Just your average evening — I’m working on the laptop, wife’s on the desktop doing her thing.  I suddenly get asked if I’m online.  I am.  She’s not.  So she cycles the router.  Now neither of us is able to get internet access, but we can get the router and see each other.  Call Comcast and have them reset the router after I’ve cycled it a few times.  No joy.  I dig out the old Dell laptop, because the MacBook Air doesn’t have an ethernet cable connection (first real complaint about it!)  Modem’s working fine, cable’s fine.

So, new router needed — not bad since the old one was seven year old (a Linksys.)  Unfortunately, it’s 10pm and all the electronics stores are closed…but there is an all-night Walmart a mile or so from here.  A quick zip out and their electronics department even has a couple of guys working the place.  I settle on a Cisco E2000 router that will handle B, G, and N and has the 5GHz option.

So now I’m ready for trouble…this is going too well.  Get home and after wrestling with the usual collection of power cables, it’s ready.  CD into the Dell, since it’s up and running, and two minutes later the laptop’s online and the router is named and passworded to match the old router so we don’t have to muck with our settings.  The printer is a bit finicky but finally comes online.  The Mac finds it and runs, no problems.  The iPad finds it and runs, no problem.  The hot-shit desktop gives me a few hiccups — mostly due to the wireless key not picking up the signal so well.  Quick shift of the router’s position and it’s solved.  Time from start to finish:  1 hour.

Thank goodness for the all-night Walmart.