I've asked this question before but i'm still confused as to which wireless router I should get without spending a fortune.

I've got a desktop on 10MB Virgin Broadband and a PS3 that I want to connect by wireless.

I went down to PC World today to get this but they are out of stock and don't know when they are getting any more Netgear WGT624 Wireless 108MBPS Router - Buy cheap Netgear DSL wireless routers at PC World

They have this one in stock,it's £50 in the store but only £34.24 online Netgear WGR614 54Mbps Cable Wireless Router - Buy cheap Netgear DSL wireless routers at PC World

Is that one any good for the money ?

Other than the above 2,what would be the best to get for around the same price ?

 

So long as your Virgin broadband box has an ethernet connection and isnt USB (as this is a router and not a modem) then both are fine for what you need, see if they will do a price match in store.

 

It is an ethernet connection

What is the difference between the two I have posted as one is 54MBPS and the other is 108MBPS ?

 

One might use 2 channels at once to double the bandwith - but that's only a guess.

If you'd not already realised, if the local store has it in stock, you can order from PC World's website to collect in store and you'll pay the online price, not the price on the shelf.

 

I don't think the PS3 supports turbo mode on any router, the post above describes it. They do use 2 channels simultainously But it suffers more from interferance because of the channel spacings, which is how they get 108Mb/s, so if that is all that is connecting to it wirelessly then i'd go with the 54 Mb/s router. But even better, if your PS3 is close enough i'd just use cable anyway. Less hassle no interference and more chance of getting the full download speed of your connection. The overhead on wireless is massive. And also if you have more than one device connected tha 54Mbp/s is shared between the two. My PS 3 is the only machine in my house that gets any where near 8Mb/s, and it is the only machine connected via copper. The highest I have seen through wireless is around 750 KB/s which is around 6Mb/s

Jase

 

My desktop will still be connected by cable,it's only the PS3 that will be wireless as it's at the other end of the room and I don't want cables running everywhere !

I might just go and get the Netgear WGR614 for £34 and see what it's like then

 

Went and bought a Netgear WGR614 earlier on this evening and have just set it all up. The desktop is running fine via cable with full download speed but my PS3 via wireless seems slow. Done a speed test for both,desktop is getting 10 meg but the PS3 is only showing 2 meg

Any ideas ?

 

That is one of the main problems with wireless. Interference kills data speeds. There is quite a lot of kit on the 2.4Ghz freq band, bluetooth, dect phones, microwaves, baby monitors, airfield and early warning Radar can be interfering depending where you live. Also if you live in an area with high wireless density that will affect it. The only thing i can suggest is go into the router settings and change the channel. If it is netgear it has most probably defaulted to channel 11, if so go down to channel 6 or below and see if that helps.

Jase

 

Tried what you suggested and had a major problem,couldn't login to the router settings,no matter what I tried it wouldn't work.

Ended up with the router losing all it's security settings which allowed anyone to connect to my wireless network

Took it back to PC World earlier and they think it's not compatible with the PS3 Anyone heard of that before ?

Any suggestions for a better wireless router that I could try ?

 

I picked up a lovely little Linksys router in PC World for 30 odd quid. Works a treat.

 

Nope never, We have 634 V1 connected to the wii wirelessly, and we have no problems, There could be a problem with the router, which is plausible, some do fail. I don't understand why it would lose it's security settings by changing the channel, ours never has. But when you do change the channel, everything will have to re-acquire it which can take some time. Did the router go back to factory defaults.

Jase

 

I never got to change the channel,it wouldn't allow me to access the settings and that's when I realised something was wrong with it.

I'm going to get a D-Link wireless router now and see what that's like

 

If it all does go horribly wrong there is a button you can use to restore to factory defaults. Including passwords, it is usually around the back, and you use a paper clip to press it. Coul dbe worth a try first just in case there was some finger trouble with the password, etc.

 

Tried the reset before I took it back to the shop,it still wouldn't work. Everytime I went to routerlogin.net it just kept going to Netgear Support Homepage when it should of allowed me to access the router settings !