The time has come to finally get your computer away from your desk, or that wireless router that your cousin hooked you up with has finally given up the ghost. Â Have no fear, Joey is here. Â Below are a few scenarios that should cover most users.
The Hardware.
I want to plug it in and be done.
Hands down, no discussion required, buy an Apple Airport Express. Â The only downside is that there is no ethernet switch. Â In other words, you can only connect wirelessly as there is only one port on the back. Â Another cool ability of the express is to connect a USB printer to the device, which allows for wireless printing. Â Another awesome use for the express is turning ethernet hotel/friends house connections into wifi for you and your more connected buddies.
I have more advanced needs than above but want easy.
What the Airport Express lacks in ports and additional features, the Airport Extreme more than makes up for. Â The biggest downside to the extreme is its cost and physical size. Â However, if you want to be able to share a hard drive easily, and a printer, and plug in a bunch of computers and also have a guest network, well, the Extreme is for you.
I have advanced needs and want to save money.
The following two are routers that I have close relationships with (I own them both). Â What the apple options lack in low price, these two make up for. Â The biggest down to these two is that they are not nearly as user friendly as the apple options. Â However, for the average user, with a little bit of learning and a cup of coffee, they are more than viable options.
The Settings.
To encrypt or not to encrypt. Â This is actually becoming a tougher question, and I have a solution for you. Â The original school of thought was whether or not you wanted to share your network with friends who were visiting or neighbors, yeah, who doesn’t? Â Well, let me pose a hypothetical to you. Â What if your neighbor gets caught downloading some form of illegal content on your connection, who is liable? Â I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to find out. Â What if you are paying for a 10mb/sec connection so you and your kids can have really fast internet, and then people start parking their car in front of your house, so they can have free internet? Â Oh, and by the way did I mention that they are massively downloading and now your speed has dropped.
The above makes a clear argument for strongly password protecting your network doesn’t it? Â Unfortunately nothing in life is black and white.
How about when a friend, or your kids friends come over and want to play PSP, DSi, Wii, or use an ipod/iPhone without using their data connection? Â You would need to give them the coveted password.
So are you ready for compromise?
Make the password something reasonable, that you use for NOTHING ELSE. Â Then take a sticky note, and write the password on it, and put it in a place that guests can get to, like the refrigerator. Â Essentially your are granting permission from those who are allowed into your house.
As usual, if you have more questions/scenarios, hit the comments or the contact button above.