Ulfelder unplugged, Part 1

Columnist sets out to install a wireless network, finds self shivering in his underwear

Home Base By Steve Ulfelder, Network World
July 26, 2004 12:10 AM ET

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My home network is burbling away happily, thanks in part to your suggestions.

A couple of months ago, I confessed that I had leased a second cable modem for my house because I was too timid to set up a home network. I also vowed to remedy the situation and sought your help in doing so.

Along the way, I hit some speed bumps, had a few fears confirmed, committed at least one cardinal sin - and thanked my lucky stars I know a good tech-support guy.

First, thanks for the letters. I received almost two dozen. Some included product recommendations, some detailed installation instructions, some simple encouragement along the lines of, “If I can do it, anyone can.”

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Linksys was the overwhelming favorite among those who recommended a brand. So I did some price research on that company’s wireless routers and USB adapters, then trundled off to Best Buy.

There, I hit my first speed bump. Best Buy was fresh out of the router I wanted. The store did, however, have plenty of D-Link products with the specs I was looking for: 802.11g/2.4 GHz wireless routers (D-Link model DI-524) and matching USB adapters (DWL-G120).

Hmm, go with the D-Link equipment, about which no readers or friends had waxed enthusiastic? Or insist on Linksys, the brand everybody recommended?

Understand, it was the onset of the Fourth of July weekend, I had both kids in tow and the next closest Best Buy (which had the Linksys router in stock) was 25 minutes away. Furthermore, with rebates factored in, the D-Link gear cost $99.98, beating Best Buy’s Linksys prices by exactly $50.

For me, fifty bucks and a quick escape from the minivan make for a powerful argument. So I went with D-Link.

On to the install. I resisted the male urge to simply hook up cables in spots that looked approximately correct. Instead, I saved the packaging, made sure I had all the right equipment, read the manuals and behaved like a responsible consumer.

Then I hit my next speed bump - my modem wouldn’t work. When the Setup Wizard instructed me to launch a Web browser, I got nada. Checked my connections, ran through the Wizard again. Nada.

Then I hit another; I couldn’t get through to D-Link tech support.

Granted, I was installing the router at 7:30 AM Eastern time on Monday, July 5. (Yup - you were up at the lake or getting ready for the town parade, and I was in my skivvies under the desk checking Ethernet cables.)

I knew it was 4:30 am at D-Link’s Fountain Valley, Calif offices. But the manual said D-Link offers 24-7 support. So I dialed, and was promptly dumped into a phone-system runaround that not only did not take me to support, but didn’t provide any way for me to leave a message.

It’s hard to ding a company for not offering support at 4:30 AM on a holiday. On the other hand, “24-7” is understood to mean “around the clock, no matter what,” am I right? And small businesspeople like us frequently do administrative and equipment-related tasks at odd hours so that we can produce revenue during “regular” hours, do we not?