WiFi in the home

[Marmora Man]

Advice requested.

Do I need a new WiFi router - I'm still using one fitted in 2004 by NTL to support 1 desktop Apple Mac. It now supports that plus two Microsoft laptops and one Apple laptop. When all are in use life is awfully slow and there is a tendency for the system to freeze / crash. I have max download rate (20MB I think) so it may be a bandwidth issue for the WiFi itself - but not being a techy I'm not at all sure.

What options do I have - apart from slaughtering first & second born sons who live, semi permantly on MSN / Facebook etc?

[lozzyloz]

MM, if your current router is 801.1 b/g it is probably worth upgrading to the newer series of 802.11n routers which have more bandwidth. Check with Virgin to see which are compatible. I use Buffalo N-finiti which are pretty good and I'm running 3 machines on that.

[zephyr]

As father to 2 teenage boys, are you sure they are not using utorrent to download stuff. My router must be about 4-5 years old now and supports 3 PCs and two laptops at one time. The snag has been when my son had utorrent running - ground everything to a halt nerly.

That said, it may be that your router is coming to the end of its useable life. As LL says, if you upgrade go for an 'n' series router (though to get the full benefits you will need 'n' adapters as well.

[pablogrande]

I would try giving broadbandbuyer.co.uk a ring and find a router that will allow you to restrict bandwith to each user which means you wont get one person using a disproportionate slice of your download speed.

I have installed a lot of wireless kit over the years and find that D-link tend to have the easiest units to set up

whatever you buy make sure you download the latest firmware I find that so many products are rushed out these days with bugs in them