Dummies, Wireless

110
Part II: Making Plans
Warranties
There’s nothing worse than a device that dies one day after the warranty
expires. The good news is that because most of these devices are solid state,
they work for a long time unless you abuse them by dropping them on the
floor or something drastic. In our experience, if your device is going to fail
because of some manufacturing defect, it does so within the first 30 days or so.
You encounter a rather large variance of warranty schedules among vendors.
Some vendors offer a one-year warranty; others offer a lifetime warranty.
Most are limited in some fashion, such as covering parts and labor but not
shipping.
When purchasing from a store, be sure to ask about its return policy for the
first month or so. Many stores give you 14 days to return items, and after
that, purchases have to be returned to the manufacturer directly, which is a
huge pain in the hind end, as Pat would say. If you only have 14 days, get the
device installed quickly so that you can find any problems right away.
Extended service warranties are also often available through computer retailers.
(We never buy these because by the time the period of the extended warranty
expires, they’re simply not worth their price given the plummeting cost
of the items.) If you purchase one of these warranties, however, make sure
that you have a clear understanding of the types of problems covered as well
as how and when you can contact the service provider if problems arise. As
we mention earlier in this chapter, if you don’t purchase a warranty, you probably
need to contact the product manufacturer for support and warranty service
rather than the store or online outlet where you purchased the product.
Customer and Technical Support
Good technical support is one of those things you don’t appreciate until you
can’t get it. For support, check whether the manufacturer has toll-free or
direct-dial numbers for support as well as its hours of availability. Ticklish
technical problems seem to occur at the most inopportune times — nights,
weekends, holidays. If you’re like us, you usually install this stuff late at night
and on weekends. (We refuse to buy anything from anyone with only 9 a.m.–
5 p.m., Monday–Friday hours for technical support.) Traditionally, only highend
(that is to say, expensive) hardware products came with 24/7 technical
support. However, an increasing number of consumer-priced computer products,
including wireless home networking products, offer toll-free, aroundthe-clock,
technical phone support.