Major Retailers...

Can I have a list of major retailers who are selling wifi gear please...

Don't bother telling me about Disk Smith... I know what they have and it's SFA from what I can tell.

Cheers DiG

__________________
Don Gould
The technology exists to give every home 10mbits per second for $10 per month!

Ask not what your telephone company should do for you...
...but what you can do for your broadband community!

Some suppliers off the top of my head.

Borg, http://shop.borg.co.nz
PBTech, http://pbtech.co.nz list a large number of wireless products, most are ordered in from TechPac. Borg should be able to get hold of any of them through their supplier, as I can. Covers Cisco, Dlink, Linksys (I think) and a number of other major brands.
Zcom, http://www.zcom.co.nz Stock Zyxel equipment, AP's are good, cards are fine but don't work with Linux.

All I can think of at the moment.

- Mike :-)

Ok, so no Havey Normal, Tandy, Noel Leming, etc.

Thanks

Cheers DiG

__________________
Don Gould
The technology exists to give every home 10mbits per second for $10 per month!

Ask not what your telephone company should do for you...
...but what you can do for your broadband community!

No idea, I don't really do the retail store thing, I buy wholesale were ever I can.

- Mike :-)

Getting products into retail stores gives wifi credibility with the general public.

You guys in the trade want the good deals and look after each other :)

To get things really happening we need help from DSE, HN and others.

I've got good contacts with some of those and know how to get to the others.

I just wanted to know what you guys were up to so far, didn't want to waste time doing stuff you guys already had done. :)


Cheers DiG

__________________
Don Gould
The technology exists to give every home 10mbits per second for $10 per month!

Ask not what your telephone company should do for you...
...but what you can do for your broadband community!

I believe wireless gear should stay in the stores it is in and stay completely away from places like HN, NL etc etc mainly because those stores do not have the people with the skill sets to help joe blogs out when it comes to getting the right gear etc.
I deal with those stores alot and the main thing most (not all) of the sales staff are worried about is making the sale not making sure the customer is getting what they need.
I know of a couple of cases where someone has asked for a computer for email and a bit of typing and they have ended up with a system that will play the latest games with high end video etc and even a joystick and the old guy who brought one of them only wanted to send emails to his kids in england.
It all comes down to the same problem there is with PC's, people are starting to think of computers as toasters and not high tech electronics and get dismayed if they can't just put bread in them and get it cooked

oh and http://www.snapper.net.nz do wireless gear as well

www.wirelessgear.co.nz has a wide range of wifi stuff

I think what the man is getting at is the fact that the major retail stores don't have good wireless gear as opposed to pretty much all other stores (the smaller ones eg. NOT Harvey Norman and PRG stores)

Large Super stores like HN are more likely to grow Wi Fi than any smaller shops simply by the mass amount of foot traffic into them.

HN also sells Belkin and Dlink and have implemented a wireless lan in the Wairou Rd store so have some experience in using it.

You would do well to work with the large stores to promote Wi-Fi, I am sure they would be happy to sell more of what they already stock.

Well thats my thoughts on it Super stores are mass markets, those that learn more would then goto the specialist stores to do better things

-erata I do not work or speak for HN

Further evidence in mainstream take up


"Big Byte looks to Wi-Fi as growth opportunity
Eyes small business and servicing in bid to expand


In its search for the next big thing in the PC world and what might appeal to a growing market of small businesses, Pacific Retail Group’s Big Byte chain will be putting more effort into Wi-Fi."

Full story at http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/UNID/0...AB?OpenDocument

Big BYte are trying to take a lead here - Wi-Fi needs companies like that to distribute and demystfy the "black art" of wireless computing.

Support them - Big time... :!:

If the kit generally works, then the customer is generally happy. When they understand it more - they upgrade...

Geeks need to find a new hobby - Wi-Fi is mass market stuff now and I know in time that education at retail channel level will get better.

I feel that if you are not "joe blogs", then you seek specialist stores - like when you want a quality Hi-Fi system, you usually seek a specialist store like Eastern Hi-Fi to hopefully put you right.

Quit knocking the retail guys - they are simply helping demystify your black art for the masses....