Your opinion - portable wireless router

[ptaylor]

Reposted - moved from router section, problem in my reading skills

Will be traveling a great deal over the next year and have been thinking about getting a wireless router to add. What would be your suggestions (personal experience is highly valued)? A variable is ideally it would have universal power availability. (travel in N America, Europe and Asia)

Suggest away and thanks

 

[zjohnr]

Add a wireless router ... to what??? To do what???

Will be traveling a great deal over the next year and have been thinking about getting a wireless router to add.

It may just be me, but I don't know what you are asking to do. Or what equipment you might be doing it with ...

-irrational john

 

[jdabbs]

I was going to say that 110-240V adapters are universal, but after a quick check it turns out the Trendnet TEW-652BRP I have is only rated for 100-120V.

You have not said much to define your criteria. Will this router be carried in a laptop bag (where weight/volume is extremely important) or trunk? For personal or group use (where performance is essential)? Desired coverage? It's much easier to decide on a router and then research the power stipulation than it is to come up with a list of all power-compatible routers.

 

[ptaylor]

Clarification

Thanks for the suggestions so far. To clarify (I think ) Looking for a small(ish) wireless router that will operate (from a power standard) both in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Size and weight are both important. Looking to have one or two computers connected.

Thanks again to all the have contributed and more the merrier.

 

[zjohnr]

Still not sure ...

To clarify (I think ) Looking for a small(ish) wireless router that will operate (from a power standard) both in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Size and weight are both important. Looking to have one or two computers connected.

Unfortunately, I can't help much with the question as stated. It will be interesting to see what other responses you get.

I'm not aware of any "standard" wireless router that is made or designed especially for portability. By this I mean a wireless router which connects its wireless clients to a larger WAN (usually the Internet) via NAT. The WAN port I'm familiar with is always ethernet using an RJ45 connector.

I believe most (all?) manufacturers of the smaller devices are targeting usage within either a home or a SOHO. As such, size and weight are viewed more as a cosmetic concern. A way to possibly distinguish the product in a minor way from others on the market.

I think most people buying are more interested in some combination of feature set and price with size and weight a much lower concern. After all, the typical router is already not that big a box. And if that box is most likely going to be "hidden away" in a closet, back room, top shelf, or whatever, then how much does size and weight matter?

About the best I could do is to suggest looking at the routers which use internal antennas. As for portability of the adapter, if you travel as much as your question implies, then you probably already know much more about power adapters/converters for various countries than I expect I ever will.

You might also look into trying to connect your computers via an "ad hoc" wireless network. It's a feature I've seen listed on some of USB wireless client adapters. How useful it is in general or in your specific case I couldn't say since I've never actually worked with it.

What I have seen sold particularly for people who travel are routers that allow multiple wireless clients to connect to the Internet via a cell phone data line. I remember seeing a review for a gadget like this in David Pogue's column.

Here are some links to Pogue columns from a quicko search. I don't think this is what you are looking for though.

Wi-Fi to Go: The Hot Spot in a Box
Wi-Fi to Go, No Cafe Needed

But then again, I'm still not really sure what it is you're looking for or, more importantly, what "problem" you are trying to solve with it.

-irrational john

 

[thiggins]

Travel routers were briefly popular and you might be able to find them on eBay or clearance etailers. The Linksys WTR54GS and NETGEAR WGR101 were two of the more popular models.

Your best bet would be a smallish 11g router. Look at the 11G Belkins. Not fancy, but good for basic needs.

 

[zjohnr]

How about the Apple Airport Express?

The Linksys WTR54GS and NETGEAR WGR101 were two of the more popular models.

After seeing Tim's post I Googled the Netgear WGR101 and took a brief look at the CNET review for it (circa Sep 2004).

It reminded me that I never thought to suggest looking at the Apple AirPort Express. I can't say whether it would meet your needs or not. But it's certainly small and thus very "portable".

You'd still have to deal with finding a good way to get power into it from a the various wall sockets around the world. But all that might boil down to is getting the correct "plug" from Apple. The specs for the Airport Express state that it uses 100-240V AC, 50-60Hz.

They run around $100 plus whatever (insane IMPO) price you'd have to pay Apple for additional plug(s) for the wall socket(s) used in whatever countries you plan on traveling to.

-irrational john

 

[jdabbs]

^^Since the AC>DC power circuitry is in the device and 100-240V operation is supported, a simple adapter should do.

Like Tim said, travel routers were common a few years ago, but have largely fallen out of vogue. While most devices have been phased out/discontinued, D-Link is still producing their pocket router, the DIR-G730AP. It meets the size/portability requirement, and has the option of being powered through USB. Since it's been out for a while performance is unlikely to be competitive with today's routers, but the importance of this depends on the connection speeds available and usage type.

A likely compromise for travel routers is coverage; if you're sharing a room with the other user you should be ok, but if you need some flexibility you may want to just get a regular router. The WRT54GC I traveled with came with a RPSMA port to add a better antenna, and is adequate for at least 5 Mbps operation, but it's been discontinued.

I learned the hard way not to transport devices with an external antenna attached (resulted in a weak RPSMA-PCB connection); since non-removable external antennas use a pigtail to connect to the board you don't have to worry about solder joints, but the router casing may break instead--I don't know how much better off a non-removable antenna is.

 

[loyukfai]

Just would like to know if there's any new model coming. The WTR54GS seems to be discontinued and is scarce even on eBay. The Airport Express looks okay but cannot load *Wrt firmware.

Cheers.

 

[loyukfai]

Just found a few 3G-capable models which seem to do the LAN-to-Wireless AP as well... Anybody tried one...?

http://www.solwise.co.uk/3g-routers-3g11nmrw.htm
http://www.solwise.co.uk/3g-routers-3gwifimrw.htm
http://www.sapido.com.tw/EN/productrb1132o_35g.htm
http://www.sapido.com.tw/EN/productgr1102o.htm
http://www.sapido.com.tw/EN/productgr1100o.htm