Ricky Says

I upgraded my wireless home network this weekend from an old Netgear 802.11b router to a shiny new Linksys WRT120N router sporting the latest 802.11n technology, and a much sleeker design.

The network speed difference is very noticeable and significantly faster on the newer router, and the units were on sale for only $39 at Fry's so it seemed like a steal of a deal... until I tried to install it.

I have Comcast internet at home with a standard-issue Motorola cable modem, and it turns out that Linksys routers don't naturally connect directly with these modems.

The Network Magic software that comes with Linksys routers failed on the first setup screen with an "Error 321", claiming it could not detect my ethernet network adapter. Apparently the Linksys routers require you to connect through a separate router that sits between the Comcast modem and the Linksys router (or at least that's what I found hidden somewhere in the documentation) - and in fact, it worked fine if I connected through my old Netgear router to the Comcast modem.

I was also able to connect directly from my computer to the Linksys router, which I was able to verify by running ipconfig and seeing the IP address assigned by the router. I was also able to log into the router's admin console screens by opening a web browser and entering the IP address of the router - http://192.168.1.1 using admin/admin for the username/password.

I'm enroute to Dallas, TX right now and it's a wifi flight with American Airlines. I'm typing... I mean tapping this post on my iPhone 3GS, after paying a nominal $7.95 fee.

The Internet speed on the in-flight wifi connection is plenty fast to download a music album from iTunes while updating 4 apps, browsing the web and checkng email, without any noticeable slow down.

GPS looks a little confused though - it thinks I'm still at the airport even though we've been traveling for a couple hours, probably because that's where the signal is coming from:

SMS also doesn't work, so don't plan on texting on these flights. You also can't share a connection between a laptop and mobile device - you have to pay an additional connection for a laptop or mobile device (iPhone, Blackberry, etc).

I'd love to see wifi be free on flights, but all things considered, I felt it was still a great value since I was able to get a lot of work done (and play) instead of wasting a few hours in the air.

Question: Is there a way to get a wifi signal to your itouch from either your cell phone or connect an aircard to the touch?

Answer: I haven't found a way to do this, but a couple readers indicated that it might be possible using a Blackberry.

Anyone up for creating an itouch app for this? :-)

Question: I have DSL/cable package via Time Warner, which is hooked up to my PC in the back bed room. It has a wireless router which allows me to connect my laptop to the internet. I also just purchased a Samsung Blu-Ray P2550 player with built in Netflix and Pandora internet radio (which sits in my living room).

Long story short, I need to connect a router to the Blu Ray in order to utilize Pandora. What router would you recommend I purchase? or is there a better alternative to connect the Blu Ray to Time Warner's cable/DSL system?

Question: Is there a way to connect your ipod touch to the internet with a laptop with an aircard, either through Wi-Fi, bluetooth, or with a USB cable?