By Lori Cunningham
Have you ever thought about setting up wireless in your house? Perhaps you already have it, did you set it up
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yourself? Through the years, we’ve had several wireless routers…all set up by either techy friends or in this last case, Verizon for FIOS. I’ve always lurked around watching, but my eyes glazed over when they got to the more techy part. Never did I think I would be setting up wireless on my own.
Well, I’m proud to say, things have changed. I installed a new router this past week…with ease! Although, I will admit, that I asked my techy friend to be on-hand in case I totally botched things up.
I have found a TERRIFIC product that is a dream come true for moms. It’s called the Valet from Cisco*. It allows you to create our own wireless hotspot throughout your house. Cisco says the Valet has “worry free” set-up and they’re right.
I’ll admit it took me two months to try the Valet. I was petrified. I have Verizon and they put in a wireless router in my
house. I had visions of destroying everything by trying to figure out how the Valet and the Verizon router would work together. With the advice from my friend, I never touched the Verizon router. I simply plugged in the USB thumb drive enclosed in the package into my computer to run the software. I then took the Ethernet cable coming from my wall and plugged it into the Valet. Than I plugged the Ethernet cables from my other two computers into the back of the Valet.
Right away the Valet began working…I’m telling you, it was instant! I was so impressed. There was no putting in codes, addresses of the different computers, and configuring the router. It was seamless! Within 10 minutes I had all of our computers accessing the Internet as well as other devices such as my cellphone and our WD TV Live Plus, which allows us to view our files from the computer through our TV.
Now, it’s no mistake that I reviewed the Valet. I had read advertisements for it before and I was REALLY impressed with the features…and I didn’t even know it was incredibly easy to set up.
While at the Consumer Electronics Show, Cisco invited me to a blogger event in a suite at the Venetian Hotel. I was in a big rush that night, but I stopped in to spend a few minutes. They were showcasing a number of products, but I spent all my time (and more) asking questions about the Valet. I knew right then and there that the Valet would be one of my top favorite products of all for moms. (Other top faves include the Zeo and Eye-Fi [review forthcoming]).
In addition to the ease of set-up, there is so much more the Valet offers:
Features
- Utilizes Wireless-N (2.4 GHz), a very fast network speed
- 4 ports – can wire up to 4 computers to the Valet
- Supports 1 Gigabit throughput (that’s a lot of data!) to easily transfer video and large files through between wired computers
- Links computers, cellphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other devices to the Internet
- Parental controls to manage sites so children cannot access them
- Allows for guest access to the Internet
- 1 year free technical support
- Safe surfing – alerts you when you are about to enter a possibly harmful site (either to your computer or your personal data)
- Easy accessible Cisco Connect software to manage your settings
Pros
- Very easy to set up
- You can control all devices connected to your network which means you can turn off Internet access to any or all of the devices dependent upon the times of the day you have set (sweet!)
- The Valet is reasonably priced
- Guess access is very helpful – this allows you to give a special code to friends who would like to surf the Internet without accessing your files.
- Gives you the ability to clock your download and upload speeds
- The parental controls allows you to carte blanc block access to sites deem inappropriate to children or less restricted access to teens
- The Valet looks cool – not black like most routers
- More control – for those highly technical that like to tweak certain wireless network attributes
Cons
- Does not support dual band, which offers 5 GHz speed, the fastest speed available (not a problem for most moms)
A Mom’s Perspective
Love it, love it, love it! You can’t go wrong with the Cisco Valet. I loved the ease of set-up and the control it gives me. My children are still young but as they get older it comforts me knowing that I can turn off wired Internet access for all computers and WiFi Internet access for gaming consoles, cellphones, and tablets during certain times. This means that if your child connects Xbox to the Internet to play with others, you can limit the time to certain hours…or even turn it off altogether if he is on restriction.
Kids infatuated with your new iPad2? Restrict the hours of the Internet access…though keep in mind it restricts you as well. But you can set the timing to open up again after they go to bed. Is your teenage daughter constantly downloading apps and videos on her phone? You can restrict access during dinner and night time.HOWEVER, keep in mind, it only restricts WiFi access to the Internet, not cellular access from your mobile carrier. So if you get a strong signal, she will still be able to access the Internet. Also note that texting is done through cellular, not through WiFi. Sorry, you’ll have to come up with another plan for that one!
Hmmm. Now that I think about it, I better make sure my husband doesn’t know how to turn of Internet access on my phone/tablet/computer. Yikes! I better keep this option on the down and low! 🙂 LOL!
Guest access is another benefit I love. I have friends who come over occasionally and ask for Internet access. Do I trust them? Yes. But I’d prefer to be prudent and protect our data the best I can. In addition, our access code is quite cumbersome. It’s a pain to look it up and then try to enter it into their device. With guest access, I now have a simple code I can give friends that allows them to surf the Internet without jeopardizing our home files.
If you have a larger house, getting a signal all the way through the house is difficult. No worries, Cisco also makes another model called the Valet Plus which incorporates additional internal antennas right in the unit. The antennas help the wireless signal to be carried out further throughout the house.
If you already have a wireless router, it might be time to upgrade. The features of the Valet and Valet Plus are very beneficial to families and can give you peace of mind. The Valet gives me control and assurance that our devices are connected securely and monitored correctly.
The Cisco Valet sells for $89.99 and the Valet Plus sells for $109.99 – both include free shipping straight from Cisco. HOWEVER, as always, I check Amazon.com too. They have some killer deals going on right now. You can but the Valet for $64.99 or the Valet Plus for $84.99 – both include free super saver shipping! Now that’s a deal!
* Cisco provided me with the Cisco Valet Plus router in exchange for my honest opinion.
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