Adding Wireless AP to my SMC7008ABR

[pdqcarrera]

There's a huge variation in prices for wireless access points and I'm wondering where the price vs. quality point will best satisfy my needs. I love my SMC Barricade 7008ABR router having wired 4 computers around rather large house (inc home office) with great reliable performance (the print server makes it soooo easy too). Internet access via cable (Time Warner) has been great and blazingly fast. Now I want to add wireless AP for using my notebook around the house/home office. I'm willing to pay for higher quality security/reliability/speed, but wondering how much is enough? The SMC2555W-AG is $300, which seems a lot for an AP but then it's not their $800 model either. I read about far cheaper wireless AP around here but there seems like more problems too. Also, is there any advantage to sticking with an SMC product to match my router?

Thanks, as always, to all of you knowledgeable helpful souls!!

 

[Goosemaster]

$300:shocked:


Dude, jsut get a linksys wrt54G (v4 or earlier; version 5 is not hackable ) and then flash the firmware with dd-rt: http://www.dd-wrt.com/

$shouldn't cost you mor than $50 for the router...

Man, for $300-$800 you could buy a whole fleet of them, or even a base stand for a cisco aironet (bad joke...sorry)

 

[nweaver]

It depends on what you need. I think the WRT, with 3rd party firmware is a good value, but then, I only use Cisco 1200 series....

 

[JackMDS]

The best cost effective move would be to get a regular Wireless Cable/DSL Router and use the SMC as a dumb switch.

By doing so you would have 4 + 8 =12 ports, you would lose one port of each device for the interconnetion and you would have 10 available ports.

As for Wireless, this might help, http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Hardware.html

:sun:

 

[ktwebb]

Any budget AP/router will do. I would also probably just replace your SMC with the router/AP combo. Most will have enough LAN ports where you wouldn't even need to use the SMC however Jack is right, if you need more ports you can always uplink the SMC and use it as a switch. If your really happy with the SMC then just buy an AP/Router (their cheaper than dedicated AP's) and uplink that device from a port on your SMC. Don't use the WAN port and disable the DHCP server on the new router/AP. You'd at that point have an AP with a built in switch.

 

[cmetz]

pdqcarrera, pretty much any wireless "router" can be used as a plain access point by disabling DHCP, setting it to non-conflicting IP addresses, and connecting your existing router to the "LAN" ports. That's probably the cheapest way to go.

A WRT54G / GS is a lot better router than the SMC, though.

 

[pdqcarrera]

Thanks guys for your excellent assistance, including the great links. I went with the WRT54GS and look forward to setting it up with your recommendations in mind.

Cheers!