Recently bought Linksys router WRT610N together with 2 USB adapters WUSB600N at Sitex. I would say it's a huge disappointment and totally not worth the cash invested in it.

I'll start with the Linksys router. The 5.0 Ghz connection, which is supposed to provide faster connection in a less congested network, has a pathetic range for decent home usage. The signal degradation is so strong that after 5 meters and a wall, my connection to the network becomes intermittent. Sometimes it would connect, sometimes it drops the connection. The transfer speed to the router in that wireless range itself is pathetic too. After tweaking the settings, my files transfer speed to the router still hovers at around 1 MBps, even though the theoretical maximum is much higher. The 2.4 Ghz (the one most people are still using) works even better than my old one in terms of speed and range but that wasn't what I paid the money for.



I would've thought the USB adapters will be easier to configure than a new router but man, I was totally wrong. Since I recently installed a Windows 7, I decided to use one of these sticks for that computer. I spent about an hour troubleshooting the whole thing because it wouldn't connect to the internet and because I couldn't find an official update to the drivers. I thought there's a problem with my settings but it turned out linksys is the one that screwed up. After visiting its community forum, I found a lot of users with the same problems and a few workarounds. I tried one of them, which is using the vista updates for another adapter version and somehow it worked. Pretty much wasted a lot of my time there with the inefficiencies.

And while searching for driver update for that stick, I stumbled upon an official update to the XP driver. So I went ahead and updated the drivers for my XP computer's USB stick. Guess what? This time the stick couldn't talk properly to the router and the router refuses to issue the machine an IP address. In the end, I reinstalled the old driver in order to use the internet. Good job on an official driver that creates more problems, linksys.

With that being said, I'll end this 15 minutes entry. I'll probably jump over to D-link the next time I do an upgrade and I advise anyone reading not to buy either of those products I've mentioned.

Labels: Computer, linksys, Singapore, Sitex

Sitex'09 is going to start tomorrow and I have a pretty long list of items to buy, namely wireless n-router, a blu-ray drive, and probably some parts for a new computer I am going to setup.

Took a look at Sony VAIO CW price tag in the flyer. Pretty disappointed because the HDD is only 320 GB and it is about SGD300 more than the initial price. Don't think I am getting one anytime soon.

Labels: Computer, Personal, Sitex

I was pretty much in Sitex for nearly six hours earlier. This is the 20th year running for this annual electronic fair, and whao, you do get a lot of good bargains there that you can't get elsewhere.

Just take the set of speakers I bought today as an example. It's only an entry level speaker but at around 25 bucks, it is just too good. It's only twice the price of those rubbish speakers but it's definitely wayy better than them in terms of everything(and most importantly, sound quality). That set of computer speakers is sold at almost half price though. If clearing stock is their purpose, they have definitely achieved it because what I bought was one of the last few available sets.

That's not the only good bargain too, there's a lot of vendors selling laptops there with plentiful of free accessories. Heck, almost every item you buy there comes with free accessories.

Many will think that in a severe recession (source) such as now, and with future prospect looking bleak, such electronic fair will not be well received because consumers lose their confidence and fear a loss of buying power in the near future. That is however, not the case. At 11 when the fair has started, the halls were already crowded, but by 2, there were so many people at the fair that everybody is squeezed like sardine and moves together. When I say squeezed like sardine, it is not an exaggeration at all because at some places, it was so crowded that you can't even squeeze through to the opposite side. I will not make any blatant comparisons though because I do not have relevant information pertaining to past Sitex success.

Perhaps it is more appropriate to use another example. Now that people are poorer because of the recession, they no longer buy 16 gig iPod Nano. Instead, iPhone are sold out and 8 gig iPod Nano goes nearly out of stock at one Apple reseller and 8 gig iPod Nano starts selling out in the other. And you have to queue 20 minutes or more to buy an iPod too. Yea, people are "switching to cheaper alternatives" now that the economy is bleak. :). And did I mention there were a lot of people lugging a HD ready TV set each home?

Hmm, maybe people are bringing forward their expenditure for the sake of the discounts and see MP3 players as a necessity in our technologically prolific world.

Anyway, I have nothing against them since I am one of those people. I won't know whether sales of Sitex will drop this year but if it didn't, then that's good news (for the economy), maybe more so if private consumption doesn't make up only a small percentage of our GDP.

Hoho, I bought quite a lot of good bargains today. ~-~. By the way, the AFA post is updated with links to pictures already.

Labels: 2008, Economics, Personal, Sitex