3-Com Wireless Router Package £29.91 at Staples

dc

AFAIK DSL is another (i.e.the correct?) name for a cable router, i.e. not asynchronous.

cheeky

Just FYI - I have had this model router and a 3Com PCMCIA card for 18 months. On win2K, the pcmcia driver pack V3 never worked so had to go back to V2, lack of WPA support (iirc) so couldnt use my palm as thats WPA/open only. I have now moved to XP pro and again V3 is flakey (have to stop/start the wifi) on reboot/unhibernate.

Finally the router is now having issues (tried 3 laptops), keeps dropping the signal and reconnecting. Can be fine for ages, or knackered for ages...

Will pop in to Staples tom though to see if they have any to replace

custard80

KPH thanks for all the advice. I got the thing home to find it was second hand, missing the usb dongle and the power supply was shot.
Got it up and running on a spare power supply and did the first couple of steps but then couldn't log back in.
Gave up and took it back due to all the problems.
Picked up the BT voyager 2100 for £9.91.
Would the same principles apply with this adsl modem/router?

Still got the netgear WGR614v6 but this does not come highly recomend for the nintendo ds, which is what i want it for mainly.

Will try again tomorrow to get one going. The bt one first as it's only a tenner!

bsd_3

managed to get hold of the router on its own (not the package) at the Tottenham store. They also had a Philips unit of identical specification. Both were 29-91. Still a couple of the Philips units left.

I asked the store to check if any stock of 382219 (3-Com ADSL2/2+ wireless router 11g with PCMCIA and USB wireless adaptords) was available. Various stores still have several units - so if you really want one, then pop into a local Staples and ask the people behind the counter to do a stock check for other stores. I have a couple of units reserved at Slogh to pick up tomorrow!

KPH_2

Custard80:

Sounds like Staples has given you a returned unit. The advice I gave you to configure the router into an AP almost certainly applies to your 2100. Good luck!

Cheers - Kev

Domski

i paid £49-99 for the adsl router, usb dongle and pcmcia card
about a month ago at staples.

£15 for usb dongle and £20 for pcmcia card alone
so a very good deal.

as mentioned before, 3com excellent customer services
recently replaced a broken router 2 years old, free of charge!

forgot to mention i think 3com invented ethernet didn't they? lol

gjchester

Domski wrote:

forgot to mention i think 3com invented ethernet didn't they? lol

Not quite, like most computing things today it was based on / inspired by stuff done at Xerox in Paco Alto Research Centre (PARC). The bloke who first devised it went to to start 3com though.

Also the Laser Printer, and computer operating systems as we know them came out of there too. The so called WIMP interface of Windows ( Windows, Icons, Mouse, Pointer ) was pioneered there.

Domski

i knew i'd read that somewhere lol

gonna phone staples, see whats in stock monday

System

Totoriko wrote:

What do you mean? You want Cable or ADSL or both?
If you want both, you need 2 phone lines

They are doing a Philips wireless router that ive used with my cable modem.

It was just under £20, so not a bad deal and easy to configure!

DSL is basically the same as ADSL, the A stands for asymmetrical. That just means the upload and download speeds are not the same. In DSL, they are the same.

They have a Philips version of the above with a ADSL modem for about £30

tin

dc wrote:

AFAIK DSL is another (i.e.the correct?) name for a cable router, i.e. not asynchronous.

NAY! DSL is the name for the technology used to stick broadband over telephone wires. Cable modems use completely different technology, based AFAIK on DOCSIS, although I think that's a standard rather than the name of the technology.

The important bit is that ADSL devices have the hardware in there that talks over the line coming into your house (the "modem" bit, if you like), whereas with Cable, NTL/Telewest give you the "modem" either in the set top box, or seperately, then present the broadband to you on an ethernet port.

So an ADSL router has a socket for your phone line and does the modem bit for you, while a Cable router has a socket for your ethernet that's on the Cable Modem you already have.

And yeah, I have seen it described COMPLETELY wrongly by some retailers. There was a grabbit I think on here, that had a Cable modem that was described as ADSL (cable only) (which is a contradiction) but with a model number of an ADSL modem. I presume lots of people got not quite what they wanted