best wireless steup for adsl

[cougarslam]

looking to get a wireless setup for my adsl max connection

it will have 3 x pcs running games, p2p and genral web browsing

house is quite old so thick walls

currently looking at the netgear dg834pn router and wpn311 cards but their seems to be constant bad reviews of the cards.

I want the best wireless setup max budget on setup overall about £200 would like to spend less though.

[EtheAv8r]

I have a NetGear DG834PN and have had for about 6 months - I am VERY please with it, using both 'old' PC card and 'new' PC cards. USB wireless adapters are generally naff, but I have found the PC Cards to be OK personally.

Previously I had a NetGear DG834G for about 2 1/2 years and that was OK - only problem was overheating in Summer when stood horisontally on it's feet.... cured by standing on end - now they come with stands to do that as 'normal'.

[TheVoice]

I've got a DG834PN too - had it for about a month and a half. So far soo good. I'm connected to it with my notebook wirelessly, only had to reconnect to it maybe 2 or 3 times at the most.

The only other issue I've noticed is that, at 1am everyday without fail, my MSN gets dropped and has to reconnect. It has something to do with the router because I've seen reports of it occuring on other Netgear routers too, but I don't know why it's happening. It's only a tiny annoyance really, it doesn't cause any problems.

[geezerone]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but would a wireless access point connected to a wired ADSL router be a more secure option?

[TheVoice]

Doubt it - as long as you're using proper encryption (preferably WPA), and you set the SSID to something that isn't easily guessed, you're as safe as you're ever going to be (without using Radius servers and other such complicated stuff).

[geezerone]

Can be easily switched off though when wireless not in use and still allows wired connections to work.

[aidanjt]

I kinda agree, a WAP is a good idea in terms of real networking. It allows for logical and physical medium seperation.

[TheVoice]

Can be easily switched off though when wireless not in use and still allows wired connections to work.

True, depends if that's a benefit to you. The Netgear routers have a button on their interface that lets you turn wireless on and off. Obviously more difficult than just switching off the separate WAP, but it's still not difficult.