Siemens Gigaset SE361 WLAN (wireless router)
Recently, I picked up a Siemens Gigaset SE361 wireless router to use in the apartment. It allows for sharing of the cable connection between different computers, even in different rooms, without having the hassle of wires running here and there.
The kit came with a USB wireless adapter (802.11b/g compatible), so a desktop that doesn’t already have wireless capabilities can be set up to tap into the network. Many laptops (including the Amilo Li 2727 purchased earlier) already come with wireless potential.
An installation CD came with the router in order to assist the setup of the device and its network, as well as the USB adapter. The install process went smoothly, and soon I had a network with both a password and passkey, and WPA encryption.
The wireless by means of USB adapter worked right away on the first computer. Trying out a cable in one of the router’s four LAN ports, since the router was right next to the PC, the wired access worked as well.
Testing out a second PC, while only installing the software for the USB adapter, it didn’t immediately access the network. After tweaking some settings, however, the connection was up and running. The next task was testing the connection on the wireless-ready laptop. After supplying the security details for the network, I was in.Both PCs ran Windows XP, and the laptop was using Vista.
At first, there were frequent disconnection issues, but that was my fault as I had not set up the proper PPPoE connection with the cable account’s username and password. After fixing this, the connection has run well. Occasionally, the router needs to be restarted - it seems that this sometimes happens after putting the computer on standby.
The data transfer potential is officially 54Mbps. I haven’t noticed any issues with speed, as it seems the same as it had previously been with a direct connection from the Internet cable to the PC’s ethernet port. It doesn’t seem that the router is the weakest link in this case. Perhaps that would be otherwise in different usages.
For the equivalent price of under $70, this set has come in fairly handy. If you have computers in separate rooms, it may be worth the investment to not need to use a standard router to reach them with Internet access. Having cables can cause several issues, such as danger (tripping and breaking something, spilling something, etc.), damage to the house (needing to drill holes through the walls), along with the inconveniences posed.