Wifi (Wireless Fidelity), being able to access the internet wirelessly. Wow, talk about liberation. I have always been amazed by the leaps in technology, but Wifi is really something that is short of astonishing. From all those people whipping out their laptops, pdas and smartphones inside the comfort of a coffee shop and surfing the web or what may you is just simply liberating and amazing. But what I have in mind was to replicate this experience in the confines of my own home. And the quest begun....
First off, I got rid of our years old dial-up connection from PLDT. And after hitting the forums for some key advises from people I don't even know and have never met before, I decided that I will subscribe to Bayantel's DSL + Landline product. It gives me 384 kbps of speed all day long during peak hours, and during off peak, as much as 768 kbps. After the initial set-up by the phone guys. I was up and running. Getting DSL was already a great experience since from a lowly 56 kbps we are now more or less 7 times faster. And that happened months ago.
Secondly, I need to have a wireless router to connect the DSL modem to for our house to get the wireless signal. Now here lies my problem, our house is a four-storey concrete structure, it is a "buhos" building, which means the flooring is also made of concrete. The DSL line is on the second floor (which was ideal, so that the signal can reach both first and third floor easily). But I have heard of problems regarding signal not reaching computers/devices because of dead spots and signal obstruction. So, hitting the forums again, I found myself more puzzled than enlightened after the exercise, for there were a lot of different opinions regarding my case. And so the last decision lies solely on me. What to do? What to do? If I go and buy the router, and it did not work out. I now have a problem of spending 3k for nothing, or it will work out fine. I decided to go for it, no guts no glory as they say.
Thirdly, I have to decide to what kind of router I am going to use. LinkSys, TPlink, Correga, D-Link, there are literally dozens of brands of these networking products, and I have to get the right one. And the right one turned out to be the LinkSys WRT54G, Why? You may ask. Because, its the router that is most compatible to all the devices that are going to connect to it. My wife's MacBook, My Lenovo X60s laptop, our old Dell Latitude laptop (which will get a wired DSL hook up), My Nintendo DSLite, My Sony PSP, My Nintendo Wii and lastly, My "future" PS3. And so off I went to the malls and got one for 3k flat.
Next step was to set it all up, and call me lucky, but I have heard a lot of horror stories regarding setting up a wireless network. But for me, it went off without a hitch! I followed the instructions of the LinkSys router and set it up to detect my other wireless devices, and luckily all detected the router. I let the set-up run without security for a week to see if there will be any problem and none happened. So, after the week, I set-up my security using WEP (the least cumbersome) and everything still went off like a charm. And I must say my wife's impress as hell, she gets to surf without going to the second floor to hook herself to the DSL line and only for that she's sold. As for me, in addition to wireless surfing, I now can get online with my Nintendo Wii & DSLite (surfing, online gaming, download new games and others), my PSP (surfing and online gaming), and the experience is simply GREAT!!!
So I think I am completely happy that me and my family are now completely WIFIED!
