Greetings,
I just moved into a new place and I now need to integrate my networking with my new housemates (previously, I just had a Linksys wireless router for myself).
They already have a Netgear wireless 4-port router (haven't looked to see what model), located on the 1st floor. I have a desktop on the third floor, which would obviously make a wired connection a royal pain. I've already connected my laptop to the router, and was surprised to find that the signal was pretty strong at my computer desk on the 3rd floor. So it seems that purchasing a wireless adpater is the way to go.
Several questions:
1) Linksys or Netgear? Any advantages/disadvantages to using the same brand as the router?2) USB or PCI? I'll have to confirm whether I have USB 2.0 but reviews on the wireless USB routers I've seen seem to consistently report heat issues, which will certainly be exascerbated in my 3rd floor room since it is summer here, and A/C is lacking. Do I gain anything is using PCI?
3) As an aside, my housemates do not have WEP enabled but do have an approved MAC address list. They have changed the default router password to a non-trivial one. Is this suffcient security for general use or should I tell them to enable WEP anyway?TIA, -Mark