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[radioheadrule83]

I'm on a 2Mb broadband connection at home, I'm looking at buying either LinkSys WKPC54G (£75) or a DLink EDWL-926 (£85-100) so I can share it with other machines in the house.
I'm leaning towards the DLink thing because it's a router and cardbus adaptor... I'm picking up a laptop this month, so that should be handy.

I'm then hoping to spend £40 - 50 on a bridge for the Xbox/Gamecube/PS2 or something.

Anything I should be taking into consideration? Whats gaming actually like over these things? Can I share PC resources with XBMC?

 

[mrklaw]

The main thing to think about with a wireless setup is what bandwidth do you need, and where?

outgoing isn't really an issue - 2Mb can be handled pretty much with a 'b' network. But if you want fast transfer between wireless devices inside your network, then think about whether 'g' is enough, or if you need a turbo version.

Then, think about if you have plans for any 'b' devices on your network. eg I have a 'b' printer ,and a 'b' bridge, and the psp is a 'b' device. If any of those are active, your g network will slow down significantly. So if you will have a mix, try and track down a router that is less affected. I bought the Belkin pre-n router because it keeps up good turbo-g speeds even with b-stuff going around. Its pretty much the only solution that does that right now. I think it was about £80 from PC world. PC card was expensive though, but you can upgrade slowly if necessary.


If you have XBMC plans, then you'll want to easily stream around 500kb/s + wirelessly. Shouldn't be a problem with most networks, but if you want to do larger streaming, or transfer large files, you want the fastest you can get. I didn't want my PC on all the time, so I set a HDD up on the network - wired to the router and therefore wired to my Xbox.

 

[gofreak]

Don't know how useful this is for you, but if you buy this (£68):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-7043961-6963844

you get this free:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008DOYM/ref=ed_art_560087_txt_1/202-7043961-6963844

It's a router and modem in one, which may not be your cup of tea, though..

 

[mrklaw]

http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/networking/productView.htm?quicklinx=3L11

for the router. Gets top marks in lots of reviews - you get around 35Mb/s actual throughput, which stays high even at long range and with 802.11b devices around. Its only achilles heel is Centrino devices, which slows it down somewhat. But its possible a firmware update will help with that.

every Mb/s helps when you are transferring video files to an Xbox or network HDD.

 

[radioheadrule83]

Thanks for the tips guys. I picked a router up on the way home from work for £70. It's Belkin but it's not the Pre-N. It's a High Speed Mode Wireless G 125 router. The guy in the store has his network set up the same way as I want mine, and he's very happy with it. He did mention the Pre-N has better range and a bit of a speed boost when using Pre-N comptabile bridges/cards etc.
Just gotta pick up a bridge or official adaptor for the consoles and I'm set!

Picking up a laptop on buy now, pay later sometime next week (if I pay off within 12 months, there's no interest).

Woot!