[Silent Bob]

Looking into setting up a home wifi network so obviously need a router.

Got one PC with Vista on and a built in card to connect to a wireless network and one PC with XP on it and no wireless card.

So the question is what is a good router to get and can I run both PCs on it?

The old XP machine will be located next to the router so can it be plugged straight into it to receive the internet?

Ta.

[smashed]

I just bought my new router to use with my tiscali setup. Bought a Netgear from Ebuyer.
Did have a WAG54G Linksys but that had no end of problems.
Will let you know if its ok today when I test it out. (Tho I think its meant to be poor for wireless signal).
Personally, I would always avoid wireless for the main PC where possible since its not as efficient.

[wilko]

Stick with a branded router (Linksys, 3Com, Belkin etc) and you should be ok. Try and get one with a hardware firewall.

As far as plugging in your old XP machine, this will be fine as long as the PC has a network card of some description - most routers also have 4 RJ45 sockets on the back for standard cat5 network cables.

As smashed mentioned above, it is actually better to connect via a cable because the cabled PC will usually connect to the hub at a miniumum of 100mbit, whereas the wireless will be either 54mbit or 108mbit. However, this only becomes important when streaming across your home network, or moving large files between PC's - your internet download speed will not be affected whether you use wireless or wired.

[Silent Bob]

Ta. The one Tiscali recomend is the Speedtouch 580 (a few of these are on eBay) but they don't sell that one but the Speedtouch 585. They do provide a list of settings for other brands though so a bit confused as to which one to get.

How do I know which ones have hardware firewall? Is this necessary with good firewall installed on both PC's?

[smashed]

Sorry Bob..wasnt readin your post properly.

Like Wilko said, any decent brand will suffice.
Go on ebuyer.com and browse the adsl routers..
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/cat/Wireles...reless-Routers
It will cost about £5 to ship with delivery, but you can save £10 via google checkout, so its really about £5 cheaper than whatever price you see.
All the decent brands will have the firewall etc, but the detail is in the description.

I went for this
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/118010/rb/28402529218
Will cost you about £47 delivered.

[wilko]

Originally Posted by Silent Bob

Ta. The one Tiscali recomend is the Speedtouch 580 (a few of these are on eBay) but they don't sell that one but the Speedtouch 585. They do provide a list of settings for other brands though so a bit confused as to which one to get.

How do I know which ones have hardware firewall? Is this necessary with good firewall installed on both PC's?

You MUST have a hardware firewall. If you don't, you will struggle to set up port-forwarding rules for your P2P downloads, and therefore your torrent download performance will be very very low.

In addition, a hardware firewall adds some features that aren't available in standard software firewalls.

[Silent Bob]

Does THIS ONE have a hardware firewall?

[smashed]

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop...ProductID=2093

Additionally, the SpeedTouch 580(i) has a built-in firewall that protects all PCs and Internet devices that are connected to the ADSL connection from all unauthorized access. This powerful firewall can be configured by end-users, equipment retailers, or service providers for a broad range of security policies and requirements.

Wlko should be able to explain better..but the article below says...One key component missing from the web interface of the SpeedTouch 580 is its firewall configuration. The default state of the router is enough to protect you from incoming attacks across the Internet, but if you want to control what applications can reach the Internet from your local network, you need to access the command line interface (CLI) of the router. This is done by using telnet. In MS Windows, at the run prompt simply type telnet <router IP>

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/hardwa...dtouch580.html

So this basically means its not that user friendly if you need to configure the firewall. I would assume that you may need to if you use it for downloading / 360 etc, but you may just use it to surf.

[Silent Bob]

Ooo thanks for that info.

Wondering now about the 585 instead - which is the later model.

There's been a few on eBay for not a lot of money so might be a cheap way of getting into this stuff.

Think I'll pay a visit to the Tiscali forums and see what everyone else recommends.

[wilko]

Originally Posted by Silent Bob

Does THIS ONE have a hardware firewall?

And remember this one is only a 54Mbit connection - 108Mbit would be better. Although 54Mbit is still ample fast enough to be honest.