Router Uses and Requirements

[rrose500]

I have a guest house (50 feet from the main house) in a distributed wireless environment with four other devices connected through routers. My computer sees the wireless network availability, but I'm told by the landlord that I need a router, due to the 10" concrete construction in the main house and in mine.

If I need a router (of which I am not yet convinced), what router do I need? I understand Wireless N is overkill; but I am planning to purchase an iPad in November.

Thanks

 

[eibgrad]

I'm not sure why the landlord believes you need a wireless router. A wireless router is not something you connect FROM to another wireless router. Rather, a wireless router is something you connect TO from a wireless client. So on the face of it, the landlord is not making sense, or else you misunderstood him and/or didn't get the full picture.

What the landlord *might* have meant is that some routers can be reconfigured as a wireless client. And since routers tend to have better, more powerful antenna solutions compared to your average wireless adapter, such a router might work better.

Another possibility is maybe the landlord was suggesting you use a wireless router as a repeater. But that would typically require placing the repeater closer to the source. And you would still need a wireless adapter for your client.

But that's all pure speculation. You need to press the landlord about why he suggested a router because that statement alone doesn’t provide enough information. Otherwise you and I are left guessing.

 

[rrose500]

eibgrad:

Thank you for that thoughtful response. What I discovered on my own is that, not only did the landlord not know router functions, but my house is hard-wired. All I needed was a network cable!! Awesome how that worked.