Wireless network buying guide

Right network

With so many possible ways to build a network, it pays to home in on the solution that best suits your needs before you buy. These user profiles will start you off in the right direction.

Basic Home Network

You can get ample bandwidth for sharing a broadband Internet connection without spending much. In most cases, even the slowest existing wireless gear is faster than the speed at which a cable or DSL modem connects to the Internet.

It's getting more and more common that the service provider would provide you with a simple wireless router that also works as a broadband modem. Nonetheless, here is the break down of what you will need if you don't already have anything at all.

Note that a lot of new computer, especially laptops and Netbooks, already have a wireless adapter built-in. For those that don't, the fastest way to add wireless capability to them is via a USB adapter. There are also internal PCI add-in wireless card for desktops that you can get. However, installing them would require opening the computer.

This is the cheapest setup. A lot of time, if the provider gives you a free modem/wireless router combo, this might not even cost you anything at all. If the service provider gives you only a modem, only a basic wireless router is needed. Examples of these routers are the Linksys WRT160N, the Netgear WNDR2000, the D-Link DIR-615 or the TP-Link TL-WR741ND.

Home Office Network

If you use your home as an office, you need a faster router (both wired and wireless speeds) with good security features. An office generally has more data travel around within the local network and therefore a router with Gigabit Ethernet capability is a must. This is the wired connection that caps at 1000Mbps. It should also have Wireless-N (802.11n) instead of the Wireless-G that caps at only 54Mbps. Wireless-N genrally offers speed up to 300Mbps, (though going forward they will offer even faster wireless speed). The router should also offer advance networking features that allows for accessing your local network securely from the Internet. Examples of these features, depending on what you need varies from Port Forwarding, Firewall and (Virtual Private Network capability.)

Some existing business routers don't have the built-in wireless functionality. In this case you can add a wireless access point to the router to make the network wireless capable. Make sure you get a Wireless-N (802.11n) access point. With network with lots of complicated settings, this is a faster way than replacing the existing router with a wireless one.

Sharing printer and files between network computers are common tasks. There are many routers that have built-in print serving capability, such as the Linksys WRT610n, or the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station. With this type of routers, you can plug a USB printer to them and the printer will be available to all computers in the network. It's best, however, that you get a printer that has built-in network capability. Most new printers, both laser and inkjet, have the networking option. Some of them even have built-in wireless networking option.

The simplest and also the most affordable way to share data between network computers is via a Network Attached Storage (NAS) server. A NAS server is much like a regular server minus the monitor, mouse and keyboard. In recent years, NAS server have gotten so advanced that apart from being a centralized storage device for file sharing, media streaming and backups, some of them can also be used as a print server, surveillance station, FPT server and so on. Most NAS servers also offer the ability to be accessible remotely via the Internet. Examples of best NAS server for small business and home office environments are the Synology DS209+, the QNAP TS239 Pro , or the HP MediaSmart EX495.

Online Gaming and Home Entertainment

For most online gamers, a Basic Home Network would do the job just fine. However, game consoles, like the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3, can do a lot more than just games. They are frequently used as a TV Set Top boxes that play streamed media from a NAS server or a computer in the network. And you want a fast network when it comes to streaming high definition contents, especially when you want to stream to multiple clients.

If you connect your streaming clients to the network via cable, make sure you have a Gigabit router. Even if the Set Top boxes don't support Gigabit Ethernet, this helps when more than one clients stream digital content from the same source.

If you connect clients via wireless connections, other than using a Gigabit Wireless-N router, there's an option of using a true dual-band routers. A true dual-band router can support Wireless-N in both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies. As the 2.4Ghz frequency is shared with other home appliances such as Bluetooth devices and cordless phone, the 5Ghz frequency devices tend to offer better throughput. To take advantage of the 5Ghz frequency, both the router and the client have to support this band. In reality however, if you live in a neighborhood where there are not of wireless access points, you will do just fine with a single band 2.4Ghz Wireless-N router.

You can always turn a game console (or any Ethernet-ready network devices) into wireless by using a wireless bridge (also known as wireless gaming adapter). A bridge connect to a device via the Ethernet port, much like a USB wireless adapter connects to a computer (and add wireless functionality to it) via a USB port.

It doesn't matter how great your goods are, it's always good to spice up your business with free Internet Access. The good news is it doesn't cost much for this. You just need a good Wireless-N router that offers along range and the Guest Networking feature. Guest Networking is especially helpful in case you want to use the same router for your local office and keep it secure. The feature (also known as Guest Zone) allows for creating a separate wireless network that allows access to the Internet but block access to your local resources such as your computers or printers. Guest Networking also has the option of blocking wireless clients from "seeing" one another, meaning a person with bad intention can't hack into other devices that connect to your Guess Zone.

There are many routers on the market that offer Guest networking. Examples are D-Link DIR 855, D-Link DIR-825, or Linksys WRT610n, or Apple Airport Extreme Base Station.

Hot Spot provider

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to connect two or more houses wirelessly or to share an Internet connection with an entire building or neighborhood. Whether your objectives are philanthropic or commercial, building a hot spot can be done for less than the cost of a high-end notebook.