Wireless Networking (1 Viewer)

[Adam Sanchez]

Hey all,

Just a quick question. I'm looking to get my Laptop online in my house wirelessly so I'm going to be getting a Wireless PC card and access point. I plan to get the card now and the access point later and my question is, do they need to be the same brand to work together?

Thanks

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

no...they do not need to be that same "brand"...just the same standard. I have Apple airport cards in my Apple computers which use the 802.11b standard....but I do not use the Airport base station. I use a Linksys wireless router which also uses 802.11b........they work perfect together.

One recommendtion though. I would get cards and a wireless base that conforms to the new 802.11g standard. It is faster....has better range and is completely backwards compatible with other 802.11b systems....so it is the best of both worlds.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Brian's advice is solid. the new g "standard" has some benefits but I'm not sure I'd invest in it just yet since it isn't a "standard" yet...i.e. they're still debating the standard so what ever you buy today is more like 802.11g "ready"...it shouldn't be much more then a firmware flash once they do settle on the standard though but you never know. Depending on what you'll be doing with the network you may not notice the extra speed either since your broadband internet is around 1 meg so the increased bandwidth from 11g isn't going to be noticed...if you're transfereing large files or streaming audio/video across the wireless network though then it might come into play.

Anyway I highly recomend you look at the Netgear equipement over linksys or SMC...we've seen way more problems with those brands then with Netgear or D-Link gear

 

[nolesrule]

In my experience, it's exactly the opposite.

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

Good reviews, including transmission speed at different distances, etc:

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/

 

[Adam Sanchez]

I have my eye on a Cardbus D-Link Card. How can I tell if my laptop can use it? I have 2 card slots... will it work? Sorry but I have never used my PCMCIA cards on my laptop, I have never needed to. Let me put this another way, I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 and I'm looking at the D-link DWL-650.

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

That will work.

 

[MikeAlletto]

If you go with 'g' cards and access point I would get the same brand since there isn't a standard yet and so far they are all slightly different.