Wireless Networking
Discussion
I recommend Linksys kit. Should cost you £60-70 for the hub/router and £40 per PCMCIA card. Of course, budget for more if you want 54G stuff, but there really is no point for a single user network. I have 11Mbps access all round the house, and even Mrs Bonce whose house is about 40m away from mine is able to use my broadband connection from her bedroom!
www.wstore.co.uk/
www.wstore.co.uk/
Bonce said:
.......and even Mrs Bonce whose house is about 40m away from mine.......
I've heard of separate bedrooms but separate houses?!!!!!
Another (probably very dumb!) question though from a complete computer pigmy. Is it possible to have a wireless internet connection to my laptop rather that running miles of cable around the house to connect to the BT phonepoint?
Hehe, she's just my girlfriend, we're not married. It's a PistonHeads thing to refer to one's partner as Mr or Mrs.
It is possible to share dial up connections wirelessley, either buy using a desktop PC which acts as an internet gateway with the modem which is connected to a wireless hub, or via a wireless hub which has a modem in it (such things do exist but are rare - my SMC hub has dial-up functionality but I've never used it).
The latter would be the preferred option for me because you wouldn't need to switch on the desktop PC to use the internet.
It is possible to share dial up connections wirelessley, either buy using a desktop PC which acts as an internet gateway with the modem which is connected to a wireless hub, or via a wireless hub which has a modem in it (such things do exist but are rare - my SMC hub has dial-up functionality but I've never used it).
The latter would be the preferred option for me because you wouldn't need to switch on the desktop PC to use the internet.
Ted, i just last week got the buffalo broadband router and pc card deal from scan 54g for120
http://web6.scan.co.uk/Products/Info.asp?WPID=64206 took me so me time to figure out why it didnt work but i found that afer configuring it you need to reboot it for the new settings to work
STEVE
http://web6.scan.co.uk/Products/Info.asp?WPID=64206 took me so me time to figure out why it didnt work but i found that afer configuring it you need to reboot it for the new settings to work
STEVE
I've got the Linksys stuff, and it was a piece of the proverbial to set up...
cable modem directly connected to wireless router with ethernet cable.
PC with wireless lan card installed. (The PC could be directly connected to router, except router is downstairs, PC up.)
iPAQ with wiresless card.
turn them all on and hey presto wireless broadband around the house.
>> Edited by FunkyGibbon on Friday 5th December 13:21
cable modem directly connected to wireless router with ethernet cable.
PC with wireless lan card installed. (The PC could be directly connected to router, except router is downstairs, PC up.)
iPAQ with wiresless card.
turn them all on and hey presto wireless broadband around the house.
>> Edited by FunkyGibbon on Friday 5th December 13:21
Ted, what equipment do you currently have? I you have your own router/adsl modem, all you need to add are a wireless access point and a PCMCIA wireless card for the laptop.
If you only have an adsl modem, you would be better getting a combined Modem/Router/Switch/Firewall/Access Point and a wireless card - Netgear do one (DG824M - 11mbps). I bought one and it came with a free PCMCIA card.
http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=NGE824403
If you only have an adsl modem, you would be better getting a combined Modem/Router/Switch/Firewall/Access Point and a wireless card - Netgear do one (DG824M - 11mbps). I bought one and it came with a free PCMCIA card.
http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=NGE824403
PetrolTed said:
Looks good. Does that mean I just plug the desktop and ADSL box into the router and then they will all talk to each other (including laptop?)
ted all you do is connect the modem to the wan port on the router, and then connect your desktop to the built on hub/switch (10/100) and the desktop/laptop shuold see each other as in a wired network
Steve
Ted
I've just bought a US robotics 10906
nice bit of kit
from here
Replaces your ADSL modem with an all in one unit, good 54g wireless coverage, decent firewall and 10/100 4 port switch for £100 (and it arrived next day). 5 mins to set up and it was up and running.
You will need a card for you laptop, if it is a dell you might be able to get a mini pci card which means you will not use your pcmcia slot, nor have a aerial sticking out (I don't know why but I think you have a Dell laptop).
D.
I've just bought a US robotics 10906
nice bit of kit
from here
Replaces your ADSL modem with an all in one unit, good 54g wireless coverage, decent firewall and 10/100 4 port switch for £100 (and it arrived next day). 5 mins to set up and it was up and running.
You will need a card for you laptop, if it is a dell you might be able to get a mini pci card which means you will not use your pcmcia slot, nor have a aerial sticking out (I don't know why but I think you have a Dell laptop).
D.
I use Belkin gear. Wireless to the ASDL router firewall. Worked perfectly until my laptop went Pete Tong earlier this evening.
Bugger.
As pointed out, no need to pay big money for 54mb/sec as your ASDL line is probably only 512k/sec.
If you have a connection to the outside world of more than 11mb/sec I'm seriously impressed. However, the 802.11b/54g cards aren't much more expensive, and do speed up file transfer between machines.
Your call mate.
Bugger.
As pointed out, no need to pay big money for 54mb/sec as your ASDL line is probably only 512k/sec.
If you have a connection to the outside world of more than 11mb/sec I'm seriously impressed. However, the 802.11b/54g cards aren't much more expensive, and do speed up file transfer between machines.
Your call mate.
I'm being picky, but do remember that when you're talking about speed of wireless LANs you effectively need to carve the quoted bit rate in two. (Half duplex, blah, acknowledgement based protocol, blah, etc)
So instead of 11, think 5.5, obiously. But if you're on a 1meg cable modem, and you're a little way from your access point (or there are walls in between, etc) you *could*, conceivably, max out your wireless side of things when there's still bandwidth to spare on the broadband front. (i.e. fall back to 1mbit, which is 512k in real terms, and oh dearie me.)
Edit: my, it's hot in this anorak.
>> Edited by Marshy on Sunday 7th December 02:17
So instead of 11, think 5.5, obiously. But if you're on a 1meg cable modem, and you're a little way from your access point (or there are walls in between, etc) you *could*, conceivably, max out your wireless side of things when there's still bandwidth to spare on the broadband front. (i.e. fall back to 1mbit, which is 512k in real terms, and oh dearie me.)
Edit: my, it's hot in this anorak.
>> Edited by Marshy on Sunday 7th December 02:17
(a) I was thinking of 802.11b, not a or g
(b) My 1mbit/s cable modem (not ADSL, sure) gives me all of that 1mbit/s to well-connected sites.
And those speeds quoted (Mr. E, stc) are they observed transfer speeds from, say, a web or ftp server? Or are they what the wireless software says your link speed is?
(b) My 1mbit/s cable modem (not ADSL, sure) gives me all of that 1mbit/s to well-connected sites.
And those speeds quoted (Mr. E, stc) are they observed transfer speeds from, say, a web or ftp server? Or are they what the wireless software says your link speed is?
Buy 54g kit, as it also has a better signal range than the 11Mb stuff, and is backward compatible.
The prices are so close, it's not worth worrying about. For local network file transfers, the 54Mb versions are much faster than the 11Mb - either are just fine for internet use though, as many people have pointed out. I currently use Buffalo AirStations and Belkin 54g Access Points (one of each) to provide coverage in my place, and have to say the Buffalo is the better of the two. Centrino laptop with built-in 11b clearly has a better aerial than the Netgear and Linksys PC-Cards I use in other laptops. Still, it all works very nicely (Linksys has a very good interface if you use it on several networks, Netgear doesn't).
The prices are so close, it's not worth worrying about. For local network file transfers, the 54Mb versions are much faster than the 11Mb - either are just fine for internet use though, as many people have pointed out. I currently use Buffalo AirStations and Belkin 54g Access Points (one of each) to provide coverage in my place, and have to say the Buffalo is the better of the two. Centrino laptop with built-in 11b clearly has a better aerial than the Netgear and Linksys PC-Cards I use in other laptops. Still, it all works very nicely (Linksys has a very good interface if you use it on several networks, Netgear doesn't).
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