Q&A: Can I connect both a PC and a Mac to a wi-fi home router?|home router

Home Networking: The Gone Blue-collar

Millions of computers nearly the world now are connected by the Internet, so why is it still so hard to hook up a few PCs in you own home? Whether you want to share an Internet connection, bed in WiFi, or maybe just cut down on the number of printers you own, home networks are supposed to help make your life simpler. Instead, most aspirant home networkers get lost in a hard maze of terms and technologies: 802.11g, Quick Ethernet, Cat 5 cable (or was it Cat 5e?), Powerline, and on and confu

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I have a PC desktop (Windows XP and in this area 4 being ancient) at home and will be getting a Mac laptop. I am preparation to get a wi-fi router, but I’m not sure which models work with both Mac and my ancient PC. Which router and other necessary adapters must I get if this is possible?

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Answer by johntrottier
Both MAC and the PC use the same wireless and Ethernet protocols. The router is OS independent, no adapters are required.

Answer by Bill M
Routers are not dependent on a particular operating system.

Answer by jaspreet C
Any wireless router will do. You dont have to exchange your router for different operating system. If you iMac has ability to connect to the wireless network then it must be able to connect to any.

Answer by Tyrus
You can absolutely do that with no problems at all. I do that with my Dell Inspiron and my MacBook Pro. A router is a router. I have a D-Link DIR-655 router and it cooks-I have no problems whatsoever. That Pre-N router is regarded as the best for residential use and will run you $ 90-use to be $ 120. Its 14X quicker than a G speed and has the broadest range. In addendum, it’s color is White (Like the whiite of Macs) and made of a heavier,well-built, thick steel. It also has MIMO and QOS that enable the clearest VOIP without interrupting speed to your other wireless diplomacy. Beyond that, if you already have a modem, you must be excellent to go. If you buy the modem and router together and contact your cable companionship,you must be able to get some cash back (discount) if you buy it from your retail pile like circuit city.

Answer by Fazz Munkle
It shouldn’t be that hard to set up for either Mac OS X or Windows XP/Vista. All you need to do is set up the router through your browser, usually at address 192.168.x.x, and then copy the appropriate settings to the respective WiFi settings control panels to access the router (I’d enter down or type down, in TextEdit or notepad, save and photograph out your proposed settings first even if to avoid locking yourself out of your WiFi network). No one brand will give you no matter what business over another when it comes to compatibility. It’s all honestly ordinary. Any respectable N router will be well-matched with A, B. and G hardware. And any respectable N hardware will ratchet down to the speed of any A, B or G router.

Just dredge up that your router can (and must) be accessed through your browser if the proprietary software fails you. Just follow the instructions that come with your router. The Airport Farthest can work with Windows as well as Mac OS X. It’s just an N router with some extra Mac-centric features that may work with Windows too. Those features, IIRC, are ordinary tech too. Meaning they can be used with any OS that’s standards amenable. I reckon the Time Capsule feature is austerely a NAS for instance.

And if you accidentally lock yourself out of the WiFi by background up the router first with security measures you can always reset it or access the settings by connecting directly into the router with an Ethernet cable and browsing to the 192.168.x.x page. It’ll tell you how to do it in the instructions.

I heard Buffalo routers are excellent. I use Netgear. Lots of public use Linksys. And always set up your security aptly. The router may work out of the box, but that doesn’t mean it’s set up to be secure. That’s up to you. Use WPA. Exchange the SSID from linksys or default to something you’d like. Exchange the password to the router. Turn off SSID broadcast (not that that helps against experienced hackers, but it’s a deterrent at smallest amount). Nevermind MAC address filtering, that’s a useless security feature. Turn off UPnP, that can get you into distress.

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