Arch Linux

Rev. Nathan

Member

From: West Hills, Los Angeles, Calif

Registered: 2006-02-21

Posts: 35

Website

Wireless Internet

Howdy-doo! So I'm prepping for the Nintendo Wii. In more recent years, I have a router that I had my PC and my PS2 hooked up with... at 10MB/ps (I was every old). I'd get so frustrated with it's slowness, esspecially with BitTorrent or some online games for PS2, I'd disconnect it and go manual.

Here's what I want to do, and I'm sure it's simple and easy to answer: I want to keep my computer wire-routed, at a speed that won't show me any slowdown (I'm guessing 100MBp/s), and a secure wireless that will be speedy for my Wii, which will be about 10-20 feet away, depending on what TV it will be at. One TV is divided between a wall... don't know if a lower-end connection will even be phased by this.

I'm wondering what router to get, at a good price (I can shop at Fry's, Best Buy... NewEgg I can do and just hold out a bit), and Arch own or endorse so I can get answers if problems come up.

Also, IIRC, I can secure my wireless connection through a browser (like http://127.127.108.1/ or something), yes? I want to make sure any lousy don't try an' steal my connection.

Thanks dudes! Hope to see some of you guys on Wii!

PS - Problably going to get a DS Lite, too. Does that wireless dongle for DS work for Linux?

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Each another's audience, Outside the gilded cage."

iphitus

Forum Fellow

From: Melbourne, Australia

Registered: 2004-10-09

Posts: 4,927

Re: Wireless Internet

Linksys WRT54GL

That's what I have, it's reliable, stable and it's performance has been faultless. There's also a great modding community around it, so custom linux firmwares galore. I'm running dd-wrt on mine.

Don't get:
Belkins: These tend to just 'stop working' after a while. A friend of mine's just died, and my old one just randomly started rejecting connections.
D-Links: Unstable, unreliable. Need frequent reboots. My neighbours got one, had repeated stability problems. Three of my friends have had the same stability and reliabilty issues, with different models, 2 wireless routers, and a wired adsl router.
WRT54G (v5,6): Heard that this one can have problems too, and if you choose to put a custom firmware on it, it's just trouble. Get the WRT54GL. 

resuccess1: Wireless isn't obsolete. Some people can't run wired connections through their home. Others can't be bothered, and it's far more convenient to have wireless throughout the house than to run wires and restrained to a handful of points.

How often do you actually max out your 100mb/s wired connection? I'll bet, not very often at all. And most people don't max it out, so wireless is just as fast as a cable. Wireless is still faster than all the consumer level internet access out there.

James

Misfit138

Misfit Emeritus

From: USA

Registered: 2006-11-27

Posts: 4,189

Re: Wireless Internet

If 10Mb/s is too slow for you, you might need to take a tranquilizer :shock: (unless you are frequently swapping gigs and gigs of video files across a network or something.)

What you seem to be describing is a LATENCY issue, (ping) NOTa bandwidth issue. Your ping will be affected by the overall usage of your connection, no matter how much bandwidth you have. High pings (above say, 100ms) will dramatically affect online gaming.
There might be a way for you to divert preference to a router port, so that one computer or console will have preference over the others, but I don't know how to do that.

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kamagurka

Member

From: Munich, Germany

Registered: 2006-02-20

Posts: 150

Re: Wireless Internet

Do what iphitus said and slap dd-wrt on a linksys router. You get a router that is worth a couple hundred bucks for about eighty (I think). Wireless is flawless and it even has QoS. No fiddling with bittorrent anymore when you want to game.

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I always roll 20s on my disbelieve checks.
You better believe it.

QuimaxW

Member

From: Papua New Guinea

Registered: 2006-12-03

Posts: 228

Website

Re: Wireless Internet

I also struggled with latency on my old router, my favorite to date is my Buffalo Tech 54GS.  $70 at BestBuy.

The linksys with dd-wrt is a good option, just depends on how much work you want to put into it.

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"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." -Jim Elliot

kamagurka

Member

From: Munich, Germany

Registered: 2006-02-20

Posts: 150

Re: Wireless Internet

I also struggled with latency on my old router, my favorite to date is my Buffalo Tech 54GS.  $70 at BestBuy.

The linksys with dd-wrt is a good option, just depends on how much work you want to put into it.

I was actually surprised how little work setting up dd-wrt was. You basically just update the firmware and then you go through the (very comfortable) html setup interface. If you don't want to get your hands dirty in the commandline, you don't have to. It easier to setup than most commercial routers I've used, and it can do a hell of a lot more. I mean, when was the last time you saw a router that can do QoS for 80bucks or less?

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I always roll 20s on my disbelieve checks.
You better believe it.