Suggestions for Wireless Home Network

[Tom Razor]

Hello !

I'm planning on setting up a wireless network in my home because I don't want to run network cables thorugh the appartment.

I have for around 2 month's now searched the web for different resources on the topic and started to come to a conclusion what I need to purchase to get started. But since I'm not very familiar with these types of products I would run my conclusion by you, the experts, to get some feedback.

My general requirements;
I want to primarly use the network to connect one Stationary PC running XP to my internet connection which is a 10 Mbit LAN (Ethernet) connection.
In a next step I may want to add a Laptop running Win2000 to the network and maybe one or two more stationary PC's but they don't necessarly need to be connected wireless (will only be used during limited times).
I don't want to compromise on the speed of my internet connection if possible e.g. the wireless network should be able to throughput the 10 Mbits I have in my internet connection to my PC.
The network should of course be secure, I don't want anyone from the outside to be able to access my PC or use my internet connection (unless approved by me).

The conclusion I have come to;
I need a wireless Router that is connected to the Ethernet Internet connection using a standard network cable. The reason I think a router is required is because of the need to connect additional PC's to my network from time-to-time without neccessarly having to equip them with wireless receivers.
Since I want to have a high speed on my network I would like to use products for the standard 11G, giving 54 Mbits (optimal conditions).
For my stationary PC I need a wireless receiver, either PCI or USB (preferable USB since I don't want to add to much stuff inside the PC).
After going through several retailers product catalogs I have found that the following equipment would fullfill my requirements quite well;
* Netgear Wireless .11g Router 4p (WGR614GE)
* Netgear 54 Mbps Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter (WG121) or
Netgear Wireless .11g PCI (WG311GE)
(Later on I will probably require a PC card wireless adapter for my Laptop but this is not a priority right now)

Now, what do you think about my conclusion ? Am I on the right track ? Should I look for other products to fullfill my requirements ?

Any feedback is apprichiated !

And please get back to me for clearifications if I'm unclear in my situation description above .

Thanks in advance !

/ Tom

[EricB]

You sound already like a pro ;)

Your configuration sounds very solid. That should do the job!

If you want to consider price alternatives, you might want to look at linksys or smc. Both might give you a bargain of a couple $$.

The only thing that I would consider is a pci card instead of an usb for your stationary pc. My personnal experiences with usb is less, although it should make a difference. Furthermore, usb is more common used for other devices, so you might need that extra usb port after all.

[Tom Razor]

Thanks for your response, now I feel a lot more confident with my conclusion.

I will look into the product offerings of Linksys & SMC before I make my buy.

I will also consider using a PCI card instead of USB.

Once again, thanks for your response !

[EricB]

Let me know what your final choice will be! I am always curious which direction people go! :D