Honest 836 Report post Posted February 18, 2011 Cool Things You can Do with a Wireless Router That little box does a lot more than just transmit Internet through the airwaves Thanks to the proliferation of Wi-fi in laptops, cellphones and even tablets now, a wireless router has almost become a must at home. These little boxes that sit unnoticed in the corner of the room have evolved over the years, and can perform special tricks that could be of great benefit to you. What are these things? Check 'em out: Wireless Music Transmission Apple's Airport Express is a tiny router that's almost as big as the charging adapter for a Macbook. Other than the petite size, it has this one unique feature that lets you stream music wirelessly from your PC. It has a standard 3.5mm audio jack that lets you connect it to a pair of speakers or even that old music system you might have. So, you place the Airport Express next to the speakers, hook it up and access iTunes from your computer (Mac and Windows supported, no support for Linux). Once the computer is wirelessly connected to the router, it will give you the option to select which speakers you want to play the music from. Just toggle and voila, your music will start playing through those speakers despite you sitting meters away from it. This can come in handy especially when your laptop has all your music and you don't want to be tied down to a particular place. Wireless Printing This feature comes not just with the Airport Express, but also routers from other manufacturers (like the ASUS WL-520GU). There's a USB port on the router that lets you connect your printer for wirelessly firing a print command from a distance. Some even allow scanning. This is really useful if you have a laptop, as you don't have to walk over to the printer, connect the USB cable and then hit 'Print'. Although nowadays a few affordable printer-scanners come with Wi-fi built in, this feature will be of help to those printers that don't have Wi-fi. Automatic Bandwidth Management Imagine this situation, you've kept your P2P downloads on at full-blast and somebody tries to access the Internet using the web browser. That person will get frustrated with the page load times, and unless he or she doesn't know how to pause your downloads, the problem will persist. A great tool on some ASUS routers we saw was the EzQoS automatic bandwidth management. This is a setting in the firmware of the router itself, and lets you prioritize amongst a couple of preset Internet use-cases -- like Gaming, Internet browsing, VOIP/Video Streaming, and P2P file sharing. All you have to do is set your preferences, and the router will do the rest. ASUS even has a dummy configuration page for people to experience how it actually works. So, the next time when the aforementioned occurs, the router will slow down the P2P downloads and give priority to Internet page loads. Once you stop using the browser, the downloads again start full-steam! This can happen even when you start playing multi-player games or making an internet phone/video call. Lastly, since the control is in the hands of the router, it will manage bandwidth for multiple number of computers connected to it. This is needed, as automatic bandwidth management may be available in some download-related apps, but what will you do if the Internet isn't being accessed from the same computer? Download support Routers like the ASUS RT-N16 or the D-Link DIR 685 have a smart feature that possibly eliminates the need to buy a low-power rig dedicated to leeching content 24/7. While the former has a USB port to attach flash drives or external hard drives, the latter has a slot to contain a laptop HDD within the device itself. This in conjunction with a PC application or the router's interface itself will let the router download files directly without the need for any computer to be on. All you need to do is queue any HTTP, FTP or BitTorrent file and let the router do all the downloading. The supplied apps aren't advanced like the download managers or BitTorrent clients available for the PC, but they'll at least get the dirty work done and can save electricity too (especially if you have a heavy-duty gaming PC that you keep on constantly for downloading stuff). Share your 3G Internet Connection Some of you might be using those high-speed USB dongles like Tata Photon+, Reliance NetConnect+, BSNL 3G etc. Although they can be simply plugged and played with PCs, which have a USB port, what about devices that don't? Like a smartphone or a tablet? What if there were multiple computers in the house that wanted to use Internet at the same time? There are Wi-fi routers available on eBay India from various manufacturers that have a USB port that accepts these Internet dongles. Once setup, they can spread this mobile Internet love across multiple devices over typical Wi-fi. Neat huh? I'm sure there are a lot more interesting things one can do with a router. We'd love to hear from you if you know any. Thanks to Rohan Naravane Courtesy : Techtree 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
digitalnirvana 646 Report post Posted February 18, 2011 Good info. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mgdelhi 192 Report post Posted February 18, 2011 What is the cost Apple Airport Express in India ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rajanmehta 4,056 Report post Posted February 18, 2011 ^ ^ Apple Official Online Price For Airport Express Base Station is Rs 6,510 & Airport Express Stereo Connection Kit with Monster Cable Cost is Rs 2,600 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rajanmehta 4,056 Report post Posted March 7, 2011 (edited) D-Link offers PowerLine 802.11n router... Use Your Home's Electrical Points in Addition to Wireless!!! Product Page http://www.dlink.com...s/?pid=DHP-1320 Using PowerLine technology, router and modem maker D-Link unveiled the Hybrid Wireless N PowerLine Router, also known as the DHP-1320, a networking solution for extending wired and wireless home networks using a home's existing electrical wiring. The 802.11n 300 device offers throughput of up to 200Mbps and uses the Atheros Hy-Fi chipset to expand coverage and simplify setup and management. The device is aimed at helping to extend Ethernet or Wi-Fi networks into what would otherwise be "dead zones" either too far away from the router, too heavily shielded (like a basement or attic) or too impractical to string additional wiring to. The D-Link device provides previously unreliable areas with bandwidth sufficient for HD video, gaming, VOIP and other uses, turning the existing electrical system into an extended Ethernet network. The DHP-1320 is simply connected to the high-speed cable, DSL or satellite modem, then plugged into an electrical outlet -- instantly distributing broadband to every electrical outlet in the home. PowerLine adapters are then used to connect computers and other internet devices either through a wired or wireless connection. The DHP-1320 comes with three 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet ports, supports WPA2 wireless encryption (the PowerLine network itself is also protected using 128-bit AES security), and easy network configuration. The unit also supports IPv6 for future-proofing. Accessories include a PowerLine AV 4-port switch, a Wireless N extender and Network Starter Kit. The DHP-1320 itself costs $130, and the various adapters range from $100 to $140. Source:electronista Edited March 7, 2011 by rajanmehta Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
city02 63 Report post Posted November 30, 2011 i need to connect my ipad2 to my hp printer [1018] what wireless adaptor should i get in mumbai? how much should it cost? where can i get it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
supernova 47 Report post Posted November 30, 2011 i am also interested in connecting my wifi with my canon MFD Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
