Wireless network access point < £20

cpjackso

Buy this through https://www.todayonly.co.uk (Scan's one day offers page) this weekend - and it's priced at only £15.26 - a saving of nearly £5 off the price listed above!

Hope that saves people some cash!

inspector-gadget_4

Thank you. Just ordered One, plus 50 v.cheap DVD+R disks (£5.86 inc VAT for 25!) - Don't forget £7 delivery though.
Inspector-Gadget

knight-on-the-town

A couple of observations.

The 'roll out' of computer technology is interesting.  Its rather like music formats ... vynal, tape, CD, MP3 player and so on... we buy the new format and pay time and again for the music which we have already bought on the previous formats - and record industry have the gaul to whine about downloading.  

Wireless is relatively new technology - its just taking off big style as hardware prices fall like a stone  Two years ago I paid ninety quid just for an ADSL modem - two weeks ago I bought the latest BT wireless package (Modem, router, PCI card, laptop card, splitters etc - on 54g) for the same price!  

If I click on Explorer it takes one second to open the page.  How much faster do I need it to be?  I, like many of suffered WWW (World Wide Wait) for too long.   ADSL broadband was a revelation - This wireless kit is also amazing ... wondering aroung the house with my laptop with not a cable on any description in sight!

But the newest technology is always prices at a premium.  The difference between 54b and 54G is minimal in this context.  So go for this router if you have everything else - BUT buying PC adaptors and Laptop cards seperately to go with it + postage for each can soon rack up the bill.  

I think I can recommend the BT bundle deal (works with any ISP) - which includes everything at ninty quid BUT if you have installation problems its an 0900 premium rate (50p per minute line) and that another way of burning money.  

bilbo_2

hi i have boadband and my son wants it also

thing is i dont want to run loads of wires is this gadget what i need and what would i need for my sons pc to make it work ??

bridiej

Lionking,



The access point needs to be plugged into a router if you want to use it with more than one PC.

So this wont allow me to share my PC broadband connection with my laptop, even though they both have wireless cards??

Now I'm very confused, and concerned have just wasted £27!!!

HELP please....!  ???


UPDATE:

Dont worry, have cancelled the order. My fauly, got confused between an access point and a router!!! DOH!

gavinp

The USR access point allows wireless PCs (each PC needs their own wireless network card) to connect to an existing wired network. It plugs into a normal Ethernet (wired network) connection.

Ethernet connections are provided in ADSL routers and Broadband routers. In addition, these routers provide a service called NAT (network address translation) which allows multiple PCs to use one Internet address.

If one of your PCs has an Ethernet card in it, you could plug the access point directly into the PC and use Microsoft's ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). This works in a similar fashion to a router (using NAT) but the PC with the internet connection needs to be switched on if the other PC wants to connect to the Internet.

If you don't have a router at present, you would need something like these:

For cable broadband (NTL/Telewest etc): http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=2856892576&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=52897

ADSL:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=2856892576&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=48449

It is worth pointing out that if you don't already have a router, you may be able to get a better deal for an "all in one" unit (router and wireless).

Thanks

Gavin

bridiej

Thanks Gavin...

gavinp

Bridiej,

No problem ;D

If you have two wireless cards, do a Google search for ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) as this will work with two PCs both with wireless cards.

The downside of using ICS is that the PC which has the broadband modem needs to be switched on for the second PC to be able to get onto the Internet.

The upside is that it is free.

Thanks

Gavin

bridiej

Hi Gavin

Thanks for your tip - I have already set up an ad hoc network, which seems to work but is incredibly slow, particularly when trying to access My Documents on the main PC from the laptop!!!

I may invest in a broadband router in time, but they are quite expensive and I only use the laptop now and then.

Thanks again though!! ;D

gavinp

Scan are still showing they still have stock of these so worth checking the "Today Only" page over the next few days to see if they discount it again further.

If you have one and are using it with an 802.11b card, switching off the "4x" mode improves the reliability of the network - 4x mode only works with proper 22Mbps 802.11b+ (plus) cards.

It is worthwhile however setting the maximum speed to 22Mbps in the access point web configuration as this will give a speed boost even with normal 802.11b cards.

Thanks

Gavin