There are a variety of types and manufacturers of wireless networking equipment.

The WiMAX Guys put the best, most reliable, most powerful equipment in our commercial installations. For more information about our commercial installations, see our technical white paper.

Home equipment is quite a bit different from commercial equipment, and it is better suited to the home because it is less expensive. The kind of home equipment that The WiMAX Guys services include systems made by Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, Belkin, and others, otherwise known as 802.11b and 802.11g systems. Since few 802.11a systems are in use by small businesses and consumers, we do not concentrate on those systems, except for combination 802.11a/b/g multi-standard systems.

We take a brief look at several vendors below.

Linksys

Linksys is the market leader as far as sales go, and they've generally been pretty close to the front of the pack in releasing new innovations. They did not go for the 22Mbps throughput enhancement that D-Link decided to support, however. Linksys shipped more than 2.8 million wireless products last year and is the leader worldwide in the home and small office markets. It has a 53% market share for wireless products in the US. In the first 30 days after introducing its 54G products at the end of January, Linksys shipped more than 100,000 Wireless-G products in North America alone.

Linksys gear is generally well designed, but industry analysts tend to fault the company for a high rate of equipment returns. Networking giant Cisco recently made a bid to buy Linksys.

Linksys also tries to be the price leader with aggressive rebates and discounts. Some of its most heavily promoted items are its 54G Notebook Adapter and its 54G Wireless Router.

D-Link

D-Link has tried to distinguish itself in the marketplace by coaxing a little more performance out of its gear. For example, their AirPlus products use compression techniques to offer up to 22Mbps using the 802.11b standard, instead of 11Mbps. D-Link's AirPro 802.11a products claim up to 72Mbps throughput rather than 54Mbps.

The D-Link AirPlus Xtreme G Wireless Router products have been praised for their ease of set up and use, and the flexible control for their built-in firewall. The WiMAX Guys have personally found it a bit difficult to set up security on D-Link wireless systems. Also, once you've installed a D-Link card in your laptop, you may find it difficult to switch to a different brand.

Netgear

Netgear also claims up to 72Mbps throughput for their 802.11a products. Their 802.11g products score well on reviews for ease of use and performance. They lack some higher end features that more sophisticated users might want, such as a wireless bridging capability. The company has made some aggressive moves of late, claiming to be the first company to ship a combination a/b/g dual band PC Card.

So What Kind of System Should I Buy?

For commercial installations, The WiMAX Guys prefer 802.11b gear from Cisco and other enterprise-grade vendors. For the home, The WiMAX Guys prefer the 802.11g systems, otherwise known as 54G. They offer the best throughput, are compatible with the 802.11b systems, and, because they are second generation systems, the software that runs them tends to be a little easier to use and more powerful.

While we don't recommend a particular vendor, we tend to prefer Linksys systems for our personal use because they are easier to set up to use security.

Where Should I Buy It?

If you're looking for home gear, one great place to get wireless network equipment, software, and books to explain it all is Amazon. The WiMAX Guys is affiliated with Amazon and together we can offer you the best selection at competitive prices.

Amazon usually has the freshest stuff first, and lets you preorder even before the gear is generally available. For example, this past January, when Linksys was still weeks away from releasing its 54G equipment, you could order it on Amazon at a nice discount.

Full Disclosure: As an Amazon business partner, The WiMAX Guys is compensated if you buy items using one of the links on our site. You pay no more than you otherwise would, and it helps us keep our prices low.