Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Is wireless networking reliable?

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“A nice mid-fi system,” according to an audiophile acquaintance.

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SVS SBS/SCS-01 5.0 Home Theater Speaker Ensemble / SVS SB12-Plus: The Mouse that Roars
Four Subwoofers Face Off: SVS PB10-ISD Takes On A Few Competitors / Mini Review: Yamaha YST-MS50 Computer Speakers

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On Minimal EQ, Target Levels, and a Hard-Knee House Curve / In-Wall Wiring for your Home Theater
A Comprehensive Guide to Splicing Speaker Wire / House Curve: What it is, why you need it, how to do it

imported_Allen Hirsch

I've had a wireless network for at least 4 years. File-sharing has never been all that reliable (but I think that's b/c we upgraded computers and/or OS to XP in the meantime). It was really cool when it did work - grabbing files from a computer 3 stories and 100 feet away.

Internet access has been mostly fine. I have to click "repair" every so often when the signal is lost (which I mostly attribute to Windows XP).

Since our "hub" access is 3 stories from my office, and it's a 1913 house, wireless was really the ONLY option - and I'm glad I did it. I'd do it again, in a heartbeat.

nolesrule

If you set it up properly, you should be fine. You might need to invest in a better antenna depending on signal strength issues.

I use a wired router and a wireless access point (only because the router has a feature I need for my setup, or I would have switched to a wireless router). My router is approaching 5 years old now. I've had the access point for about 1.5 years now.

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Wayne A. Pflughaupt

My Equipment List
“A nice mid-fi system,” according to an audiophile acquaintance.

See my reviews
SVS SBS/SCS-01 5.0 Home Theater Speaker Ensemble / SVS SB12-Plus: The Mouse that Roars
Four Subwoofers Face Off: SVS PB10-ISD Takes On A Few Competitors / Mini Review: Yamaha YST-MS50 Computer Speakers

See my tech articles
On Minimal EQ, Target Levels, and a Hard-Knee House Curve / In-Wall Wiring for your Home Theater
A Comprehensive Guide to Splicing Speaker Wire / House Curve: What it is, why you need it, how to do it

Kimmo Jaskari

I finally grew tired of cheapo routers. I had a D-Link too (with wireless) that died on me.

When you can buy these routers for just a few tens of dollars, basically it's a case of "you get what you pay for". D-link is bargain basement stuff and as reliable as you can expect. I'm through buying D-link myself. Not saying all D-link products are bad, just that I've had very bad luck with them.

Instead I took an old PC (a Compaq small form factor, with a Celeron 466 in it), put in an extra network card and installed Smoothwall on it. If I were to start over today I'd probably go with IPCop instead though, it has more bells and whistles out of the box.

Great router, has VPN and a web proxy and more, managed via a web interface and as reliable as your average computer is. Easily repairable or replaceable with some other old hulk of a computer in case it breaks.

I then added wireless with a separate access point.

"If we do happen to step on a mine, Sir, what do we do?"
"Normal procedure, Lieutenant, is to jump 200 feet in the air and scatter oneself over a wide area." -- "BlackAdder 4"

SethH

Another option would be to go with "regular" router and a wireless access point. Step up to one of the Linksys business-leve routers (gigabit if you'd like) and your reliability should be pretty good. Lots of companies sell reliable access points.

I have a Linsys wireless router that is 1.5 years old with no problems and then a belkin "regular" router and belkin access point that are about 3 years old with no problems.