Wireless Internet for Imac G5 Intel...

T

tomgolden

Registered
Hi all,

Recently bought a 20" Intel Imac G5 and am looking at getting it hooked up to the old t'innerweb. My current ISP is freeserve and the Speedtouch 330 modem they supply me with won't work with the Mac, so I'm looking into getting it set up via wireless.

I've got a basic idea of the old wireless stuff, and know that airport is built into the Mac so all I need to get is a router (?), was wondering if anyone had any reccomendations for a solid router that I could get that works well on Mac as well as PC (got two more PC's that still need internet access)

Hope you all can help,

Tom :D
 
best tomgolden
I have also a Intel iMac. I'm surfing an the net with airport. I have a Belking Wireless G router. And it's working verry good.
I payed 69 Euros for it (here in belgium)

good luck
 
For my PC i've alwyas used Linkys and never had a problem. I love them, but I never used one for a Mac so I don't know.

Good luck
 
Hi!

I have a 17" Intel iMac and it is running off a linksys wireless router fine.
If you are going to buy a router, why not run the iMac off a lan line? Much faster
 
I also recommend Linksys, I have one set up with a G5 Imac and it was pretty much plug and play.

Also are you sure your modem will not work? I have a Webstar modem I got from Telewest and they claim not to support Macs but it does work. If you haven't tried already just plug it in and have a go, you'd be suprised how much hardware claiming not to support OS X actually does work.
 
I'm guessing the modem is probably USB which usually doesn't work with OS X since it requires special drivers. You can use any wireless router that supports 802.11g which will be printed somewhere on the package.

Make sure you get one that supports WPA(Wireless Protected Access) encryption because WEP(Wired Equivalency Protocol) encryption is broken and anyone with 10 minutes can break the encryption.

In your router, set up WPA with a GOOD, LONG key. Short keys based on dictionary words can be broken by brute force meaning someone can run a program that can test all combinations of words to crack your password.

A good passkey is one you can get from https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm
Pick the 64 character hexadecimal key that gets generated for you.

You can keep this pass key on your computer in a text file by opening TextEdit and pasting that key into the text document. Save it somewhere on your computer in case you need to add other computers to your network.

You can set up your router via unsecured wireless as that is how they all come when you buy them. But you don't want to leave it unsecured because anyone within range of your wireless router can pick up your signal and use your internet connection or also steal your email passwords if you use a POP email client(passwords for POP are sent unencrypted).

Encrypting your wireless base station signal with WPA and a good long 64 character passkey will provide you with 100% secure access.

You will also want to make sure you change your router's default password and SSID. Linksys' SSID is set to "linksys" and their login is "admin" with no password for example(If I remember correctly).

This is no good since someone could get into your router and change stuff around. You want to change your SSID to something other than the default so you can identify it in the wireless networks list in OS X. It's not a big deal if you don't have any other wireless access points near you but a lot of people will have many called "linksys" or "default" making it hard to know which one is actually yours.
 
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