Network type questions- need help!

[sophia jane]

So, I'm about to get my laptop (in a week or two)- a MacBook. Yay me! In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out what we need to do the whole wireless thing, and I'm more than a little confused. Right now, we have one computer hooked up to a DSL modem. In the next few weeks, we'll also have a laptop and an Xbox 360 that we'll want to have online. So...I've been thinking a wireless router is the way to go, but I have no clue really. Any experts on this kind of thing who can tell me what I'll need, what brands are good, how to determine compatibility, etc? I'm a little concerned about how well my current modem is going to perform with a router (it's oldish), so I've been toying with switching to broadband thru my cable company. Anway- HELP!

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

Yep, you need a wireless router. We've got broadband through our cable company. Originally, we had our own modem, but it was one of the older ones and got real finicky about staying online. We upgraded to a newer modem. Everything (including our vonage phone system) is plugged into our router, and we run two laptops off of it. I would think that would be all you would need, but I'm not sure if Macs need anything different.

Our router is a Linksys. It's run just fine. I think Belkin and D-Link? are the other main brands.

 

[rgraham666]

sj? There will be a 'Help' item in the top of the menu on your Finder screen.

You should be able to find anything you need to know there.

 

[impressive]

Our router is a Linksys. It's run just fine. I think Belkin and D-Link? are the other main brands.

Our router is D-Link. No problems with it.

 

[sophia jane]

sj? There will be a 'Help' item in the top of the menu on your Finder screen.

You should be able to find anything you need to know there.

Huh? Do you mean when I get the apple? Or somewhere else that I should know about? I swear, this wireless stuff is the only computer thing that confuses me and I hate feeling stupid!

 

[TE999]

Our router is D-Link. No problems with it.

Same here.

I have a tower and a laptop linked to it, no problems. Just follow the prompts on the router's start-up disc and you should be fine.

I'm hooked up to a DSL modem, but it's not that much better than dial-up. Our phone lines are ancient and I can't even get the fastest DSL!

I would love cable, but it's not here yet.

Get it if you can, it's so much faster.

 

[rgraham666]

Huh? Do you mean when I get the apple? Or somewhere else that I should know about? I swear, this wireless stuff is the only computer thing that confuses me and I hate feeling stupid!

Oop. Sorry, sj.

Yes, that help feature is on the Mac.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Yesssssssssssssssssss D-Link is the way to go. Net Gear and most of the others are either crap or hard to set up. I've done a couple of wireless networks with D-Link and never had a problem.

One thing nobody mentioned. If you are going to network, I see you are on a DSL. That's good. I have a commercial DSL so I don't share bandwidth with anyone. I'm running at around 140 mbps. Every machine you add to the network will divid you bandwidth. A typical standard DSL will run about 100 Mbps. Each computer will take 1/2 of that. If you are running the XBox too then the bandwidth is divided in 1/3rds. That will get you down into the dial up speeds. You may have to upgrade to Cable.

 

[sophia jane]

Yesssssssssssssssssss D-Link is the way to go. Net Gear and most of the others are either crap or hard to set up. I've done a couple of wireless networks with D-Link and never had a problem.

One thing nobody mentioned. If you are going to network, I see you are on a DSL. That's good. I have a commercial DSL so I don't share bandwidth with anyone. I'm running at around 140 mbps. Every machine you add to the network will divid you bandwidth. A typical standard DSL will run about 100 Mbps. Each computer will take 1/2 of that. If you are running the XBox too then the bandwidth is divided in 1/3rds. That will get you down into the dial up speeds. You may have to upgrade to Cable.

So, a question about bandwidth- is that just going to be affected when one of those things is being used? Or will it be reduced all the time? Because, for example, I know the xbox won't be online very often.

 

[Weird Harold]

So, a question about bandwidth- is that just going to be affected when one of those things is being used? Or will it be reduced all the time? Because, for example, I know the xbox won't be online very often.

Bandwidth should be reduced slightly for every device connected and only be degraded to the full fraction when they're all active simultaneously.

The amount of information that can pass through the modem is constant, it's just how many ways the information has to be split up that is going to make a difference.

The effects can be seen on a single machine by comparing the download times for a single file when you're just waiting for the file to download against that same file download while you continue to browse or download other files at the same time -- it doesn't matter if the multiple windows using the information are on the same machine or multiple machines, the more different requests for information that are being processed, the more the bandwidth is divided between them.