Advice on a good router for my MAC & PC

[jamie.benning]

Hi,

I am a mac user (don't groan!) and I have NTL Cable Broadband through a cable modem in the Camrbidge area.

I have just bought an XP PC for my wife to work on and so I hope to put both machines on a small home network (cable or wireless, not fussed).

Would you be able to recommend a decent router to enable us to share the NTL Broadband as well as the printer (USB) and files. I am aware that I will have to find a router that will spoof the mac address, but other than that, I need your suggestions.

Thanks in advance.
Jamie

[Nemesis]

Cisco 1605 .... using one myself, should be able to find one relatively cheap ...

[jamie.benning]

I assume that's a joke!

Savastore.com have the CISCO 1605-R priced at £862.91 !

J

[pmd]

I would have said the Linksys BEFW11S4 , because both myself and a mate are seperately using one for the exact setup you have (also in Cambridge ), until last week. See my thread here :

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...ad.php?t=13923

It's been working fine for the last 2 years with zero problems, and I'm not certain yet whether it is the router. My mate's bringing his round this weekend to see if mine has gone kaputt.

They're about £36 from Amazon or dozens of other places. Another friend in Cambridge has recommended the Netgear WGR614 as a possible replacement if required. He's using a wireless Vaio running XP with it.

You shouldn't need to clone the MAC address - I didn't. Just switch the CM off, plug in the router, switch them on and away you go.

[Nemesis]

Originally Posted by jamie.benning

I assume that's a joke!

Savastore.com have the CISCO 1605-R prices at £862.91 !

J

No was serious .... mine cost a LOT less than that ... but the linksys stuff is good too ....

Sorry wasn't meant to come across flippant

[jamie.benning]

No worries mate. I just found one for £60! Bizzare!

Thanks for clarifying.

Originally Posted by jamie.benning

Hi,

I am a mac user (don't groan!)

Wouldn't dream of it. There are a few of us here - stick around!

[Ramrod]

NETGEAR WGR614

[altis]

Will you want to connect at any time to some corporate (your employer's) network? If so then you'll probably need one that supports VPN eg. Netgear FWG114P.

[jamie.benning]

No VPN, just the home network.

Thanks

[SMHarman]

Netgear or Linksys are both good reputable brands. A router should always be hardware independant as it is protocol driven, TCP/IP which is used on all modern harware.

I would probably spend the extra and get a wireless one, that will still have 4 wired ports, this will give you flexibility in the future. As a Mac and probably iTunes user, you could then add an AirPort Express in a month or so and connect your stereo to iTunes wirelessly for example. http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/
(which also sorts your networking and printing needs - see below - just not availible for another few weeks. Could look at the airport extreme)
http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/

Wired Linksys BEFSX41-UK £42
Wireless and Wired WRT54G-UK £53 so £11 for the future flexibility. (what I have)

Also think about one with a USB printserver built in. I imagine you have a printer at home, it will need to be attached and shared from one of the PCs which will need to be on for the other to use it. If you get a router with a print server included that problem goes away.

Netgear Firewall Router With Built In Parallel Print Server And 4 Port 10/100mbps Switch £69.44 inc VAT (not wireless)

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=47104

[Matth]

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=52897 - a dirt-cheap wired router with USB print server ... 82 customer reviews, so how does it stack up?

Well, one near the top says it works with NTL
Another says the print server can drive EIGHT printers - via a USB HUB - which doesn't even need to be a powered bub, as the printers do not draw USB power - some printer models problematic though

[jamie.benning]

Matth,

Thanks for the advice (everyone else too!). That looks like good value!

Anybody have any experience of this particular model?

Jamie

[jamie.benning]

Quick question:

With the Linksys Wireless and Wired WRT54G-UK router, would I be able to use the PC via wireless and the Mac via cable? Or do you have to select one method?

(got outbid on the cisco router!)

[Matth]

It's standard, where a Wireless router has wired ports as well, it generally serves as an access point as well.

So it does broadband to wireless, broadband to wired, and wired to wireless and back, all at the same time - never seen any that don't, and never seen any "Wireless" routers that don't include at least one wired port (you NEED a wired port, just in case you mess up the Wifi security, and need to gain access to the router to resolve it - short of using a factory reset)