b/g Compatibility

Am I correct in assuming that my son's new HP laptop with 802.11g capabilities
should be able to talk to my existing 802.11b AP? The AP has been in use with
my wife's laptop for a few months with no problems, but the HP doesn't even see
the SSID.

I'm not using WEP, but am using MAC filtering and have added the MAC address of
the HP to the Access Point's setup.

>Am I correct in assuming that my son's new HP laptop with 802.11g capabilities
>should be able to talk to my existing 802.11b AP? The AP has been in use with
>my wife's laptop for a few months with no problems, but the HP doesn't even see
>the SSID.
>
>I'm not using WEP, but am using MAC filtering and have added the MAC address of
>the HP to the Access Point's setup.

Yes, .11G is backwards compatible with .11B. Try it with the MAC
filtering off. Reboot both boxes.

802.2g is compatible with 802.b, so it should work.

Have you added the correct MAC-address. Probably, the lap-top has two
MAC-addresses; one of the Ethernet card, one of the Wireless card.
Perform, Run, cmd, ipconfig /all to check the MAC-addresses.

Maybe your AP does not broadcast the SSID, which could explain why the
lap-top does not see it. This item I don't understand myself. To improve
security, you should disable "broadcast SSID" is said everywhere. When I do
this, I don't see the the network any longer, which seems normal to me, but
how can I connect to it, if I don't see it?


"Rick Brandt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Am I correct in assuming that my son's new HP laptop with 802.11g
capabilities
> should be able to talk to my existing 802.11b AP? The AP has been in use
with
> my wife's laptop for a few months with no problems, but the HP doesn't
even see
> the SSID.
>
> I'm not using WEP, but am using MAC filtering and have added the MAC
address of
> the HP to the Access Point's setup.
>
>

"Willhe" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:40d43f56$0$28597$(E-Mail Removed)...
> 802.2g is compatible with 802.b, so it should work.
>
> Have you added the correct MAC-address. Probably, the lap-top has two
> MAC-addresses; one of the Ethernet card, one of the Wireless card.
> Perform, Run, cmd, ipconfig /all to check the MAC-addresses.
>
> Maybe your AP does not broadcast the SSID, which could explain why the
> lap-top does not see it. This item I don't understand myself. To improve
> security, you should disable "broadcast SSID" is said everywhere. When I
do
> this, I don't see the the network any longer, which seems normal to me,
but
> how can I connect to it, if I don't see it?
>
>
> "Rick Brandt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Am I correct in assuming that my son's new HP laptop with 802.11g
> capabilities
> > should be able to talk to my existing 802.11b AP? The AP has been in
use
> with
> > my wife's laptop for a few months with no problems, but the HP doesn't
> even see
> > the SSID.
> >
> > I'm not using WEP, but am using MAC filtering and have added the MAC
> address of
> > the HP to the Access Point's setup.

If you disable the broadcasting of SSID by the AP, then clients must be
configured for the specific SSID that they want to connect to. If the
client is set to connect to ANY SSID, then it won't find networks that don't
broadcast SSIDs.

Ron Bandes, CCNP, CTT+, etc.