Dormitory Networking

Mikel, Dylan, Sanjay, and Harrison were sitting in the common room of their campus suite and complaining about their wireless network. They inherited the equipment from the last residents of the suite, and unfortunately their router uses the outdated 802.11g standard. They all have notebooks that have 802.11n network adapters, but their throughput is poor. Since they are often all surfing the Internet at the same time and trying to download movies, their network's performance has become unacceptable. Since they all just sold last semester's books back to the bookstore for a total of $600, they decided this would be a good time to upgrade their network and peripherals. Dylan has an inkjet printer that gobbles up expensive cartridges, and Phil has a laser printer that just broke. The guys figure one good networked all-in-one printer should meet their needs since it would also provide them with photocopying capabilities. Mikel is concerned about backups for his computer. His external hard drive fell on the floor and no longer works reliably. He has a tremendous amount of photos and schoolwork on his computer that he is concerned about losing if his hard drive fails. Since the guys don't know much about networking, the four roommates have asked for your guidance. Consider the following keeping in mind their $600 budget:

a. Research network-ready laser printers on sites such as hp.com, epson.com, and brother.com. What network-ready all-in-one printer would you recommend? Why?

b. Research 802.11n wireless routers at sites such as netgear.com, linksys.com, and dlink.com. What router do you think will meet the roommates' needs? Why?

c. How would you recommend addressing Dave's backup concerns? Would you recommend a NAS device for the network, or do they have enough money left in their budget for a home network server? Research these devices and make an affordable recommendation. Check sites such as tigerdirect.com and newegg.com for competitive pricing.