Wireless Router recommendation

[Amati]

Re: Wireless Router recommendation

Oh sorry, Amati. I thought you were being snarky


Usually there aren't power switches on routers (save money and they don't expect people to turn their routers off). The way you do it is to unplug the AC adapter from the back of the router when you go to bed and plug it back in when you wake up and want to access the Internet.

Thanks Joe. After looking up the definition for "snarky", I reread your response and have decided that anyone who wants to access my home PC can knock themselves out with excitement. I never unplug anything from my computer, I'd probalby never get it running properly again if I messed with it too much.

[Random]

Re: Wireless Router recommendation

Amati,

To turn off a router, some unplug the cord from the back of the router, some unplug the vampire (transformer block) from the outlet, or some choose to turn off the power strip that the router is plugged into,

Do some of the routers have a power switch and/or wireless enable/disable switch on the unit so I don't have to keep plugging and unplugging from the outlet?

I mean, it's bad enough my DSL modem doesn't have one.

[gordo]

Re: Wireless Router recommendation

Random,

I agree plugging/unplugging sucks and is not a good solution. As long as I remember, I don't recall ever seeing a power switch on router or cable/dsl modem. As MyopicJoe stated earlier, these devices are intended to be operational 24/7. Found a under monitor power center with individual on/off switch for 4 outlets. It might solve your problem. Amazon and Mwave.com has it on their site.

http://www.amazon.com/6-Outlet-Surge...342135&sr=1-65

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/DeepSearc...+TMC6&ALL=y&TP=


Amati,

This is getting of the subject, but it's not a good idea to allow unauthorize access to your pc. Joke or not, this can lead to serious problems. In a study done in late 2006, researchers found that a keylogger was found in 1 of 6 pc's. For those of you who don't know what a keylogger is, it is a program that runs sliently on your computer, recording every keystroke (credit card numbers, soc. sec. numbers, etc.) and sometimes screenshots to a file to be uploaded at a later time. Alot of people tell me so what, no big deal. I'd tell them of a hypothetical situation. I want to give them a 6-chamber pistol with only one bullet in the chamber. I will spin the chamber to randomize the chance of the gun discharging. Then, give them the gun and ask them if they would put the gun to their head and pull the trigger. So far no one has said yes. Everyone feared the bullet, not the odds. Yes, I agree the terminal effect of the bullet is very persuasive, but what I was trying to get accross is that the odds are the same. So I guess the outcome is more of a factor than the odds. The following link to an article about a goverment employee who loss his job and friends because of a hack done by a virus.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news...76/detail.html

I know a couple of people who had their identity stolen via their computer. It not a pretty sight. It cost them alot of their time and money to fix the problem. These things happen everyday but you don't hear about it. Don't remember where I read it, but the article stated that it took as long as 5 years to straighten out problems associated with identity theif. Do you think you could deal with this situation if it happen to you? I know that the people who had their identity stolen would do everything in their power to prevent it from happening. Just something to think about. I wouldn't want stuff like this happen to you.

[joshuatree]

Re: Wireless Router recommendation

Do some of the routers have a power switch and/or wireless enable/disable switch on the unit so I don't have to keep plugging and unplugging from the outlet?

I mean, it's bad enough my DSL modem doesn't have one.

Yes but they are enterprise level routers. As someone mentioned, the razor thin profit margins of the Soho market precludes any manufacturer from considering adding a power switch.

[Random]

Re: Wireless Router recommendation

Yes but they are enterprise level routers. As someone mentioned, the razor thin profit margins of the Soho market precludes any manufacturer from considering adding a power switch.

I didn't realize power switch can be expensive.

[MyopicJoe]

Re: Wireless Router recommendation

I didn't realize power switch can be expensive.

A single switch isn't a big deal, but when you're mass producing tens of thousands of units, that's when the bean counters start looking over the product designer's shoulders.

There's the cost of the switch. Space to inventory and distribute it throughout the factory. Time is needed to test every switch. It's yet another step in the assembly process. If you're lucky it can be done by a robot. If not it has to be installed by hand. It's another point of failure, reducing production yields ever so slightly but multiplied by thousands of units.

In the automotive industry, they are very anal about how many inches of wiring is used in a car. Each bit adds weight and cost (aren't you glad they don't use cheap Radio Shack wires to hook up your air bags?).

[GregLee]

Re: Wireless Router recommendation

When I subscribed to Hawaiiantel DSL a year ago, they sent me a Westell 327W modem-router at no extra charge (beyond the $30/month DSL subscription fee). I've had no problem with it the last year. It connects my desktop computer (using a wireless card and Linux), another laptop wirelessly, a DirecTV HR20 satellite receiver using UPnP mediashare to my desktop, a Wii (wireless), and an Xbox 360 (wired). The Westell 327W does have an on/off switch, which I've had to use only on those rare occasions when Hawaiiantel's DSL service had some glitch. I use MAC address filtering and a 64 bit WEP key for security, which leaves much to be desired, I'm sure, but is probably enough for out here in Waimanalo country.

[Random]

Re: Wireless Router recommendation

(aren't you glad they don't use cheap Radio Shack wires to hook up your air bags?).

Actually, I trust Radio Shack's wires than I do with what came preinstalled in my car.

To be brutally honest, they're getting way too anal ... to the point of seeing one's colon ... if they have to consider power switches to be costly to make tens of thousand of units.

[Amati]

Re: Wireless Router recommendation

Amati,
This is getting of the subject, but it's not a good idea to allow unauthorize access to your pc. Joke or not, this can lead to serious problems.

Humm, guess you are probably right about that. Soooooo, [all unfriendly readers can skip the remainder of this posting or at least not be overly harsh about my lack of computerize], I seem to recall having the option for a password on my wireless connection. I can call the cable company about that and make sure I've got it set up.
But besides that, and unplugging [which really sounds likes something that I'm not going to be doing], is just making sure I'm using the password about all I can or should be doing?

[MyopicJoe]

Re: Wireless Router recommendation

To be brutally honest, they're getting way too anal ... to the point of seeing one's colon ... if they have to consider power switches to be costly to make tens of thousand of units.

At first I had wanted to say millions of units (yearly), but I wasn't sure if that was an accurate number. I tried to quickly find some stats, but I couldn't figure out a good set of search terms for Google. I decided to conservatively go with tens of thousands.

Looks like I was off by three orders of magnitude:

AsusTek has a monthly production capacity of 2 million units for WLAN routers. In H2 2007, the company has a monthly export volume of 1.3 million WLAN routers. It plans to expand its production capacity to 3 million units in H2 2008.


My bad

[joshuatree]

Re: Wireless Router recommendation

As a single power switch, sure, it's mere pennies and it seems anal. But when you start counting production in the millions, that adds up. Also, if these switches are unreliable or there's a bad batch, then the defect and RMA rate goes up, thus increasing operational costs. At the individual level, it sucks to be counted as a number by the bean counters, but at the corporate earnings level, it's important enough to justify not putting in power switches. A typical Linksys router is under $100, a Cisco enterprise level 6509 switch can easily be $70,000. When you have razor thin profit margins compared to enterprise level profit margins, the manufacturer's gonna pass on putting the power switch into the Linksys.