What happened to Wireless A?

First, a little background...

I have a laptop with a built-in adapter for Wireless A/B/G...I got the
A intentionally, because I hate having my cordless phone interrupt my
internet connection. So I've been using a Wireless A/G router.

BUT, I'm getting sick and tired of my Linksys Wireless A/G. This is
the second one I've bought, and it's the second one that *almost* does
everything it's supposed to, and it's the second one on which I've
spent hours tweaking it and interacting with Linksys support without
being able to resolve all the problems.

SO, I went to my local Staples today to find an A/G router made by some
other company (I want to buy local, so I can return it easily when/if
it doesn't work correctly). What do I find? They don't sell Wireless
A routers any more (amusingly, they still have shelf space with a
"Wireless A/G" sign on it, but no actual A/G equipment on that shelf
space)! They don't even have any on their web site! All they have is
Wireless B/G and Wireless N (or I guess "pre-N" to be more accurate?).
Using a Wireless G router is unacceptable because of the interference
from my cordless phone. I gather that Wireless N is backwards
compatible with Wireless A, but do I really want to buy a router for a
standard that doesn't actually exist yet?

Does anybody have any advice/opinions on what I should do? I could
keep using my almost-working Linksys WRT55AG and wait for the "real"
802.11n routers to come out, but when would that be? I'm really
getting sick of using the router I have, so I'd like to get something,
but I don't want to get something I'll want to replace in a few months,
either. DEEP SIGH.

rjones@soartech.com wrote:
> I have a laptop with a built-in adapter for Wireless A/B/G...I got the
> A intentionally, because I hate having my cordless phone interrupt my
> internet connection. So I've been using a Wireless A/G router.
....
> Does anybody have any advice/opinions on what I should do? I could
> keep using my almost-working Linksys WRT55AG and wait for the "real"
> 802.11n routers to come out, but when would that be? I'm really
> getting sick of using the router I have, so I'd like to get something,
> but I don't want to get something I'll want to replace in a few months,
> either. DEEP SIGH.

I don't know what the Linksys routers aren't doing that you need to have.

You aren't happy with your router anyway, but the cordless phone problem
could be cured by replacing the cordless phone.

I bought a Panasonic KX-TG5453 at Costco. This is three handset,
5.8GHz-only. I've always liked Panasonic phones and answering machines.
The KX-TG5432M with two handsets, is $108 at Radio Shack.

--
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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5

rjones@soartech.com hath wroth:

>Does anybody have any advice/opinions on what I should do? I could
>keep using my almost-working Linksys WRT55AG ...

I've had my share of entertainment value on behalf of the WRT55AG v2.
The big problem was that it would not bridge packets from the 2.4GHz
side to the 5.8GHz side. This is normally not a problem, but the
owner insisted that it was a requirement for whatever they were doing.
4 hours of tinkering and about 30 mins wasted with support didn't fix
this problem, much less get any admission from support whether it was
suppose to work in the first place.

I cut my losses and sold them a matching 2.4GHz only WRT54G v1.1 with
DD-WRT. I disabled 2.4GHz operation in the WRT55AG and set it up as
an access point (DHCP server off). I ran a CAT5 cable between the LAN
ports on the WRT54G and the WRT55AG. The result was a functional dual
band system.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

dold@83.usenet.us.com wrote:
> rjones@soartech.com wrote:
> > I have a laptop with a built-in adapter for Wireless A/B/G...I got the
> > A intentionally, because I hate having my cordless phone interrupt my
> > internet connection. So I've been using a Wireless A/G router.
> ...
> > Does anybody have any advice/opinions on what I should do? I could
> > keep using my almost-working Linksys WRT55AG and wait for the "real"
> > 802.11n routers to come out, but when would that be? I'm really
> > getting sick of using the router I have, so I'd like to get something,
> > but I don't want to get something I'll want to replace in a few months,
> > either. DEEP SIGH.
>
> I don't know what the Linksys routers aren't doing that you need to have.

That wasn't the point of my original post, but I sure wouldn't mind
advice on that, either. The first one as a WRT55AG v.1. It would not
properly forward port 80 for my web site (trying an HTTP connection
would give me the router's setup page instead of my server's home
page). The router would also not properly upgrade its firmware. Only
after lots of struggling one Linksys support person found a
double-secret firmware file somewhere that worked. Then the G band
stopped working, and they have not been able to help me get that fixed.

So I switched to a WRT55AG v.2. This one has the same port forwarding
problem even though it has the most up-to-date version of the firmware.
In this case the port forwarding works correctly if you try to connect
to the web page from somewhere external, but if I try to connect from
inside my network it won't let me...it gives me the router's setup page
instead. So this one is more of a nuisance than a show-stopping
problem. But the router is also constantly lagging my connection (this
happens both wired and wirelessly, and it appears to be a problem in
the router's communication with the DSL modem or the internet, not with
the computers' communication with the router). I lose my internet
connection for 5-30 seconds every 5-10 minutes.

>
> You aren't happy with your router anyway, but the cordless phone problem
> could be cured by replacing the cordless phone.
>
> I bought a Panasonic KX-TG5453 at Costco. This is three handset,
> 5.8GHz-only. I've always liked Panasonic phones and answering machines.
> The KX-TG5432M with two handsets, is $108 at Radio Shack.

This is a good suggestion...I wanted to avoid buying a whole new set of
phones, but if it's comparable to the price of replacing the router,
maybe it's the way to go (although I'm having enough problems with the
routers that I'm going to need to replace them anyway). I like
Panasonic products in general, too. My main issue with phones is that
I'm slightly hard of hearing. Do you know if the KX-TG5432M has a
volume control that you can set to be fairly loud?

Thanks,
Randy

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> rjones@soartech.com hath wroth:
>
> >Does anybody have any advice/opinions on what I should do? I could
> >keep using my almost-working Linksys WRT55AG ...
>
> I've had my share of entertainment value on behalf of the WRT55AG v2.
> The big problem was that it would not bridge packets from the 2.4GHz
> side to the 5.8GHz side. This is normally not a problem, but the
> owner insisted that it was a requirement for whatever they were doing.
> 4 hours of tinkering and about 30 mins wasted with support didn't fix
> this problem, much less get any admission from support whether it was
> suppose to work in the first place.
>
> I cut my losses and sold them a matching 2.4GHz only WRT54G v1.1 with
> DD-WRT. I disabled 2.4GHz operation in the WRT55AG and set it up as
> an access point (DHCP server off). I ran a CAT5 cable between the LAN
> ports on the WRT54G and the WRT55AG. The result was a functional dual
> band system.

I have also considered whether a 2-router setup might solve some of my
problems. I certainly have enough linksys routers lying around to give
it a try, so maybe I'll try something along those lines.

Thanks,
Randy

rjones@soartech.com wrote:
> In this case the port forwarding works correctly if you try to connect
> to the web page from somewhere external, but if I try to connect from
> inside my network it won't let me...it gives me the router's setup page
> instead. So this one is more of a nuisance than a show-stopping

With my Netgear, that would depend on which address you used to get to the
web page.
http://router-internal-ip:80 gets the router page.
http://router-external-ip:8080 gets the router page.

http://router-external-ip:80 gets the redirected page.
http://internal-ip:80 gets the internal page.

From inside, I can address the external address of the router, and that
works. I know that doesn't work on some broken routers.

> problem. But the router is also constantly lagging my connection (this
> happens both wired and wirelessly, and it appears to be a problem in
> the router's communication with the DSL modem or the internet, not with
> the computers' communication with the router). I lose my internet
> connection for 5-30 seconds every 5-10 minutes.

Now there's a problem. I wouldn't expect a whole series of Linksys routers
to have a problem, but I could be wrong. I would point that finger
somewhere else.

> This is a good suggestion...I wanted to avoid buying a whole new set of
> phones, but if it's comparable to the price of replacing the router,

Multiple routers, in your case. I already had the router in place when I
needed a new phone, so I avoided the 2.4GHz phones. this one is a single
base with multiple handsets and chargers. It was an easy replacement.

> I'm slightly hard of hearing. Do you know if the KX-TG5432M has a
> volume control that you can set to be fairly loud?

It seems to be loud enough, although I see that my handset is at max
volume. It also has a headset jack, so you could use a headset that might
give better audio coupling.

--
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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5