802.11b or 802.11g which router? what antenna? oh the dilema!

Hi Folks,

I've been reading through this newsgroup, other websites including
seattlewireless, tomshardware, etc. and I'm at a point of confusion.

I want to wire up my house with wireless and have good range however I
don't know anyone with wireless to test out their equipment to make up my
mind.

I bought the linksys 802.11b kit only to find out the card was incompatible
with my PCMCIA chipset. so back it went.
Then I started reading up on 802.11g and it appears the standard has been
ratified, yeah but is it worth it?

So here's what I've got and maybe you can suggest what equipment best
suites my needs.
DSL 256Kb (lite version)
1 laptop running XP and Linux that will be wireless (Sager 8886
pctorque.com for complete specs)
4 laptops running W2K and linux that will wired cat5 into the router

With only 256k of DSL do I need 802.11g? or will 802.11b suit all my needs?

I've been thinking about getting the Senao 200mw card with external antenna
as this should allow me to roam all around the house and out onto the deck
Does the AP need to have high power output also?

What are your suggestions about this card and what wireless router would
you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

Thanks for all the good info. I hadn't visited that site nor thought of
setting up a *nix box as a router. I do have an old pentium mp3 player
sitting in the basement that could do the job and a 166Mhz laptop. Sounds
like it could be a nice project to try out. Though this might be farther
down the line. I agree with you statement about Sager running hot. This
'desktop replacement' runs quite warm (a bit too warm for 'laptop' use and
at 15lbs too heavy which is why it's got it's own spot on the coffee table)

The isp-wireless list is pretty useless. Check out the (E-Mail Removed)
list.

"Ray" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sun, 13 Jul 2003 19:43:17 GMT, null <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > Hi Folks,
> >
> > I've been reading through this newsgroup, other websites including
> > seattlewireless, tomshardware, etc. and I'm at a point of confusion.
>
> You might also want to add to that:
> http://isp-lists.isp-planet.com/isp-wireless/archives/
>
> That said though there is really no substitute for learning by doing.
>
> >
> > I want to wire up my house with wireless and have good range however I
> > don't know anyone with wireless to test out their equipment to make up
my
> > mind.
>
> What do you mean by "have good range"? Do you just want to make your
house
> and yard are fully covered or do you want to get out further. It's better
> to set a goal and design for that than to just say "I want to go as far as
I
> can" since given enough time and $ you can pretty much go as far as you
> want. The thing that will affect your coverage the most is the location
of
> your Antenna(s) and AP(s), the brand and model of equipment is mostly just
> important for compatability reasons and the ability to easily use an
> external antenna.
>
>
> > I bought the linksys 802.11b kit only to find out the card was
incompatible
> > with my PCMCIA chipset. so back it went.
> > Then I started reading up on 802.11g and it appears the standard has
been
> > ratified, yeah but is it worth it?
>
> 802.11b will more than enough to max out your DSL line and Linux
compatable
> 802.11g stuff is almost non-existant so I'd stick with 802.11b. Also IMHO
> the 802.11b stuff seems to be more mature and more stable even under
Windows
> with current firmware/drivers although I'm sure that'll change.
>
> > So here's what I've got and maybe you can suggest what equipment best
> > suites my needs.
> > DSL 256Kb (lite version)
> > 1 laptop running XP and Linux that will be wireless (Sager 8886
> > pctorque.com for complete specs)
> > 4 laptops running W2K and linux that will wired cat5 into the router
> >
> > With only 256k of DSL do I need 802.11g? or will 802.11b suit all my
needs?
>
> See above.
>
> >
> > I've been thinking about getting the Senao 200mw card with external
antenna
> > as this should allow me to roam all around the house and out onto the
deck
> > Does the AP need to have high power output also?
>
> I have a small mesh network consisting of old (486 - P166) thin desktop
> computers running Linux with the HostAP drivers and these Senao 200my
cards
> (2511 CD+ ext2) and it all works great. Each of my Linux boxes uses an
> Identical software image and acts as an AP, router, and wireless repeater
in
> one. I can take a laptop several blocks away and it will find one of my
> repeaters and find a route back to home. My only hesitation would be that
> the 200mw cards generate a lot of heat and any wireless card is going to
> loose some sensitivity as it gets hot and in my experience Sager laptops
> tend to be pretty cooling challenged to begin with. I havn't had any
> problems from this but you might want to consider the 100mw version of
these
> cards (they are also a lot cheaper at the moment). Remember the power
> output of the card is nothing compared to proper location of your
> antenna(s).
>
>
> > What are your suggestions about this card and what wireless router would
> > you recommend?
>
> Since you have Linux experience I'd use that, it's more work to set up but
> it's educational and MUCH more flexable than anything you can buy
> commercially. You might also check out something called "Station Server".
> It's basically a dedicated OS/software image that turns any PC into a
> AP/router with a nice front end. If you really want to go with a consumer
> AP you might want to get a pair of D-Link DWL-900AP+ units. They can act
as
> an AP, wireless bridge, repeater etc all in one and with 2 units you
should
> have no trouble covering a large house + yard. You'd want to place 1 unit
> near your dsl connection and the second somewhere with good coverage
(maybe
> second floor, opposite end of the house. You'd also need a router and
> switch/hub but there are plenty of good combo units available such as the
> Netgear fr114p.
>
> Have fun.
>
> --
> Ray
>
>