I am posting this from out on our patio. We ended up getting a Netgear wireless router that has its own built-in 4-port 10/100 switch and will hook directly into our DSL connection. What does this mean?

  • It adds wireless capability.
  • It can replace our hub.
  • It can replace our router.
  • We don’t need to find any more outlets or power strips. In fact, the end result is we’ve freed up an outlet.
  • We don’t need to buy wireless cards for the computers we already have.

The AirPort Express looked nice, mainly for AirTunes, but we would have had to put it in the other room with the stereo anyway. And besides, none of Apple’s Airport stations have more than one LAN port – the assumption is you’re either going all-wireless or you’ve already got equipment for your wired systems.

A few weeks ago I noticed that our network hub was getting disturbingly hot, so I started turning off the power strip when we weren’t home. After returning from San Diego, the first time we turned the computers back on, the hub started buzzing. However, it stopped after a few seconds.

So I should have thought of the hub immediately when the network started acting up today.

I had been on and off the computer and the net all morning with no noticeable problems, and Katie had been on for just a few minutes when it stopped loading websites. Continue reading