# Staying Connected Bought Some New Stuff



## mike (Dec 17, 2006)

I know there have been posts on this subj before but I just want to make sure I have everything i need and a couple of questions. I bought a blackbeery 8830e with a tether cord and a laptop. I am not that computer literate so I figured what the heck and go to ebay and buy some stuff that might work. It seems like it will and It seemed like the price was right. I have yet to recieve any items yet.

For those with ebay expericnce I bought a warrarnty on the computer from square trade. Any experience with square trade? I can still get the fifty i paid for a two yr. warrarnty back.

Next the computer is supposed to have a/b/g wireless. I figured since my dd and I are always fighting over computer usage that it might be nice to set the laptop up for home use. I understand I need a "router to do this" We live in about a 3000 sqft house with the computer in the basement. I figure the laptop will primarly be used in the basement. What type of router do u recommend. It seems like these are priced all over the place.

Next i figureed the dw will be using the computer during our trip to keep her occupied during our long drives, We will also be doing some dry camping we are not really television people but it might come in handy during nine weeks. I assume I will need some type of invertor to keep the computer battery charged while driving and maybe us the invertor for a fan or small television when dry camping. Any ideas on what size invertor.

I also attached the pages of what i bought on ebay, out of curiosity what do u think of what i paid? This was my first experience with ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=270372902874

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=200333833463


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Just pick up a simple inverter from a local tech store (Best Buy...Radio Shack...etc)

I have a few of them..one stays in the Outback and one is in the truck.

The Suburban has front/center/rear 12v power outlets, so you won't have any problem finding a place to plug one in.

Great for charging stuff as you drive...computer/phones/laptop/etc....


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## mike (Dec 17, 2006)

For the invertor how many watts? do i need one with a fan?

Also what about a wireless router, any suggestions?


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

mike said:


> For the invertor how many watts? do i need one with a fan?
> 
> Also what about a wireless router, any suggestions?


For the fan...you'll have to look at how much power it draws, then decide from there.

For the router..I'd go with Linksys WRT320N. It has Dual Band N for wireless and Gigabyte connections in the back (vs. normal 10/100 connections)
http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/WRT320N


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## JerseyGirl86 (Mar 30, 2009)

We have the Linksys in our house and run 2 desktops, a laptop, plus an XBox360 on it. It works WONDERFULLY! Never had a problem....


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## mike (Dec 17, 2006)

JerseyGirl86 said:


> We have the Linksys in our house and run 2 desktops, a laptop, plus an XBox360 on it. It works WONDERFULLY! Never had a problem....


What lynsys do u have? We have a desktop that is connected to the high speed internet comcast. We will have one laptop also.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

mike said:


> We have the Linksys in our house and run 2 desktops, a laptop, plus an XBox360 on it. It works WONDERFULLY! Never had a problem....


What lynsys do u have? We have a desktop that is connected to the high speed internet comcast. We will have one laptop also.
[/quote]

Mike....get the Linksys WRT320N


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## JerseyGirl86 (Mar 30, 2009)

Oregon_Camper said:


> We have the Linksys in our house and run 2 desktops, a laptop, plus an XBox360 on it. It works WONDERFULLY! Never had a problem....


What lynsys do u have? We have a desktop that is connected to the high speed internet comcast. We will have one laptop also.
[/quote]

Mike....get the Linksys WRT320N
[/quote]

Ours is model WRT54G.....like I said, works great. BUT I am no IT genius so I would go with what OregonCamper recommends. I'm assuming they are all around the same price????? We got ours and everything else we needed at Walmart of all places!


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## Rob_G (Feb 16, 2006)

Oregon_Camper said:


> Mike....get the Linksys WRT320N


I tend to stay away from 802.11n products as it hasn't been ratified as an IEEE standard yet. Although it's backwards compatible with a/b/g, I'd just hate to see it be come useless should the proposed (and built on) 802.11n technology change.

Also... most people really think that this is going to make their internet connection really fast. Uh... no. You're only as fast as your uplink tot he internet. If you have a 802.11g router running at 54mb or a 802.11n router running at 104Mb, you're still going to download at that 3Mb pipe you have going into your house. Just something to think about. IF you have a 25Mb connection from Comcast or 50Mb FIOS connection from Verizon... cool... it prob could be utilized. Otherwise just a waste in my mind.

The Linksys WRT320N is a nice box, but I'd stick with the WRT54G. It's the workhorse of the wireless router world and you can run OpenWRT on it. ;-)

Just my 2 cents.


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## GarethsDad (Apr 4, 2007)

For the inverter. Find out your biggest draw. How much power will the laptop need to run and charge the battery? Depending on the size of the inverter will regulate if it needs a fan to keep its cool. I have a 175/400 watt inverter in each truck. Thats 175 watts pluged into the power port and 400 watts wired into the battery/charging system. James


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## swanny (Oct 31, 2007)

I just got off the phone with Verizon. I went with a Cradlepoint 1000 router, a Verizon 760 modem and a small booster antenna. This will work in my house or mobile. I can plug the modem into the router to send signal to more than 1 computer or just plug it into my laptop. We don't have options were we live for service. Only satellite. I'll keep you posted how it goes.


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## TitanFlyer (Feb 5, 2009)

swanny said:


> I just got off the phone with Verizon. I went with a Cradlepoint 1000 router, a Verizon 760 modem and a small booster antenna. This will work in my house or mobile. I can plug the modem into the router to send signal to more than 1 computer or just plug it into my laptop. We don't have options were we live for service. Only satellite. I'll keep you posted how it goes.


I was going to mention the cradlepoint routers. Nice stuff... plug your modem or phone (blackberry etc) into them and you are wireless. They even have a battery powered one. I skipped this step and just use my phone as a wireless router, but thats getting too far into the techy world for most. The booster is a nice thing to have though.

For home, I agree on with Rob_G on the N routers.. unless your laptop and another computer are both carrying N radios in them, its a waste of money. Go with the Linksys WRT54G.. it just works.


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