Wireless Internet Router for £35 delivered- Can you beat it?

wolfman

Alfie_E wrote:

ADSL is type of DSL - Digital Subscriber Line. The A stands for asymmetric. That just means the utilisation of the line is biased in favour of one direction.

Spot on, and worth people taking note. There are various types of hardware, you can have:

Modem
This is what connects you to the internet. It can come in either ADSL or Cable format.

Router
This merely "routes" information to and from each computer on your network. It's not specific to ADSL or Cable.

Think of it like this:
Internet > Modem > Router > PC

ADSL Router/Modem
This is a router, with an inbuilt ADSL modem. It takes away the hassle of having them as two seperate pieces of hardware. You can still use it just as a router though.

Cable Router/Modem
The same as above, but with a cable modem inbuilt.

Technically speaking there's no such thing as a Cable/DSL router.
1) Cable is not DSL. ADSL is a form of DSL (a technology that works via copper phone lines). Cable is something completely different.
2) If it doesn't have a modem, then it's just a router (forget calling it a Cable/DSL router).

Just be warey as many places with often refer to the above wrongly. If in doubt post on here, there are plenty of people able to help.

albertross_2

This ADSL is a form of DSL argument goes on all the time, and does nothing apart from confuse people who will end up buying the wrong router.

Take it from the manufacturers, they call their own cable/dsl routers guess what cable/dsl.., which means cable or DSL, not cable or ADSL.

http://www.netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/BWirelessRouters/MR814.aspx
http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/detail.jsp?tab=features&pathtype=purchase&sku=3CRWER100-75

It is nothing to do with shops wrongly describing the kit, they are describing what it says on the box.

So I reiterate my earlier point, if you have a BT line, you will need an adsl wireless router, and if you have cable, you will need a cable/dsl wireless router.

If you want to start wasting your money, and time, then by all means go ahead and buy a cable/dsl router for BT lines, and try and get it to work with your usb modem, or talk talk ethernet modem, but I suggest you save yourself a lot of hassle, and spend the extra £10-15 and buy the proper kit in the first place, because all you will end up doing is going back to the shop and swapping it, or selling it on ebay, at a loss.

Wonga

wolfman wrote:

Technically speaking there's no such thing as a Cable/DSL router.
1) Cable is not DSL. ADSL is a form of DSL (a technology that works via copper phone lines). Cable is something completely different.
2) If it doesn't have a modem, then it's just a router (forget calling it a Cable/DSL router).

Just be warey as many places with often refer to the above wrongly. If in doubt post on here, there are plenty of people able to help.

Noooo, this is not true. A cable router may not be specifically for cable (or DSL), but it definately is not just a router. A cable router has a WAN port and LAN port(s), these are bridged networks(different subnet), not simply routed.

For the non techie people out there, that are called as they are generally used, i.e. Cable/DSL Routers.

An ADSL Router is bridged internally (ADSL Modem >> router), a cable router is bridged externally (Cable modem >> router), a router is not bridged.

I hate nit picking but think it is important to ensure that no one buys an ethernet router (saving a few pounds) thinking they are okay as cable routers.

Those that need to ask obviously do not need to know the ins and outs of DSL/ADSL cable Async blah blah etc...
If you are on a BT line, you need the following

ADSL Lines (AOL, Tiscali, BT, Nildram, Pipex, Talk Talk, Orange)
For wireless = ADSL Wireless Router (example)
For wired = ADSL Router (example)


Cable (Telewest, NTL)
For wireless = Cable Wireless Router (example)
For wired = Cable Router (example)

wolfman

albertross wrote:

This ADSL is a form of DSL argument goes on all the time, and doesn't nothing apart from confuse people who will end up buying the wrong router. Take it from the manufacturers, they call their own cable/dsl routers guess what cable/dsl.., which means cable or DSL, not cable or ADSL.

It basically means the router will work with a cable connection or any form of DSL connection. Such a router is typically one with a WAN port (basically a standard ethernet port for which you connect your modem) and a number of lan ports.

You can use such a router with ADSL, although it's more of a hassle (as you mentioned) as you have to buy a seperate modem to plug into it.

Wonga wrote:

Noooo, this is not true. A cable router may not be specifically for cable (or DSL), but it definately is not just a router. A cable router has a WAN port and LAN port(s), these are bridged networks(different subnet), not simply routed.

My point was that "technically speaking", it's not connection specific. A PC could be plugged into the WAN port to provide the internet connection. The router however, is anonymous to what type of phone/cable line is being used. It's more a case of it being setup for use with DSL/Cable than being specific to those connections.

keith234

thanks a lot

flipflopnick

friend of mine blagged a wireless ADSL router out of carphonewarehouse for £25 when they failed to send the USB thingy, at all. Broadband was on, we had a spare USB thingy which worked.

I setup and installed the wireless router and USB wireless network dongle from Talk Talk. Having setup other wireless routers from 3com, Netgear and USR, this one from TAlk Talk was not too difficult. Certainly not as easy as 3com. I have known worse, eg Mercury.

Hot_Vimto_2

Just bought the Buffalo WHR-G54S1 for cable mentioned on the front page for £28.78 delivered via Amazon. That has to be the cheapest around?

bungalowbill

Hi...not sure whether this is the right place to post this, but here goes..

I already have 2 PCs networked via BT wireless router (but connected with wires), so OH can use his laptop anywhere in house. We want to move the PCs now to rooms where there is no BT socket, so presumably need wireless cards from reading this thread. How do I know which wireless cards to get? Do I need 1 for each PC, and are the cards just on a USB?

Any help much appreciated

albertross_2

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2471408&postcount=37

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2471410&postcount=38

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=121274

superscaper

To make a pc wireless it will need a wireless adapter and hence each pc will require it's own adapter. They can be USB (simply plug in) or PCI (a card that goes inside the pc). You may get a better response by posting your own new thread on the forum rather than adding to an existing thread.