Need your opinions on this,

[Doc Serenity]

Hi.
I'm looking for some feed back on a router for my single windows pc. Running XP Pro, SP2 hooked to high speed cable. Cablevision does not cloak my ip address.
My main reason for a router is for the firewall. Prefer SPI and NAT.
I don't even care about it being wireless.
I've been looking online and am only getting confused.
Hope you can help.
Thanks.
Doc

[wat0114]

Hello Doc Serenity,

you may find your answers in this thread (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=169345&highlight=routers). Hope it helps :)

BTW, you may not feel the need for wireless now, but it is not a bad idea to spend a little extra $$ for the option in case you need it later. You can always turn off the router's radio through the web interface while you don't need it. The yet to be standardized wireless "n" advancement, which offers better speed and bandwidth, is supposed to get better by the Summer. Keep in mind that this will not improve your Internet speed, as the bottleneck is your ISP's connection, but it will give you better production on a LAN, if you use the router for that purpose. Unless you live in a mansion or plan to use the router on a large LAN, you could do very well with the present (802.11) "b" and "g" standards. The prices are very reasonable.

[Doc Serenity]

Thanks for your help.
I'd be surprised if I needed a wireless setup even in a year from now.
Also, wireless USB 2.0 has already been introduced. It's got a long way to go, but it's got serious promise for the future.
Doc

[innerpeace]

I just bought a D-link DI-604 wired router. It is mentioned in the link wat provided. It was very easy to set up. It has NAT but as far as I know it doesn't have SPI. The regular price was $27 and it had/has a $10 mail in rebate. It is all I need and I feel a bit safer now. I also still run my software firewall. I hope this helps.

[Stem]

Hello Doc,

I am not sure of the feedback you want,.. is this for the specific router you are using, the layer of protection it can add, or?

Some more info would help to get you more feedback.

[Clweb]

-{ Quote: "I just bought a D-link DI-604 wired router. It is mentioned in the link wat provided. It was very easy to set up. It has NAT but as far as I know it doesn't have SPI. " }-

It has also possibility to enable or disable SPI .

[Doc Serenity]

Stem,
No. I don't have a router.
I don't need wireless, but will go that route if necessary.
I want a router for the firewall. I would prefer to have NAT and SPI.
My ISP does not mask it's customers IP address. I'd like to be able to completely hide my IP address if I can.
Hope this clears up what I'm looking for.
Thanks.
Doc

[Stem]

@Doc,
Thanks for clarification. There are a number of members who can better help you with the choice of a router.
One point, a router will not hide your external IP (the one issued by your ISP).

[wat0114]

The following non-wireless routers from D-Link (http://www.dlink.com/) have the features you are looking for. I'm not suggesting you should purchase one of these, only that I know D-link to be reputable, I use D-Link (DI-624), and I have narrowed down their models to the ones with SPI and NAT. A couple of them have VPN features that you probably do not need or want. Hopefully it helps your decision making process a little bit.

DGL-4100 (http://games.dlink.com/products/?pid=371&#DGL-4100)

DIR-130 (http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=563)

DI-LB604 (http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=452)

DI-804HV (http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=59)

As Stem has mentioned, there is no hiding from your ISP. Your router's WAN port needs an ip address assigned to it by your ISP. They have this information always on hand, but as long as you are just an average joe using the Internet for average purposes, it is highly unlikely any law enforcement agencies would request your surfing activity logs from your ISP. The ip address your router assigns via NAT and built in DHCP to your pc is private.