Thanks for the replies.
I had based my strategy really on earlier recommendations that now conflict with the above comments (and »
sites.google.com/site/ea ··· wireless)
At this point now that it's all setup there's really no harm leaving it as-is.
The article I referred to above doesn't make sense to me in one respect. It talks about broadcasting SSID's so that when you're "away" your tablet or laptop or whatever isn't querying for that SSID. I guess I don't understand why it wouldn't be querying for my SSID because it is normally being broadcast, if I happened to be in an airport. (E.g, how would it KNOW my router isn't there to query - nowhere in my laptop config do I say the SSID *is* being broadcast, that config is only on the router.)
Anyway - with regard to signal strength I do say that limiting power is a good thing. If I reduce transmit range from 250 feet to 100, I can dramatically reduce the exposure of my router to a number of potential hobby hackers that are just playing around in their basement. Of course someone sitting out in front of my house in their car, is unaffected.
So back to my initial question - are there pros and cons to using the Actiontec over my own router, especially from a security perspective?