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October 19th, 2003

Going Wireless

So, when we moved into our new place a little over a month ago, getting some sort of television entertainment and high speed Internet access was on our short list of things to do. We ended up going with Comcast for now, although I’m really missing DIRECTV. I digress.

Our apartment isn’t blessed with a multitude of phone or cable jacks, so I’ve had to route a bright blue (!) network cable from the cable modem in the living room to the Cube in the office. A 25′ cable does the duty just fine. But it’s unsightly, snakes all over the place, and doesn’t let me move that computer ever.

Thus, I started considering going wireless. The biggest obstacles are cost and technology flavors. I was fortunate enough to get this Netgear 802.11b router in my Gold Box, and with a couple of gift certificates I received, my effective cost for the router is $7.00 shipped. Not bad, but it’s 802.11b.

The new standard is 802.11g, and the biggest difference is speed and (surprise!) cost. 802.11g stuff costs a good deal more than $7, to be sure. But do I really need all of that stuff?

That said, my Cube can’t do more than 802.11b anyway. I think for now, I’m going to abstain from wireless networking – but it’ll be nice, in time.

Posted in Technology

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