Wireless!!!

Grerp has just gone WIRELESS!  Woo hoo! 

So, weeks after the purchase of a new laptop and wireless router, I am up and running.  And all the computer stuff, the wires, the modem, the router, the cords are all upstairs and out of the way.  I have my kitchen counter back, and can now fiddle with my blog, check my email, and write reviews from anywhere in the house.  Yay!

 The first router I bought, the Netgear Wireless-G was impossible to install.  I spent hours, hours, trying to get it up and running.  I followed the instructions meticulously, but got nothing for all that trouble.  Then I asked my IT friend, PJ, to help me and he spent hours and didn't get anywhere either.  To get any help from Netgear, I'd have had to pay a fee.  The helpful staff at Best Buy informed me that their GeekSquad people could install it for me lickety-split for only $90.  I figured I wasn't stupid.  This process shouldn't be so hard for a college graduate.  I set up my own modem without any problem at all.  $65 for the modem plus $90 installation makes for a much pricier wireless cost overall.  More than I'd budgeted.  Perhaps this is cynical of me, but I couldn't help but wonder if the folks at Netgear had made it impossible to install just to make more money on their telephone help line.   

So I took it back.

And I got the Linksys RangePlus Wireless G.  I paid a little more for this one, but since Best Buy was having a sale on routers that week, it wasn't too much.  $5 and tax, I think.  Anyway, I did that right before our vacation and was too busy packing, etc., to install it.  Plus, after the experience with the Netgear router, I was a little afraid to try.  Failing to install 2 routers might damage my self-esteem.  I'm not a computer guru, but I'm not stupid either, and the software these days should compensate.  Really.  However, this time, despite my trepidation, it was easy.  Easy.  The Linksys software took me though the process and did everything for me.  I ran into one tiny glitch connecting to the internet, but that was easily solved by plugging and unplugging.  It was so easy I couldn't believe it.  I think it took 20 minutes overall, and 10 of that was the computer doing its own job. 

So now I'm all connected.  Props to me!   

tags: wireless internet  wireless routers