It was me Dave!!! I switched 3-4 months ago, got the first month free and 41.95 a month after that (instead of 44.95 on RR). Free everything (modem, install, etc.)
Sonny, Amazon.com is selling the Linksys wireless routers (802.11b) for I'm picking one up right now!$75.99 That's $20 cheaper than retail. I have yet to see a good deal on a wireless PCI card though.
Wow, 79.99 is awesome. Buy.com is 89.99 with a 10$ rebate, so they are the same eventually. Also the PCMCIA card is only 49.99 at Amazon, buy.com has it for 59.99 with a 10$ rebate (same price). I think I will go with Amazon though, I have a 5$ coupon to use. Let me know if you want the coupon....
One more thing... get a quality Wireless NIC. Orinoco NICS seem to get nice reviews. The reason you want a good nic is it can significantly enhance (or detract) from the range you get from your router. Better nics are (apparently) more powerful.
I have a LINKSYS wireless router at my office and a SMC wireless router at home. Both work good and have never had problems. The key is, watch how many walls are between the computer and the router. More so than distance, walls kill the signal. Put it in a central location with the least amount of walls between the router and the computer. Also, I use both 900mghz phones and 2.4ghz phones and have never had a problem with interference. Keep in mind that all wirless routers only transmit at 11mbps max (i might be wrong on this). However, thats usually plenty given the fact that DSL and broadband transmit rates are less than that (unless its a T1).
Go with 802.11b. The next generation (802.11g I think) is going to be compatible with 11b. Additionally, 802.11b is much more popular, so when people come over they most likely will have a 802.11b compatible card. Plus, like you said, it is a lot cheaper.
A T-1 is only about 1.5mbps, about the same as DSL. A cable modem is usually around 2mbps or higher. But you are right, 11mbps should be fast enough for just about anything.
I didnt realize a T 1 was that slow. THats alot of money to pay. DoD had a point though, that I did not see until after I posted. If you do alot of transferring of files between computers, then 11mbps is a pain, especially with large media. I wonder when or if they will ever have a 100mbps wireless router.
Well, according to review sites (and NOT personal experience) people seemed to get significantly more range with Orinoco cards over Linksys cards. However, I also believe that newer Linksys cards are supposed to be better then older ones. How can you tell a newer one? Not sure... I use a Dell TrueMobile card which is a re-badged Orinoco card. Here are some review links from C-Net: Linksys WPC11 Lucent Orinoco Gold My only other advice would be to treat the reviews as non-scientific as someone could have problems that have nothing to do with the card but will blame the card (instead of themselves) and others could have good experiences based on nothing but luck. IOW, YMMV.
The price has sure dropped seemingly fast. It wasn't that long ago that the 802.11b Linksys routers ran $200 or more. I've been toying with setting up a wireless network myself. I have two desktops in different rooms, and I'd like to share the DSL connection, but I don't like the idea of running cable all the way across the apartment (and plus, if I do ever end up buying a laptop, I'd want wireless connectivity so I would have to walk all the way over to the desk to be on the internet, etc).
Yeah, the T1's are expensive, but they offer a full 1.5mbps pipe up and down. The DSL and cable modem only get 1.5mbps+ down, not up, they are usually capped at 384kbps. I plan on keeping my desktops in one area and using a switch to connect them, only using wireless for the laptop.
