My trusty netgear fm114p went tits up tonight, and while it appears to be under waranty, I'll probably head out to the local electronics stores tomorrow and pick up a new one, as being without wireless internet is something I only do when I'm on vacation.

This of course leads me to need to pick out a new router/AP, and pick between the 802.11a/b/g stuff out there. In general, at the end of the upgrade I want to end up with 802.11a/b coverage, and 802.11g would be nice to get thrown in, but I'm not willing to pay for it. So far, the best deal I can work out is a MR814 (tuna can router w/ 802.11b) for $60(minus 20 to 40 in rebates) and a HE103 (802.11a WAP) for $35 from tigerdirect(yuck).

Anyone have a sneaky way to get 802.11g coverage thrown in for close to the same price? As far as I can tell, I'm going to have legacy 802.11b equipment for quite a while, so there isn't going to be any speed increase in going to 802.11g. Going to 802.11a will give me the speed increase I want, and give me more of my own spectrum in my appartment building where everyone and their brother seems to have an AP, a 2.4ghz cordless phone and a microwave.

Also, does anyone have a Really Great Home Router (that isn't a linux/bsd box) that they'd reccomend over the usual stuff that isn't that expensive? Wireless isn't required, as I'm in favor of seperate APs.

Matthew
PS: I'm a netgear fan, but I'll use other brands. Except linksys. Won't touch it with a ten foot pole.

I picked up the MR814 at staples tonight ($20 after reabtes... IF i manged to send them in) and it's working fine. Nothing exciting, but it does work just as advertised.

I went ahead and ordered the 802.11a AP, mainly because I'm counting on it not getting adopted and leaving most of the spectrum for myself. There's also a large security through obscurity factor for my home network. Now I've got to dig up the Dell part number for their mini-pci tri-band card. Steaming high quality ReplayTV videoes, here i come.

Matthew

Steaming high quality ReplayTV videoes, here i come.

Yeah, nothing like the latenight pink channels...

/Michael