Just another Mac guy

Wireless is the best thing that has ever happened to networking. This is thanks to Apple’s AirPort, which was the first widely available, easy to use implementation of the 802.11b standard. WiFi (a name trying desperately to sound cool) does work in the Microsoft kingdom, but setting up networks in Windows is second only to family gatherings around the holidays.

I have a broadband Internet connection immediately available at my home or office, without doing anything beyond opening my PowerBook. It just works.

I live in a townhouse, with my Comcast cable modem plugged into a Linksys router next to my wife’s iMac on the 2nd floor. The iMac and a Linksys wireless access point are plugged into the router, and I roam around between the 1st and 2nd floors without any connection issues.

Unfortunately, the signal drops dramatically in the basement, to the point of being unusable.

I happened to see the Linksys Wireless Signal Booster at Best Buy over the weekend for $99 and picked one up. It’s not listed on Linksys’ web site, which is probably due to problems they had with the FCC regarding amplification. It shows up with a site search, however.

According to MacStumbler, it has essentially doubled the output of the access point. And indeed, I was able to reliably pick up the signal all the way down in the basement.

Linksys provides only Windows installers for their products; fortunately, you can configure everything using a web browser on any computer. Tip – don’t forget to change the default password!