SG Broadband Community

Right now i have a linksys wrt54g router with work fine for my purposes. I connect 2 laptops, a wireless print server and have a third wired computer. This computer is a home theatre PC running XP MCE. I use it to play DVDs, music and plan to expand it to become a digital video recorder. It's a pretty powerful computer and nothing i use it for is very taxing. The motherboard also has a built in nVidia firewall chip

I was wondering, how well would it work to put a wireless card in that computer and setup internet connection sharing? I see no need to do this now since I have a router, but when the next generation of wireless technology comes out, would it be worth trying that instead of buying a new router? Any significant pros or cons?

It's much simpler just to use a wireless router. And you get 24/7 access without having to fire up your most powerful box.

I have a server with wired/wireless routing and while it works, it's still not as fast as a plain ol' hardware router.

The new compact routers are selling for around $40.

Doesn't seem to make economic sense, no speed gains, higher energy consumption, more wear-and-tear on high-end components.

If it ain't broke...don't try to fix it! :-)