(N.Abstentia) Your Help Please on Routers

[hershon]

Please help the needy innocent on this. Will a router- specifically Linksys wireless-G with Speedbooster technology WRT54GS actually increase my HP Desktop's (nonwireless)internet speed and or other operations on the computer with an XP system? Does getting a router with only one computer give you total internet security? If you get a router for a desktop do you have to get a card or does it come with that? If you need to get a card & it is sold seperately, is there a generic card or do you have to buy one for the specific router? If any card will do, do they all produce same quality? Lastly, do new computers have a slot for the card or does that have to be installed in? I realize I'm probably sounding like a moron but I know nothing about routers and I gots to know! Again, thanks for any assistance you can give me.

[N. Abstentia]

No, wireless will not increase your speed. The Wireless G connects at 54k while a standard wired ethernet will be 100k or better yet Gigabit which is 1000k.

The upside to this? Your broadband ethernet connection only needs around 5k so you'll have plenty of bandwidth either way. Wireless should be fine, you'll only feel the speed hit when connecting to other computers on the network since you'll max out at 54k instead of 100 or 1000.

If you have broadband already, you should have all the cards you need. You should be plugged into your computers ethernet port. If you get a router (get one with at least a 4 port switch built in), you plug your broadband modem in that, then your computers plug into the ports on the switch.

If you're going to go wireless G then you'll need to buy a wireless G card for your computer which should run around $50.

A wired router will give you the best security, while a wireless router is much less secure but still better than nothing. Even with the wired router you still won't be totally secure as there are many variables...you could let something in without you knowing that you did it but I wouldn't worry too much about that.

[eisforelectronic]

replace "k" with "m"

[kfalls]

As far as cards for your computer are concerned wireless 'g' (802.11g) is backward compatable and communicates on the same frequency as the present 802.11b protocol. There are wireless router/access points you can purchase which covers all three protocols 802.11b/g/a. Protocols 'b' and 'g' communicate on the same frequency as wireless telephones so if you have teenage daughters with multiple phones and constant calling, you may want to consider the 'a' protocol which I believe communicates at a speed of 104Mbps as opposed to 'b' which is 11Mbps and 'g' which is 54Mbps.

[N. Abstentia]

replace "k" with "m"

At midnight, after working all day, it's all the same :)