wireless networking? is it good? (1 Viewer)

[JasonKrol]

Hello,

Here is my delima: I have my HT in the living room with PS2, Xbox, and my laptop. My office is upstairs other side of house, with broadband connection lan etc.

Im wondering if anyone has experience with wireless networks. Specifically wireless Routers and HUBs etc. I would like to connect mt broadband modem to my wireless router..and then Bridge to another wireless router in my living room, so that my 3 devices in the living room can connect to it.

Right now im running a 50' RJ-45 cable down the hall..to a small hub located in my HT cabinet..and I just hide the cable when its not in use.

Thanks for any information!!

(ohh yeah, running the cable in the walls seems almost impossible. Ive thought about it for hours and asked multiple electricians etc. Doesnt seem like an option.)

 

[Roland_Sjouw]

Hi Jason,

I resently worked with a Wireless Lan set, It was to see if the company I work for could implement a wireless lan for user with laptops.

The connection speed was good, and the distance was a litle dissapointing but if you plan on bridging in you house It shouldn't be a problem, the building I tested It in has very bad interferance..

Hope this helps...

Regards,

Roland Sjouw

 

[Bob Hill]

The only issue you might have is if you need bandwidth like 100T or gigabit. All the wireless systems come in around a 10T connection speed. Other than that they are good and a hell of a lot easier than routing cable.

 

[JasonKrol]

exactly. thanks for the info!!

 

[Danny R]

All the wireless systems come in around a 10T connection speed.
If you can wait, in the next month or so you'll see 802.11a cards out there, with speeds from 54 - 72Mbs.

 

[Joseph S]

If you can wait, in the next month or so you'll see 802.11a cards out there, with speeds from 54 - 72Mbs.

Is this really an issue? I've already flashed my Airport card via a firmware upgrade to the latest standards. Router/Access point perhaps, but are Linkys and the other PCMCIA style cards not firmware upgrade able?

 

[DonRoeber]

802.11a hardware isn't 100% compatable with 802.11b. Which will be a nightmare, since all new accesspoints and cards will be necessary. In my opinion, its what is going to kill 802.11a.

Also, for most uses, the 10mbit interface really isn't an issue. If you're using it in an office setting, that makes a difference. But most consumer level networking equipment doesn't even approach using 10mbit/sec.

802.11a equipment will also be more expensive than 802.11b stuff.

 

[Scooter]

I am using Linksys on 2 PC here..a third in a week or so and I LOVE it. Fast..convenient..and the wow factor to friends is high up the scale.

 

[Terry Wysocki]

I'm trying to add a Linksys wireless router to my system and find the range really sucks! With the computer sitting right next to the transmitter, I get pretty much 100% signal strength. But as I move away from it down the hall an through two walls the signal gets weaker and weaker until it's gone at about only 25' away! I have two receiver PCs setup and I've even tried with another transmitter thinking I had a defective unit but the results remain the same. It does work fine as long as you're in the same room and only a few feet away (it does fine at replacing that ugly 10' cable I used to have).

Does anyone know if other brands can do any better than this?

 

[DonRoeber]

Terry,

Try moving the wireless base station. Look for an area that doesn't have a whole lot of electronic equipment or other things that could cause interference.

 

[JasonKrol]

well, considering i want to put the router in my HT eq rack..i guess my signal loss would be 100% then. Ohh well, I guess I will just have to figure out how to run the cable through the walls and make a jack next to my ht eq rack.

thanks for all the information!!

 

[Denward]

I've been using the Proxim Symphony system for about 2 months now and it's great. It uses the HomeRF 2.0 standard which is NOT compatible with 802.11*. It claims 10Mbps but I haven't tested connection speed by transferring big files, but I do know that wireless surfing via DSL is very speedy and reliable and printing is very convenient. I have my wireless access point upstairs in my 100 year old house (very solid walls) and the signal downstairs (20 feet through the ceiling) always tests as 'Excellent'. I haven't wandered outside with the laptop since it's too damn cold. HomeRF 2.0 claims to be less susceptible than 802.11b to interference from cordless phones and microwave ovens. Check out homerf.org or proxim.com for more info.

 

[Steve_Ch]

>>Is this really an issue? I've already flashed my Airport card via a firmware upgrade to the latest standards. Router/Access point perhaps, but are Linkys and the other PCMCIA style cards not firmware upgrade able?

 

[Dave F]

I'm in the same boat as Terry. With the Linksys WAP11 & a wireless card for the laptop, the range really sucks. There was a story on Slashdot regarding increasing the range of the WAP11 the other day. I haven't tried it (I'm somewhat of a nOOb), and there are disclaimers a-plenty, but it's worth checking out.
-Dave