It’s been a while since I’ve studied the LAN hardware market, but it’s time now with all the many wireless standards coming out. The best overview I’ve seen comes from Small Net Builder Holiday 2002 Guide. This site BTW is amazing. Great reviews and tutorials.
Other information includes:
Router Reviews. It’s been a while since I’ve had to buy networking gear. My Xircom XE2000 10/100 Ethernet card finally needs to get replaced. There aren’t any XP drivers for it and Xircom is no more post the Intel acquisition. Found some pretty great sites for reviews of stuff like this. It is interesting to see that Cnet.com and others don’t do this anymore. I gather that all the wired LAN cards are pretty much identical. I got a D-link 10/100 card for $20 (!!!) and it works fine.
PC Magazine Reviews WLAN Cards. Not so true on the wireless LAN side. HEre there are many variations. They have a good summary about this. It shows the SMC 2335W is the winner for a dual-mode A/B card.
Small Net Builder. These guys have very good performance reviews of various routers, switches and APs.
Gigabit Ethernet in your home. After going to CompUSA and seeing a Gigabit Ethernet adapter for $40, I realized that maybe its time to upgrade. This piece tells you how and says essentially that if you have good connectors and crimps, then all you need is a Netgear GA302T for about $40 and a Netgear GS104 4-port switch for about $225 and you are in business. I’m sure Ludwig will go first of course!