{"id":1024,"date":"2008-01-13T16:44:57","date_gmt":"2008-01-13T21:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2008\/01\/13\/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to\/"},"modified":"2009-01-01T14:46:46","modified_gmt":"2009-01-01T19:46:46","slug":"they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2008\/01\/13\/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to\/","title":{"rendered":"They Don’t Make ’em Like They Used To"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"remote\"Yesterday I found that the Belkin<\/a> Wireless Router I’d been using as a wireless access point had completely died on me. It simply would not power on – I don’t know if the problem was in the device itself or in its power adapter, but in either case – I had no wireless in my house. While this isn’t a problem for me personally (my computer is hard-wired into the network), it is<\/em> a problem for Amanda, who often works from her laptop at home – and that connects wirelessly.<\/p>\n

With a snow storm (supposedly) on the way, and thus the possibility that she’d be working from home, I needed to get wireless access working again.<\/p>\n

First though, a little background.<\/p>\n

I’ve been using a Netgear RT314 4-port 10\/100 Ethernet Router<\/a> since around 1997, and I’d never had any problems with it. Being that a router is generally a solid-state electronic component, I had always assumed all routers (and switches and hubs) were just the same – they’d die when their electronics shorted out, but if that didn’t happen they’d last basically forever.<\/p>\n

About 2 years ago a good friend of mine got me the Belkin wireless router – I don’t now recall what model (it’s in the trash). Ironically, it didn’t work well as a router – in fact, it didn’t work at all<\/em> as a router. I never had a high regard for the Belkin brand (as far as routers go, anyway) so I just switched it to “wireless access point mode,” a feature that was very handy. In this mode, all the “router” features were turned off, and it functioned just like a simple wireless access point. Perfect!<\/p>\n

So when the Belkin died, I was in no rush to buy another of the same brand – and given the choice between the other 2 leaders (Netgear and Linksys), I’d personally go with Netgear – so that’s what I did.<\/p>\n

Given that I had no problems with my current router, I was hesitant to go out and buy a whole new router – why buy what I don’t need, right? But to my surprise, simple, dumb wireless access points cost more<\/em> than a similar wireless router! So, given the choice between paying more for less, or paying less and getting more, I opted for the latter and picked up a Netgear WGR614 Wireless-G Router<\/a>. I suppose you could call it the spiritual decedent of my venerable old RT314.<\/p>\n

Now, I could have used the new router as a wireless access point and not given up my old RT314 – it would’ve been a little weird, but it would have worked. However, after much consideration, I finally decided to retire the RT313 and let the new kid on the block take on the leading role.<\/p>\n

Whatever anyone else says, the setup for the Netgear is quite simple. (Simpler than the Belkin’s setup – which was awful, that’s for sure!) I of course skipped the whole “insert this CD before attaching your router” instructions – I’m a professional IT-type person; I know how these things work.<\/p>\n

My old Netgear used the 192.168.0.x IP address range- unlike the dominant Linksys, which always used 192.168.1.x. (I know this because I’ve set up VPN access for people before, and having the right subnet makes a difference.) I was therefore surprised when I noticed the new router used the 192.168.1.x range – I guess they decided to jump on the bandwagon with that one. Still, I like being different (and I have other reasons), so I switched it back – fortunately they still let you do this.<\/p>\n

After that, it was just a simple task of entering all my settings from the old router – port forwarding mostly, and of course the whole reason for doing all this – wireless! The web-based configuration for Netgear has gotten a bit “flashy” compared to the old RT314, but that’s to be expected, I suppose. Still, it worked well, no problems and no surprises.<\/p>\n

So now, the job of my Internet gateway (starkeith-gw.starkeith.net) and my wireless access point (Aether) are being performed by one device.<\/p>\n

As time goes by, we’ll see how well this new router holds up. I’ve heard stories of routers that need to be reset every few days, or that die out after a certain amount of data\/packets are sent, or other such nonsense. I think many of these problems come from newer routers and devices trying to do too much, or being made with firmware that was rushed into production, without proper testing.<\/p>\n

My old RT314 never had to be reset<\/em>. Ever<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Oh, I’d had to reset modems before – cable modems (back when cable Internet was still very new) and DSL modems (from time to time) – but never the router.<\/p>\n

We’ll see if this new one holds up to the high standard set by its predecessor. Here’s hoping!<\/p>\n

Icon courtesy of the Crystal Icon Set<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong> The Saga Continues<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I found that the Belkin Wireless Router I’d been using as a wireless access point had completely died on me. It simply would not power on – I don’t know if the problem was in the device itself or in its power adapter, but in either case – I had no wireless in my… Continue reading They Don’t Make ’em Like They Used To<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[90,388],"class_list":["post-1024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-commentary","tag-technology","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pimUj-gw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1605,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2009\/01\/01\/they-really-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":1024,"position":0},"title":"They REALLY Don’t Make ’em Like They Used To","author":"Keith Survell","date":"January 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the latest in a series (previous entries here and here) on my quest to have a rock-solid, reliable Internet Gateway Router. When I last wrote about this, I had gone to Netgear Tech Support, and they said my router was bad, and we were going to exchange it.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "tech"","block_context":{"text":"tech","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Network Configuration","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2009\/01\/knetconfig.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1545,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2008\/12\/10\/they-still-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":1024,"position":1},"title":"They Still Don’t Make ’em Like They Used To","author":"Keith Survell","date":"December 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Long-time readers will recall that slightly less than a year ago I finally replaced my venerable old Netgear RT314 router with a newer Netgear WGR614 v7 router. Ever since then, I've been battling with an intermittent problem - the worst kind to debug. At seemingly random intervals, the router would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Rants"","block_context":{"text":"Rants","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/rants\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2008\/12\/internet-connection-tools.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":671,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2005\/10\/31\/bunnycam\/","url_meta":{"origin":1024,"position":2},"title":"BunnyCam!!","author":"Keith Survell","date":"October 31, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"UPDATE: The BunnyCam is off-line for now. My webcam died (it was very old) and the buns are now in a different room anyway.","rel":"","context":"In "pets"","block_context":{"text":"pets","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/pets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1637,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2009\/01\/10\/making-em-like-they-used-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":1024,"position":3},"title":"Making ’em Like They Used To","author":"Keith Survell","date":"January 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it's been a little over a week now, and the verdict on the router-reset issue is: Linksys Wins! Since switching to the Linksys, I've had zero router resets and my Internet connection has been rock-solid. My Mozy online backup has been able to run each night without interruption, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "tech"","block_context":{"text":"tech","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"internet","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2009\/01\/internet.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2766,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2009\/08\/20\/acer-aspire-one-life-so-far\/","url_meta":{"origin":1024,"position":4},"title":"Acer Aspire One: Life So Far","author":"Keith Survell","date":"August 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Taking a look at the Acer Aspire One D150 after living with it for a few weeks - and the verdict is good!","rel":"","context":"In "Gadgets"","block_context":{"text":"Gadgets","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/technology\/gadgets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The truly AWESOME look of Ubuntu Netbook Remix","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2009\/08\/Screenshot-300x175.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1083,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2008\/04\/24\/comcastic-support\/","url_meta":{"origin":1024,"position":5},"title":"Comcastic “Support?”","author":"Keith Survell","date":"April 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this week, on Monday, I had some Internet trouble. My ISP, Patriot Media, was recently bought out by that cable company everyone loves to hate, Comcast. On Monday, my Internet stopped working, and so I set about trying to figure out what went wrong. I saw right away that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Rants"","block_context":{"text":"Rants","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/rants\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}