Vince Maskeeper

Hey guys, had some questions that I couldn't find answers to:

1) I think that if you have a 802.11g network and you allow a 802.11b device to connect, it slows down all the wireless connections on the network. Is this a correct assessment?

2) I noticed NETGEAR and LINKSYS both have some special protocol 802.11g devices which speed up the connection by reducing the overhead (netgear calls theirs "SuperG" [aka "channel bonding"?] and Linksys "Speedbooster" I believe). Does anyone know anything about these enhancement systems?

They seem to be strictly proprietary-- not compatible with one another- so you have to stick with one or the other? It seems the SuperG system is considered to be a bad neighbor and causes more problems with neighboring networks (because of channel bonding) while the Linksys system actually helps improve other systems?

3) If you know something about Linksys/Netgear speed enhancements: can you use one of these on a network along side standard 802.11g devices without losing the benefit? In other words, if I will have 1 or two normal 802.11g devices on the network along with 1 or 2 802.11g speedboosted-- will the "Speedbooster" still offer benfit-- or will it work like adding a 802.11b and slow everything else down to the lowest common denominator?

"Even if only one client is using SpeedBooster, the whole network shows an improvement of about 20 percent," Linksys claims-- but I wondered if anyone had actually played with these technologies.

4) I need an 802.11g "bridge" device to plug into a few wired network devices to make them wireless. I noticed Linksys sells a device called WGA54G to make x-box/ps2 wireless and another one called WET54G (basically a wired ethernet input that allows any wired device to be wireless by just plugging in). Does anyone else make a similar product to this-- one that does the same thing, maybe cheaper? Does anyone know the difference between these two linksys products?

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Chris

True. Only Belkin and Cisco have units with multiple single focus antenna to solve this.


Basically, (linksys) it's a continual queing system that is designed to skip the wireless "heartbeat" by continuous duplexing of data.. how well does it work? eh. The SuperG bit is a bit more tricky, but somewhat same idea, though it is not as friendly to neighboring nets because of the way it broadcasts *shrug* (supposedly)


I don't see how the Linksys would help any other system, as if your network has any security, that channel will be controlled within it's zone.. (thus why I tell people, reset the default and forget channel6)


Yes, you can actually use these at the same time as a regular G device.


The bridge is a true, open bridging device that will connect into any live CAT5 port, allowing you to connect it to a switch, or a device, etc. on the other end. The WGA game adapter is a transparent somewhat uncontrollable little beast that, to my testing, seems to only work worth a darn with game systems and does not effectively bridge more those those devices.

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