Save money: Share internet with a wireless router

Technology gets better everyday and it brings convenience to users at lower costs. The wireless router, which is now available in Uganda, is a good example of how you can spend less on acquiring communication devices.

A router is an electronic device that interconnects two or more computers or networks and selectively interchanges packets of data between them to facilitate communication.

Ms Anisa Sekatawa, the head of brand and communications at Orange Uganda, says a wireless router enables a single user to share his or her internet connection with up to 40 computers or laptops, via wireless internet (Wi-Fi) and four computers via a Local Area Network (computers connected on the same network) in close range.

This means that if you buy a mobile internet modem for your laptop, you can share the same internet with other people by connecting it to the router instead of your laptop.
“It saves you from buying two mobile internet modems to share with another person,” Ms Sekatawa said in a recent interview about the device.

Internet modems range between Shs53,000 and Shs110,000 depending on the telecommunications service provider. That cost is less the monthly internet subscription fees. With internet connections, the average prices rise to about Shs100,000.
So if two people want to surf the internet at the same time without a router, they have to buy two mobile internet modems and also pay separate monthly subscription fees. But with the wireless routers, the double payments are eliminated.

At Orange, there are two kinds of wireless routers including; the D100 Wi-Fi router and the B260a Flybox. The D100 Flybox, which costs Shs200,000, connects up to five computers while the B260a allows you to share your internet connection with up to 36 computers via Wi-Fi.
The latter costs Shs300, 000 because of its ability to connect more users.

You can also buy a router from a retail shop in Kampala or when you travel abroad but the prices vary. Although routers enable multiple connections, they have limitations. If you subscribe for a certain amount of internet package like; 1GB for a month, it could take you a month before it runs out.

But if shared, the same package with five other people with varying internet usage, the package can last even a day or a week. Besides enabling you to surf the internet, the routers can also enable the users to make local and international calls without the need of a fixed line.

This is in addition to giving you the ability to send text messages to mobile phones from the computers connected to the route The routers are ideal for small businesses, students and families.