i know that the airport express alone won't be strong enough to support the whole house, but would an extreme base station work just as well as the WRT54GS?

[n8236]

I highly suggest you get routers which are Pre-N because they usually come w/ mutliple antennas and cover a HUGE area w/ very little if any blocked spots.

I currently share my Pre-N Belkin w/ the apartment next door and we both have really good reception. While the router is in my apartment w/ me being approx. 20 ft from the router, her reception from the two furthest points of our apts is at least 2 bars weaker. But if you put the router at a central area and point the antennas correctly, you all will be fine.

If you get a G-router, i think some of them might have problems. And w/ 8 ppl, chances are that the router might jam if there is a lot of traffic, so make sure you get a good quality one. Do some research on it. Don't skimp out and get a cheap one, 8 ppl sharing is a lot lol.

[chefpastry]

I have yet to read any possitive reviews of any Pre-N routers.

If you do decide to go with the Linksys router and reception is weak, you can always experiment with different antennas and/or install third party firmware that will give you many more settings including the ability to adjust Xmit Power of the antenna to possibly help increase range.

One word of warning, do not purchase the latest version of the Linksys WRT54G router as tests have proven it to be pure garbage. The WRT54GL is much better and to my knowledge, the WRT54GS is, as well.

[ghporter]

The problem with Pre-N devices is that they're based on a guess by the manufacturer about what will be in the N standard. And the current N draft is VERY preliminary, so it's really no help.

On the other hand, the WRT54GS is PERFECT for third party firmwares that allow you to tweak almost everything about the wireless system, including power out! The GS has more RAM and ROM than other WRT54Gs, so it has more room for more code and thus more functions. Look at LinksysInfo.org for just about every third party firmware there ever was for Linksys devices...