[Speed Gibson,
Saturday July 30, 2005 at 2:34am]
What am I missing?
I have my home networked broadband connection running. I needed to call Comcast once at the beginning to get the cable modem activated. Everything else was by the book with one small exception.
It works fine, but it's not exactly what I wanted. I'm running 802.11g, but dual-band 802.11a/g technology is pretty available now, maybe $20 a box higher. But whether G or A or even B, the once ubiquitous wirelss ethernet adapter/bridge has disappeared from shelves.
All you can find now are notebook cards, PCI cards, and USB adapters. The standalone device that had a radio antenna and a single ethernet port is gone. The only thing close is what's called a gaming adapter.
Well, I finally found a 802.11g bridge with 5 ports at CompUSA. In fact, they had a couple of off-brand external adapters like I wanted, too, but I decided it best to build a "single vendor solution." So, I settled for a G solution.
But what I want to know is why Linksys and most others have quit making these external boxes. Who wants to tear open a PC to add a PCI card? No doubt you need to install drivers, like the USB adapters. I have a good 10/100 Ethernet card. Why can't I use that directly?
I smell a marketing decision. My bridge cost more than then the router, even the dual-band router.
Oh well, everything works and works fast, even blogging.
It works fine, but it's not exactly what I wanted. I'm running 802.11g, but dual-band 802.11a/g technology is pretty available now, maybe $20 a box higher. But whether G or A or even B, the once ubiquitous wirelss ethernet adapter/bridge has disappeared from shelves.
All you can find now are notebook cards, PCI cards, and USB adapters. The standalone device that had a radio antenna and a single ethernet port is gone. The only thing close is what's called a gaming adapter.
Well, I finally found a 802.11g bridge with 5 ports at CompUSA. In fact, they had a couple of off-brand external adapters like I wanted, too, but I decided it best to build a "single vendor solution." So, I settled for a G solution.
But what I want to know is why Linksys and most others have quit making these external boxes. Who wants to tear open a PC to add a PCI card? No doubt you need to install drivers, like the USB adapters. I have a good 10/100 Ethernet card. Why can't I use that directly?
I smell a marketing decision. My bridge cost more than then the router, even the dual-band router.
Oh well, everything works and works fast, even blogging.