Wireless Router - dead basic

[Griffin NoName]

I need a dead basic, wireless + adsl router, speed not an issue, distance not an issue, for my father in his care home to link into the care home's network. I can't see any need to spend much on it.

Does this one look Ok? http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005626U8S

The only issue I can think of is interference. But I doubt many of the old folk have wireless routers.

EDIT

Actually might be worth extra £20 for this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005626U9W as it handles interference (to some extent) and has USB port for a printer which father has been whinging about needing (he has needed to print one page in the last year, plus he could print to the network printer downstairs in the care home office....and he doesn't have room in his room.... ).

Apart from Belkin being good, I like these as they have a small footprint which is good as father's room has all surfaces filled to the brink.

[Sibling DavidH]

The cheap one looks OK, Griffin, if you csn do without the USB.  But presumably the router will serve a computer, so why can't you plug a printer into that?

[Griffin NoName]

The idea is to do away with the laptop. The Tablets don't have great port features. There's only two ports, a micro USB - suppose I should check whether a full size adaptor would work****, the other being some really weird one which appears to be called POGO. The easiest option - plus easiest in terms of where on earth a printer could possibly be squeezed in, is to send wirelessly to router and and from there to the printer. There are subtleties to this that you may not fully appreciate. No equipment in my fathers room is allowed to remain set up if not actually in use*. All cables must be unplugged and bundled, all equipment put away. Everything has to be returned to their boxed state as at delivery*. In order to persuade him to, perhaps leave the printer plugged in and out of it's box, I think I need to encourage it's placement in relation to the rooter rather than the tablet.

*_{I fear the router will be switched off and unplugged from the adsl connector <sigh> (this is done for safety not aesthetics}

*_{the RAF trained them to make theor beds with hospital corners. My father has taken the philosophy way beyond the call of duty}

***_{took ages to ascertain that an SD card slotted into a USB stick with USB to micro USB would work (no other way of getting files off and on, other than using the cloud, which is what most people will be doing but I doubt father will think suitable)}

~# remember father is 92, it would be a lot easier if he was 2, my grandaughter has no problems with their iPad

*** did you see Prince Harry's bed? What a mess, even worse than mine, clearly they are no longer inspected < >

[Bluenose]

Umm, you say it''s to connect to the care home's network.   To me that implies an Ethernet connection, in which case you would only want a wireless access point, ADSL would not work at all.  If you just mean the care home's telephone wiring, then so long as they do not use a PABX, and you have ADSL provisioned to your father's telephone line then OK.  Also, printing from a tablet can be a bit tricky, unless the printer supports the particular OS on the tablet, ie Android or iOS, unless you get a Windows 8 device in which case you should be fine.

[Opsa]

Odd you should be discussing this. I had given the O'lette my old computer, which does not have wireless. We put it our wirelss router in her room and ran her computer through it and the phone line.

Problem: Our house is so old that the router kept losing connection through the phone line in her room. I had to move it back to my office just to get online. We have a Verizon phone guy coming tomorrow to install an updated interface block. I just got an automated call saying that someone's coming between 8 and 5 to install Fios!  We've decided to deal with it when the guy gets here.

In short- if Dad's care home is ancient, there may be problems with the line.

[Griffin NoName]

The care home uses a strange box thing with adsl connection that plugs into the laptop at present. Therefore need a router with wireless IN and adsl OUT. Their network is very poorly set up. Looks like it was done by someone who didn't have a clue about networks. Amazing that it actually seems to work. And, yes, ancient. The security is an issue as it is not clear there is any.......... but the router I am looking at has a firewall.

For printing, I was looking at tablet ----wireless--->router ---> USB or wireless printer, but yes I do need to work out how to find a compatible printer.

EDIT

Just found this http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=120&prodSeriesId=5165422&prodTypeId=18972&objectID=c03382115

HP eprint for mobiles - solves the problem (scroll down for android option).

[Bluenose]

Weird!  It certainly does sound like it was set up by someone who had a shortage of clues.  Last year I had to rebuild the network for a primary school that had been set up by someone who had "learnt" on the fly how to set up a network.  There were several domain controllers, none of which were set up properly (when he could not get Active Directory to work, he just started another install on another PC - good grief!).  Then there was a Linux box running as a router between the two subnets, even though the Catholic Education Office had installed a standard (for them) router - the problem being this guy had chosen non-standard (for CEO) IP addresses for the servers.  Add to that he was running all the PCs in peer to peer mode and all user accounts including the student accounts were administrator accounts.  I basically just backed up all the data and then blew it all away and built it from scratch.  The school has been highly delighted with the additional control, the lack of students hacking things and the overall performance.  Moral of the story:  spend a bit more to get the job done properly in the first place and down stream costs will be much less and you will have a lot less trouble.

Opsa, have you thought of buying a USB wireless dongle for the old PC?  Not very expensive (less than $20 in Aus) and then you can just connect to the router wirelessly.

[Opsa]

No Blue, I haven't. Should I look up 'USB wireless dongle' on the web to find out where to get one? 

[Bluenose]

Umm, yeah I suppose so. 

I had a look and here are a couple of options from Walmart Online: Cnet and Linksys

Of these I would think the Linksys is likely the better, but I have had excellent service from quite cheap ones.  Sometimes you can simply take the risk with the cheapy and if it fails you just get another one and still be in front financially.  The issue is how much of a problem it is if it does fail and can you live without it for a couple of days until you can replace it.

[Opsa]

Thank you for the info. I had no idea that these existed. My old computer is a Mac. What do you think of this one?

Verizon man is coming this afternoon to replace old telephone interface block. If that doesn't work I'll find wireless adapter for the old Mac.

[Bluenose]

Hi Opsa, should be fine so long as the beast runs MAC OS 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6.  Oh, and I would say it is generally better to forget about the "Automatic" config, the so called easy options.  In my experience they usually give you more trouble than they save.  Best to configure it yourself.  It's not hard, despite what they say in the promotional material.

[Griffin NoName]

I have a bluetooth dongle plugged into my printer and another plugged into my laptop, which are in different rooms. Works a treat for wireless printing provided the printer has paper loaded  There's 4 digit pairing code for security, not brilliant but adequate. The dongle is specific to Hewlett Packard (HP printer) - the internal bluetooth in my laptop does not work with the printer, though not clear why not.

I've been reading up on HP eprint and HP printers for my proposed set up for my father and can't make head or tail of the wireless connections - depending on whether reading about ePrint or reading about the router, it comes up with different networking so totally confused - do I need one or other or both........... will do diagrams if father decides to go ahead.

Blue, your description of the bad network setup made me giggle in several parts.

[Opsa]

I should look into wireless printers, as well. I've has HP and Cannon wired printers, and I liked the Cannon a bit better than the HP. Does Cannon make wireless?

[Griffin NoName]

Be strange if they didn't.

[Bluenose]

Blue, your description of the bad network setup made me giggle in several parts.

Glad to be of service

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I have this Belkin N750 and have had zero problems with it.   It just works.  Setup was easy.  My only nit to pick, is that if you unplug it for a bit, it forgets everything.

That may be an issue with you-- once you unplug Belkins for a length of time, they revert to the out-of-box state, with default "passwords"...

[Griffin NoName]

That Belkin model is expensive here, and a bit of an overekill for my father's needs. Forgetting settings when unplugged may be a serious issue as my father is obsessive about unplugging everything in the room when items not actually in use. I believe most if not all routers forget settings if left without juice. I don't know what I can do about it, to stop him.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I had an older model Linksys, pretty basic (but with wireless) that kept it's settings for more than a day, as I moved it from my house to my mother's.   It was nice-- I simply left the wireless setup as it had been in my house, and it just worked-- I didn't even have to reconfigure my portables.

So some brands do have persistent memory-- ask around, or check the interwebs for persistent memory/settings.  Or write to the company and ask--some will bother a reply.  Another way, is to call local computer repair/recyclers about which router(s) they use, and which ones remember settings if unplugged. 

My Belkin one doesn't, and I may get a battery-backup just for it-- a small one would be more than sufficient to the task.  But at less than an hour unplugged, it was out-of-box reset.  Not good, really, but I haven't had an issue with it yet.

[Griffin NoName]

Thanks B.

My Belkin one doesn't, and I may get a battery-backup just for it--

How would you attach the battery

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Thanks B.

My Belkin one doesn't, and I may get a battery-backup just for it--

How would you attach the battery

I'd get as small a one as I could, designed for laptops and/or computers.  Then, I'd simply plug in the power-thingy into that.    A cheap one ought to be around $25 or so....  I could wire one up, using a small cell phone battery & a charger, one that had sufficient voltages for my router's input-- it's modest.  But that'd be too complicated for what is essentially a simple task.

Edit:  apparently the el-cheapo ones are no longer available.  *sigh*  As such, the cheapest I found was $40 or so--too expensive for what is essentially a whim.

My router does permit backups of it's memory, out to a file-- which I have done.  Reloading that file restores all settings quickly enough.  Good enough for now.

[Griffin NoName]

Does it allow backup/restore over wireless?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Does it allow backup/restore over wireless?

Yes-- all you must do, is enable "remote administration" and know it's ISP number.   That can work via any internet connection in the world, supposedly. 

So, in theory, you could set yourself up as admin of your dad's router, and provided you know it's default password, could redo it remotely, if needed.

[Griffin NoName]

Does it allow backup/restore over wireless?

Yes-- all you must do, is enable "remote administration" and know it's ISP number.   That can work via any internet connection in the world, supposedly. 

.............which isn't very secure........ when I worked for a certain university we'd have been shot.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

.............which isn't very secure........ when I worked for a certain university we'd have been shot.

Yep.  Which is why my router's "remote admin" is disabled... the default, factory setting by the way (good).

On the fourth paw?  If you were to select a sufficiently strong password-- out to the max character-count?  That ought to be sufficient, and the benefits of being able to remotely repair your da's router may outweigh the modest reduction in security.

Of course, if he unplugs it for long enough, and it reverts, the "remote admin" setting is also reset, and you won't be able to get in anyhow, even knowing the default password...

... meh.

It's a pity the router's don't have persistent memory, as cheap as that stuff is.  I'm looking at putting in a USB thumb drive in mine, it has 2 ports, and using that as a save-config location.  I'm wondering if it will remember that, and restore itself?  Probably not...

... however, I did just check, and there's a firmware update I might try installing... hmmm.

[Griffin NoName]

I've emailed Belkin to ask about persistent memory.

Frankly, sorting out and supporting my father's computing needs is more trouble than I encountered in my whole 35 years of dealing with difficult systems and customers................... for example, trying to get him to type a word into google,,,,,,,,,,,,, three lengthy telephone calls........then discovered he couldn't actually see there was a box to type into...... (failing eyesight and google using silly faint grey outline lines).......... one of many instances of utter despair.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I've emailed Belkin to ask about persistent memory.

Frankly, sorting out and supporting my father's computing needs is more trouble than I encountered in my whole 35 years of dealing with difficult systems and customers................... for example, trying to get him to type a word into google,,,,,,,,,,,,, three lengthy telephone calls........then discovered he couldn't actually see there was a box to type into...... (failing eyesight and google using silly faint grey outline lines).......... one of many instances of utter despair.

I think there is a way to make Google display in high contrast, but that escapes me at present...

[Griffin NoName]

Looking through various Belkin routers, they all have this in their specification:

Remote Management Browser Support Internet Explorer® 7 and above, Firefox® , or Safari

Remote Management Browser Support only crops up for Belkin Routers, google finds no other instances of it.

Is the implication that one can't use, for example, an android browser, or chrome, etc - it can't be that daft can it??

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Looking through various Belkin routers, they all have this in their specification:

Remote Management Browser Support Internet Explorer® 7 and above, Firefox® , or Safari

Remote Management Browser Support only crops up for Belkin Routers, google finds no other instances of it.

Is the implication that one can't use, for example, an android browser, or chrome, etc - it can't be that daft can it??

Don't know-- if it requires certain scripts to run?  Like FLASH?  Then, yeah, it won't work on the others.  But the majority of interfaces I've seen were pure HTML. 

Okay-- Opera works, but Chrome does not-- I do not know why, either.  (I just tried it with mine).

I use FireFox myself, but I would presume IE works too.   (Sorry, I don't wish to test that one)

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Edit/Update--

-- I had installed NoScript on Chrome-- and once I unlocked that and AdBlock Plus?  It came up just peachy.   So Chrome works just fine as well.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

They usually put the warnings in case a piece of javascript is newer than the older browser (hence no support). Bob's test seems to validate that.