NETGEAR "N" equipment - Tech Question for someone

T&E Engineer

A·tech question perhaps·someone can answer.

I went to the only computer store in our small town (Office Depot) today and bought a NETGEAR 10X 15X "N" something wireless router/switch. That is working good.

I also bought a NETGEAR wired Print Server which I can't get to work on my wifes WinXP laptop nor my Vista Desktop. It is WinXP and Vista compatible as it says on the box. On my wifes XP laptop during the installation it says press here to for a test page and that works. However, when it finishes shortly afterwards, it loses connection with the printer and never prints to it. On the Vista desktop, it fails the installation completely.

I also bought a NETGEAR USB "N" adapter as recommended by the NETGEAR 10X 15X "N" wireless router/switch. It works good but I also had been using a D-Link "G" adapter and that was also working good. I did not see any difference in the download speeds at all between the "N" and "G" USB adapters.

Here's the question/problem:

I don't know if I should take back the NETGEAR print server (or get·NET GEAR·Tech Support·on the phone tomorrow) and if so also take back the NETGEAR USB "N" adapter. I sort of think the USB "N" adapter should stay together with the NETGEAR 10X 15X "N" wireless router/switch but I can't tell if there is really any improvement.

I do know that I need some sort of a wireless router at a minimum. I was thinking of "N" as it is the newest technology to go with but now second guessing if it is really so great or not. They also have Extended Range "G" equipment at Office Depot too.

Summary:
1. New Working NETGEAR "N" Wireless Router - Need some kind of wireless router at a minimum. ·
2. New Non-working NETGEAR Print Server - Would be nice to have but could wait if necessary
3. New Working NETGEAR "N" USB Adapter (bedroom computer) - Would be nice to keep the "N" set together (BUT also already have a working D-Link wireless 108G USB adapter on "G" as purchased a few years ago)

What are your thoughts about this problem?

sam_sam_sam

T&E Engineer

From what I understand about Print Server is that you have assign IP address to that
print sever and I think you also have to have it in your Print folder· as well· and it also has to show up in your networking folder as well

·I would get·NET GEAR·Tech Support·on the phone tomorrow to help you set this up
From what I heard from other people they also had to call Tech Support·to get it to work
right

I hope this helps

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··Thanks for any··that you may have and all of your time finding them

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Sam

Kevin Wood

It's hard to say with the print server - which model & what printer are you using it with?

As for the wireless N router & downloads, that depends on where you are downloading from, since you'll never get a faster download than the limiting factor in your bandwidth allows.

For most setups, that will probably be the connection into the router from the ISP. So as long as your wireless (or wired) can handle that bandwidth under typical usage, you're okay.

If you have any plans of setting up a wireless lan in your home or office, and connecting to a server on that lan, then using the faster connection internally would make a difference inside, even though outside connections would be limited by the outside connection's bandwidth.

T&E Engineer

I am using a NETGEAR PS121v2 Print Server with an HP 7960 Photo Printer.

What's wierd is that during the install process it wants you to print to a test page (only on my WinXP laptop - never gets there on my Vista Desktop installation) and it does print to the test page. But when finished with the installation (on WinXP Laptop), it automatically disconnects from the HP 7960 printer and can't connect to it again - thereby never allowing me to print to the HP 7960 printer. On the Vista Desktop installation, it speeds through it and probably skips some steps and automatically goes to a Failed installation and wants me to reboot and try again. I also tried to set up a TCP/IP using some notes on their forum and it too was unsucessfull at least on my Vista Desktop installation attempt.

I will probably try to contact tech support tomorrow if I can't get it running by then - which I doubt.

So it also sounds like I should return the new NETGEAR N USB adapter and stick with my older D-Link 108G wireless adapter since we don't really have a network in the house and it is just used for the print server and going out to the internet which we have our internet providers fastest package download 10Mb and upload 1Mb.



Thanks.

Kevin Wood

Another option that you have is to set up your desktop as your print server.

LoopyByteloose

I'm just getting into hacking an Asus wireless router to create a commercial hotspot . One can install OpenWrt on it. This is a Linux product and it does void the warrenty. This hacking community is looking over all the wireless routers and may offer you details that you will never get from the manufacturer.

I had a choice between a G router which has 54mb/s and an N router which I couldn't really understand how the speed is improved. I stayed with the G because the OpenWrt software didn't support the N feature at this time. So why should I pay $40 more for something I couldn't use.

In part, it may simply be that the Printer Server is the older G format and would limit speed to that. I doubt if it creates a compatiblity issue. I think that mixing the two defaults to the lower speed. Vista may be just running too fast for a stable connection and times out. Is your Vista machine a speed demon?

Another issue is the configuration of 11 channels on these little wireless routers. Apparently channel selection can pretty much create problems. The overlap is about one bandwidth to either side. So one usually searches first on 5, then 1, then 11, then 3, then 7, and so on. Finding the right channels may solve everything. If you have neighbors running the popular 1, 5, and 11 channels; you might want to move to some of the less popular ones.

And most importantly, some products have very buggy firmware. So Google around to find if the Printer Server has known firmware bugs. If so, you may consider using OpenWrt as a firmware replacement to get up and running or return it to the store.

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PLEASE CONSIDER the following:

Do you want a quickly operational black box solution or the knowledge included therein?······

···················· Tropically,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan

Post Edited (Kramer) : 7/14/2008 10:51:03 AM GMT

T&E Engineer

I have the NETGEAR N USB adapter in the box to return tonight. I noticed when I rebooted it on my Vista Desktop (2 core AMD +4600) that it would not boot if the adapter was plugged in. All of these products I have state Vista compatible on the box, yet the Office Depot website for these items only go up to WinXP and never state Vista. So there is some other concerns right there. Since I already have a D-Link 108G USB adapter, I think I will go with that.



I also have the NETGEAR wired print server in the box to return tonight. My only other choice in the store is a D-Link wireless printserver (up to 4 printers/scanners) on the 1 device which I will probably go with as I used D-Link before with no problems.



This brings up one last point, If I have a D-Link 108G USB adapter already and plan to buy a D-Link wireless print server (after returning the N wired version) but also recently bought the working NETGEAR N wireless router, should I take that back too and just buy a G Rangebooster wireless router to maintain that single company "D-Link" compatibility on a "G" speed?

LoopyByteloose

M$ is now offering free retro XP to any Vista owner. From what I gather they are moving on to Windows7 as damage control for reasons they prefer not to make clear.

I'd be looking mainly at how it is working with XP and I'd Google 802.11n for further techincal info about the 'N' series. Wikipedia does clearly show higher speeds [noparse][[/noparse]up to 300MIPs], but the average speeds of wireless are generally much slower. You may want to consider a wired LAN print server node for really fast throughput.

As I mentioned above, I am not 100% clear on how 'N' gear achieves greater speed and if it is only on the LAN. It appears to use 2.4Ghz AND 5.0Ghz, which is new. Many of these routers are 10/100 and not 10/100/1000, so having a faster ADSL downlink may only work with a direct connect to the computer that has the 10/100/1000 interface. Still your ADSL download speed is about 10 times faster than your router's top speed and top LAN interface. I'm not sure if that extra service ever reaches you.

Of course, if you really need or want the WAN speed distributed to every PC, you can make a PC become a router/gateway with Linux. The downside is more hardware and Linux. But that won't make the wireless any faster if its box is 10/100 and 'G' type. It is the old story of the weakest [noparse][[/noparse]or slowest] link in the chain. It seems if you have 100mips at the gateway, the N series higher speed is only useful locally between wireless home computers and possibly allowing other computers to get to the WAN more easily. And of course, if your new router allows a USB hard drive to plug in, that can provided shared local storage, an FTP server, or a variety of other interesting features --, maybe at the higher speed is very handy. So you may want to hang on to it.

I have doubts about 'wireless' printer sharing or USB printer server. For instance, the USB printer server seems to be able to only install one driver, though some appear to now support a separate scanner. But the HP 'Scanjet' series appear to require two drivers - one for the printer and one for the scanner. HP only provide a single combined driver. So you might only print, but not scan in some situations.

I see everything seems to be heading toward digital TV with 1000mps interface, but very few vendors are pushing 1000mips routers unless they are expensive. Netgear seems to avoid mentioning whether they are 10, 10/100 or 10/100/1000 interface. It looks like a 'gotcha' senario is developing. First you buy a leading edge router not really understanding it and then you need an upgrade to get to new services in a complete fashion.

I powered up my Asus WL500G Premium and was quite please to see it has Hotspot firm already in place. I believe it is only 10/100. Happily, I don't have to bother with OpenWrt unless I just want to enjoy the hacking. And, I retain the original warranty.

As it stands, I prefer to use as little Wifi as possible when at home. I am only developing the hot spot as an installation in a local cafe that I frequent. I have proposed to the owner to set him up for free in exchange for lifetime free service. I've been paying Starbucks a hefty monthly premium plus a lot of lattes. I am even providing the Asus to him at no charge and I'll recapture my costs in 4 months.

In general I like D-Link, but I've moved on to Asus as it is locally more available. You really don't have to have all one brand as the standards are there for communication. We don't have Netgear in Taiwan. A lot of these products are made from OEM boards and Asus is a world leader in OEM manufacturing - so their hardware is very generic and I suspect their firmware is thinly disguised Linux. Other manufacturers may buy their board and have firmware that is more obscure. I dislike the idea that Netgear is so unclear about the actual router speed. A Google search comes up with lots of disclaimers about speed on Netgear products. But they may be just overly protective. My Taiwan ADSL provider sells me a 256k/2M interface, but won't guarantee the 2M download and tells me to expect 1.5M.

In sum, we are all buying less performance than the numbers mentioned on the box. I get dizzy just thinking about it.

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It's sunny and warm here. It is always sunny and warm here.... (unless a typhoon blows through).

Tropically, G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan

Post Edited (Kramer) : 7/14/2008 3:40:02 PM GMT