Be Excellent To Each Other

Kindly old Santa has this very day gifted me with a lush new iPod Touch, and all is well. However, I now wish to set up a wireless thingy jobbie at home.

I have my broadband from Virgin, and from the modem wotsit, I use an ethernet cable to connect up either my Xbox or laptop - this has always suited my needs due to the location of the modem and Xbox, etc (i.e. I didn't need wireless).

Still now I have the iPod, I could do with it (wireless) for obvious reasons, but at the same time, I don't want to spend many hours or many pounds on this, as I will still use my current wired set-up for Xbox-ing and general computer usage - the wireless is literally just to make use of the iPod.

So... can some kindly soul please recommend a cheap and cheerful router thingy, which will work with my existing modem, and hopefully it will all connect up very easily and just by pressing a magic button or two.

I have so far managed to download some games and that via iTunes, then sync these to the iPod, which all appears to work just fine, still obviously having a wireless connection would be more straightforward.

Thanks in advance for any help-age coming my way.

P.S. Angry Birds is amazing and I've just played it for about five hours solid. I have just stopped to eat some food and type this post.

If you have Virgin Media broadband installed these days they give you a modem-router. One box that does both and gives you a nice strong wireless signal. I am sure that if you call them and ask for one they will oblige.

http://shop.virginmedia.com/broadband/b ... uters.html

I've not had a problem with this thing:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Buffalo-AirStation-WHR-HP-G54-Wireless-Router/dp/B000BQ5ORM (£45) which I believe originally was recommended to me from here.

Before that we had a linksys that needed rebooting every few days,where as this has been solid as a rock so I much-o-recommendaro.

Plugs into out cable thingy by ethernet and then can rebroadcast by 4 ethernet ports and WiFi. Works lovely with my iPhone 3GS and iPad (and DS, Macbooks etc) so I would expect the same results from an iPod.

It even has an ACOSS button (sic?) or some such for super fast set up of the DS and, it would appear, nothing else.

The only issue is that I have a small flat so I've no idea how it would spread through a big house etc. When locked out I did use the Wifi on my stoop without issue, so I think it's al good.

I used a Netgear router (very similar to this from amazon) that worked pretty well over the 3 or 4 years I had it. Dead easy to set up.

My usual recommendation is a netgear DG834G. Mine has been easy to set up and reliable, and cost less than £20 iirc.

Actually it looks identical to the one above, maybe that's the new version of it.

To be honest, you're going to get about 15 different recommendations as most consumer grade routers are much the same. I use a Buffalo router flashed with the Tomato Firmware, but I would actually recommend you speak to Virgin and see if you can get their router for free. At least then you're going to get some proper tech support if needed (on here, natch).

Thanks, chaps.

Will take all that on board and get myself sorted before Christmas.

I might have a router kicking about if you want a wireless thingy. I'll check for you tomorrow.

Oh great stuff - thanks.

I'm 99% sure I haven't chucked it, it's either in the attic, or under a bed. I'll check for you and if I have it I'll let you know and try and get it posted today.

Cheers mate, I appreciate that.

Good news and bad news:

Good news:

Found the router. it is a ZyXEL P-660HW-T1 v2


Bad news:

I can't find the power cable. It looks like a small female connector is needed, and it says on the back "POWER RATING: 12VAC, 1A" and "Power consumption: 12 watt max"

I'll try and find a box for it if this is of any use.

Not sure if I've got a power adapter to suit, so please hang onto that for the moment, and I'll see what I can sort over the weekend.

Thanks for your help though.

Thanks again for everyone's help with this, but I had a result yesterday and managed to blag a spare router from work, after asking around, so I'm all sorted now.

I am typing this wirelessly, from the iPod. It works! Also I'm pleased to report that the set-up was entirely hassle free.

Yay! What make did you end up with?

It's a Netgear something-or-other, about a year old so I was told, so have probably got a good freebie there.