From: "Lewis G Rosenthal" Received: from [192.168.100.28] (account lgrosenthal [192.168.100.28] verified) by 2rosenthals.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 5.1.16) with ESMTPSA id 2183438 for os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com; Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:28:53 -0500 Message-ID: <4B6852C4.7060607@2rosenthals.com> Date: Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:28:52 -0500 Organization: Rosenthal & Rosenthal, LLC User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (OS/2; U; Warp 4.5; en-US; rv:1.8.1.23) Gecko/20090827 MultiZilla/1.8.3.5g SeaMonkey/1.1.18 (PmW) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: OS/2 Wireless Users Mailing List Subject: Re: [OS2Wireless] Linksys References: In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi, Jordan... On 02/02/10 10:28 am, J R FOX thus wrote : > Lewis wrote: > > >> I have seen a marked decrease in overall quality of design & >> manufacture of other LinkSys devices, particularly unmanaged switches. >> > > >> For a while, my office was akin to a revolving door to LinkSys RMA >> services. Now, I either go Cisco (which, of course, is their >> intention) orto D-Link (for the small stuff). >> > > >> I first saw a decrease in the quality of the LinkSys firmware. >> The nextthing was the first generation of LinkSys hardware, >> post-acquisition. >> > > >> So, about the only LinkSys hardware I recommend (and support) is >> the WRT54GL >> > > Hmmm, so that fellow was on to something. I thought that might be > the case. > > Yes. I'm sure he's seen the same uptick in returns as I have the past two or three years. > Then you do have some alternatives lined up for us in this area, > should that prove to be necessary ? For Wi-Fi, the WRT54GL is quite good. In that price range (at or just under $100), the Engenius ECB3500 is a good performing unit. If you want something which is more easily wall-mounted and will blend with decor, the Ubiquiti NanoStation2 works well (also sub-$100). Both the Engenious & the Uniquiti will run DD-WRT firmware (though I believe they may require a Pro license which adds a few $$ to the cost). For straight routers, I haven't found anything which rivals the quality or support or feature set of the SonicWALL TZ series. That said, the TZ180's are now between $200 & $300, so it makes sense to accurately assess your needs before making the investment, as the extra cash in the budget might be more wisely spent in other areas. SonicWALL also makes a wireless TZ180, and the extra cost is minimal beyond the base unit itself. Still, for small installations with no IPSec VPN requirement, I've found the LinkSys WRT54GL to be a best buy. > Often, as in the case of > some Thinkpads, we seem to be welded to one or two options for > something, due to a history of known OS/2 compatibility -- even > if there are quite a few _other_ good products out there, which > might be a lot better. (I'm not sure if that's the best example, > since I've heard that many if not most contemporary laptops, > like Fujitsus or Toshibas, can be made to run eCS, although one > might have to modify them, or give up on some item like sound > support. I've seen the odd Asus or Acer Aspire at a SCOUG > meeting, and I think a Fujitsu model or two as well.) > > Well, when we're talking about Wi-Fi, the client operating system is really irrelevant, at this point. OS/2 has full support for the latest (popular) encryption methods, and good support for a limited number of wireless network adapters (so if you should end up with a notebook with an unsupported card, it can usually be swapped for a supported one). Of course, now that wired ethernet has moved from an add-on card to the motherboard, this may pose more of a problem than the Wi-Fi, these days. -- Lewis ------------------------------------------------------------- Lewis G Rosenthal, CNA, CLP, CLE Rosenthal & Rosenthal, LLC www.2rosenthals.com Need a managed Wi-Fi hotspot? www.hautspot.com visit my IT blog www.2rosenthals.net/wordpress -------------------------------------------------------------