Home Wireless Router Does The Job

I'm no "wireless wizard." In fact, I've barely mastered my garage door opener, and TV remote.

For years we've had a home desktop PC with cable service ISP.

Our son (and we) would now benefit from an in-room computer with internet access. We added a new Dell desktop PC and, after some (inconclusive) research and advice, we then purchased a Linksys WRT300-N Wireless Router. This device has four hard wire CAT5 slots and a mini (and very impressive looking I might add) "antenna farm" sticking out the top. Both of our PCs are running Windows XP.

Considerations:
A. A home network allows all home computers to share a single cable (or DSL or other) access to the internet with no additional cost for the service. Peripherals such as printers may also be shared. The sharing is seamless in that one user would not likely know if another user were on-line at the same time.
B. Our son's room abuts the room containing our existing PC and cable connection. Therefore, we could have simplified our network and purchased a wired router and simply run a wire through the wall at the baseboard.
C. Future need for a wireless system is easily seen so we opted to pay the extra for the wireless (about $230 for both the Router and a new N-band USB adaptor for the new PC)now rather than buy a $50 wired router and throw it out in a year.
D. In considering the need to spend an extra $75 for N-Band over and above a G-Band router, we opted for the N-band and the extra expense.... but we are not absolutely sure we need the extra speed. An equivalent G-Band router and adaptor would come in at about $150. The N-Band box reports it as being 4X to 12X the speed of G depending on type of application.

In our use, we find the wireless PC to perform seemingly exactly the same and at the same speed as our wired PC.

Installation: Went very well with one small snag.
Installing the N-Band Router: The instructions are abundantly clear that the software CD MUST BE RUN before tinkering with your system. The CD provides a 10-step installation wizard which ran without problem until step 10. Here at step 10 I was confused and it seemed I needed to enter my IP Address (which I did not know and stayed on the line with my cable provider for 20 minutes to secure). I then called Linksys Support and they told me to simply select "Cable" and I was good to go. I saw this option myself as a choice but there were enough warnings in the Linksys wizard that I was hesitant. I clicked on "Cable", then Explorer and was on the net on my original PC which is hard wired to the back of the Linksys device using an included 6' CAT5 cable.

Installing the Linksys Wireless-N USB Network Adaptor: Again, it is made abundantly clear to run the CD before making any changes to your system. This device is one of two possible ways to go in your remote wireless PC:
a) you can buy an internal wireless adaptor board that fits inside the system box, or
b) buy a USB adaptor which plugs in to the box as we did. We opted for the plug in to avoid opening the PC system box. The installation wizard ran flawlessly. I utilized the included 3' cable and cradle device which allows you to plug the cable into any USB port and place the cradle on the desktop (for better reception). I then plugged in the wireless adaptor into the cradle, extended the two antennae, and the system came up right away.

For your application, you may prefer to plug the N-band wireless adaptor directly into your PC USB (eliminating the use of the 3' cable and cradle) or, use a third method which uses a short, 6" long USB cable, which is also included in the box.

Results: Our home network has our first PC direct wired to the new router and our second PC wirelessly connected to the router. For our use, which does not test distance much at all (the wireless PC is 20' away from the router), the Linksys router and adaptor work perfectly.

Next steps: We have two printers (an ink jet All-in-One, and a laser) that I want to hard wire to the router so that both PCs can share these devices. I'll update this when I figure out how to do this. Secondly, the router has software that allows the owner to require a password to access the internet - I have not invoked this feature.

I added our existing printer as a shared network printer this morning. I went to the Kim Komando web site, entered "wireless printing" in the search window and a few articles popped up. The top article is what I used. One thing that was unclear was this; can a printer be shared by leaving it plugged into the first PC's USB port? I didn't think so, although the article is mute on this point. I went to Best Buy and bought a 3' CAT6 cable for $7, returned home and unplugged the printer USB cable, then connected the printer to the back of the Linksys router using the CAT6 cable. I then went through the article's instructions. Another mute point was the need to install the printer software on the second PC, which I did. Result : all work together just fine.

Linksys documentation on the G Router vs N Router:
We stared at the list and chose the G router.
N and G: high speed internet sharing
N and G: Public hotspot compatability
N and G: Transmitting audio files
N : Internet phone
N : Heavy multiple user internet use
N : Larger homes and offices
N : Networked entertainment streaming
N : Multiple simultaneous applications
N : Multi user gaming over internet
N : Bandwidth intensive applications