the joy of a good wireless router, redux

Internet connectivity was going in/out today, so guess what. That the joy of a good wireless router was short-lived. November, December, January, February, March, April, May… what’s that 6 months? Oh well, bought the same router for $12.99, uploaded my saved settings, flashed the firmware and let’s hope that Trendnet won’t fail me in another six months!?

Update: Well, it was AT&T, probably messin with my DSL – the dreaded “Subscribers in the Chicago area may be experiencing…

I did pickup that range extender, $24 Trendnet Extender N300. WPS setup did not work, probably because I was three floors away from each push, but an ethernet cable and laptop did and I quickly had it running. It doesn’t survive (at least for me) a power off, so kids stay away. Now I’ve got great coverage all throughout my house. Highly recommended.

TEW-737RE

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wireless router

Can you believe it? The old wireless router went bad. Couldn't stream FLAC files to my Squeezebox, and even some MP3/OGG files would drop out. Off to the newly remodeled Microcenter and found this one: Trendnet 432BRP. Yes, it's only offers "g", but I only have "g" wireless devices. Total price $21.97 priced matched with NewEgg PLUS a $20 rebate – that about makes it free! It features with an Energy Star wall wart and supports all the things I needed from a router. I did have to update the firmware on the router right away, which fixed a problem with date/years.

A couple of notes about setting a wireless router. First, use channels 1, 6, or 11, and test the strength on each. Channels do overlap, and this can be especially problematic if like me, you live in a high-density area. I must have about 25 ssids I can identify from my living room! Second, use WPA security, please. People will find and use your bandwidth. Finally, be sure to change the default password for your router, otherwise, it can be hacked quite easily.

And yes, my Squeezebox is streaming happily once again!

iogear 2-port usb kvm switch

*Although I didn't buy a video card for the new box, I did spring for a new KVM switch, the IOGear 2-Port USB GCS42UW6, for $19.95 (again Microcenter price-matched NewEgg). What an excellent upgrade. The display from the Ubuntu box looks markedly improved over the old Trendnet TK-207 KVM. No flicker or noise, and no more continual need to auto adjust on my analog monitor. (Yeah, those DVI KVMs are quite pricey). And incidentally, I also noticed that the IOGear installed itself as a USB hub on the Vista machine, something the old one never did.

I'm so happy with this I'm going to give it it's own post. Hey, it's the little things in life…