Wireless Internet

[Chas_18]

I am going to IBC this fall and will probly be getting Wireless internet...

Does anyone have it?
Do you Like it?
Would it be worth it?

[Kyle]

Wireless internet is a good thing for those who don't want to be tied up with desktop computers.  I have both at home.  Wired internet for my desktops, and wireless for my laptops.  Here are some pros and cons though of wireless internet to take into consideration.


PROS

- Not held up by wires.
- Easy to install.
- Offers superior performance to wired internet.
- Easy to secure.  I will tell you how to do that lol. 


CONS

-Typically slower then wired networks.
- Suffers from the "Muddle Effect", which means several signals from the same source are received by your router's antenna.  This will affect your reception strength.
- Not as secure as wired internet.  It's quite easy to hack into a wireless internet connection if you know what you are doing.  No I will not tell you how to do it.

[The Purple Fuzzy]

Hi, Kyle! 

I was thinking she meant through a cell phone provider...

[Kyle]

I'm not a big fan of the internet through a cell phone.  I've found it extremely slow and unreliable.  The only thing that runs even fairly well is the Iphone, but it's more computer then cell phone in my opinion.

[The Purple Fuzzy]

My aunt has a little modem (I guess that's what it is) through Alltel that she uses to get wireless internet on her laptop. It is totally portable.  We have such limited high speed internet here, that she decided to go with that.

(Do you know remember me?  I am Chel's mom)

[Kyle]

Of course I do!

I got her graduation invitation in the mail the other day.  It's going to go on my wall with the rest of my stuff from my friends I get heh.

Other thoughts on wireless:

If you get wireless and you do not secure it, be prepared to find a lot of people will take advantage of a now so called "hot spot" and will jump on your network to surf the internet, and who only knows what they do from there.  It's technically illegal to surf off of someone else's network, but then again the act is done so much that it's hardly prosecuted.

Don't let any of this scare you Chas.  I'm curious that if your going to IBC that they would already have their own wireless network established and locked down if your going to be going to school there.

[Brother Dad]

I'm not a big fan of the internet through a cell phone.  I've found it extremely slow and unreliable.  The only thing that runs even fairly well is the Iphone, but it's more computer then cell phone in my opinion.

I think she means with an air card.  Yes I have one and it works fairly well.  They are rather costly.  Mine is 70.00 for unlimited

[Chas_18]

a month?!?!?!?

[Brother Dad]

a month?!?!?!?

Yes each month.  They say 59.05 but then taxes and all.

[Tricia Lea]

We have a wireless router but not sure what we are doing wrong, . My sons laptop will not stay connected to iit. Its like every few min it has to reconnect

[sunlight]

sounds like you have the wrong kind of router... maybe?

[Kyle]

We have a wireless router but not sure what we are doing wrong, . My sons laptop will not stay connected to iit. Its like every few min it has to reconnect

The age of your router is more then likely the culprit of this.  We recently replaced our LinkSys 802.11G router with a Belkin 802.11N because my dad's laptop would not stayed connected to the router, which gave us the constant headache of having to constantly reset the router.  As soon as we hooked the router up and configured it, the laptop picked right up.  The difference is night and day in performance as well.

The router also expands a greater security aspect as well, allowing flawless management of even the most tiniest details.  A side note may be as well that if your router is fairly new, around 2 years old it could be you don't have enough IP's being allowed through your router.  The default number works generally well, it gives you around 10-20 to start with, more then enough for most home users.

[Tricia Lea]

I have a new berklin n router and did the auto configure thing but still have trouble, not sure how to go in and set the other stuff