It looks like it came from Mars, but don't be fooled!

I, like many other millions of Americans am a homeowner! Now there is nothing unusual about that. I have a wife, two kids a dog and a large mortgage. I also have two-wired MAC computers and a laptop. I wanted to connect all three, and be able to use the laptop all over the house. So I go out and purchase this brand new Linksys router that looks like a Mars Rover. Full of antennae, just raring to put out a high quality long-range signal, right? Wrong!

For those of you unfamiliar with what this device does, it takes the input signal from your cable modem and distributes it to the computers around your home or apartment. It can distribute the signals over a wired network through CAT 5 cable, commonly called Ethernet Cable, or if it is also a Wireless Router like this one, will transmit a wireless signal to be picked up by a wireless receiver embedded in your laptop. What most people don't realize is that the receiver and the receiving card have to be 100% compatible! Some cards will work with routers but will work only to a certain degree. The card and receiver both have to be the same type or any speed advantage will be lost. The router will "downshift" to a lower speed of the card to enable communication.

Unfortunately this is always the case with an Apple Computer. The AirPort Wireless cards have not been upgraded for years, and there are no new cards that can be retrofit into the Apple card slots, so you have to settle for the downgrading of the signals to slower speeds. With PC's, you have a choice of purchasing internal cards to perfectly match the router speed. The new routers are called MiMo. Multiple In Multiple Out. That allows multiple signals in and multiple signals out at the same time. This is the new standard for faster processing. The newest standard is actually called WIRELESS-N!

So much for the speed. I was talking about the range of the unit. I now have a current N Router by Belkin. The problem I have with it is that it will not allow a certain Apple program called IChat to go through it, no matter what I do. The good thing about the Belkin Router is that I can take my laptop and get coverage in every room of the house, including the basement, backyard, and far back bedroom. I hooked up this brand new Linksys expecting to reach the moon and back with the antenna array. Well to my surprise, I could NOT reach the backyard, basement, or the back bedroom! It let my program work, but all of a sudden I lost most of my operating range! The operating range was much more important to me than the one program that didn't work, so I unhooked the Linksys and hooked up the Belkin once again! Back to Staples I went, Linksys router back in its box awaiting a trip to the dusty return bin!

One important note for any Apple/MAC people out there considering purchasing this router! Be advised that Linksys does NOT SUPPORT Apple Computers with their products. If you call with a MAC problem, they have a very limited knowledge base for their products on an Apple computer! They will tell you, like they told me, "Call Apple" for help! That is not what you want to hear when you just laid out $140 for a piece of equipment, so be forewarned. The Linksys comes with an easy setup CD allowing for the computer and the router to "speak to each other" to allow an easy linking of both units. Again, it is a Windows Only CD. Also, when you purchase your router, make sure your can return it if the range of the router is not what you expected. I know that many people are a lot more concerned with the range and covering a wide area than they are with easy setup! After all, you set it up only once, but you live with the unit and its limited range for the lifetime of the product! It's like getting married once and living with your mother-in-law forever! It certainly was not what I thought I was going to get!