[H-GEN] WIFI access point recommendations

[Mark Ellem]

On Thu, 2008-08-07 at 10:58 +1000, mick wrote:
> I'm about to buy a WIFI Access point and would be interested in hearing 
> suggestions on what to buy, what not to buy, what to look for in the under 
> $100.00 price range

First question to ask is: What are you going to use it for? To clarify,
what sort of devices are you going to connect wirelessly to your
network? Where are you going to place it in your property and what sort
of speeds are you wanting?

If you want a no-frills, highly hackable WiFi Access Point/Router that's
good value, you can't go past the Linksys WRT54GL (make sure it's the
'GL' and not 'G' as the former runs Linux can be re-flashed more easily
with 3rd party firmware). UMart are selling them for $65 ATM. Another
bonus is they come with a 5 port 10/100 switch built in that supports
VLAN's (only configurable with 3rd party firmware).

In terms of 3rd party firmware for the WRT54GL and what you can do with
it, have a look at DD-WRT (www.dd-wrt.com) and OpwnWRT
(www.openwrt.org). There is also a number of other 3rd party firmware
out there for the WRT54G as well.

Hope this helps you,

Mark.