Best AP for a small business

Hello everyone.


I've posted some of this in another post, but with a diferent subject line,
so I apologize to those who have read this in my other post.

I am considering the following two Wireless 802.11g access points for my
business:

1) Proxim ORiNOCO AP-600b/g Access Point ($349 at CDW) or
2) U.S. Robotics 100Mbps 802.11g Wireless Turbo Multi-Function Access Point
($210 at CDW)

My next question is: Are these overkill (we are a small business with only
20 office users and 4-6 laptops i and out of the office throughout the day),
or would a less expensive access
point from Netgear or Linksys be a better bargain?. My primary goal is to
provide local and internet for the 4-6 Laptop users in the office (we use
Small Business Server 2003 with ISA connected to a Cayman DSL router for
internet), and to NOT provide internet access to everyone in the office
complex. Obviously security is also an issue issue, though we don't have a
lot of confidential data, I want it as secure as possible. At this point I
am assuming a small organization like ours can easily use WPA and pre-shared
keys and I don't need to consider anything like implementing a radius
server - opinions on this welcome (actually both the units above appear to
support radius, so if I used one of these, I still hav the option for Radius
if it is needed).

Any opinions, recommendations and arguments on any of the above welcome.

Aaron

Aaron wrote:

>Hello everyone.
>
>
>I've posted some of this in another post, but with a diferent subject line,
>so I apologize to those who have read this in my other post.
>
>I am considering the following two Wireless 802.11g access points for my
>business:
>
>1) Proxim ORiNOCO AP-600b/g Access Point ($349 at CDW) or
>2) U.S. Robotics 100Mbps 802.11g Wireless Turbo Multi-Function Access Point
>($210 at CDW)
>
>
Personally, I'd go with the Proxim Orinoco. Better in my experience and
less headaches than USR.

>My next question is: Are these overkill (we are a small business with only 20 office users and 4-6 laptops i and out of the office throughout the day), or would a less expensive access point from Netgear or Linksys be a better bargain?. My primary goal is to provide local and internet for the 4-6 Laptop users in the office (we use Small Business Server 2003 with ISA connected to a Cayman DSL router for internet), and to NOT provide internet access to everyone in the office
>complex. Obviously security is also an issue issue, though we don't have a lot of confidential data, I want it as secure as possible. At this point I am assuming a small organization like ours can easily use WPA and pre-shared keys and I don't need to consider anything like implementing a radius server - opinions on this welcome (actually both the units above appear to support radius, so if I used one of these, I still hav the option for Radius if it is needed).
>
>Any opinions, recommendations and arguments on any of the above welcome.
>
>
If your office depends on reliability and down time would be a bad
thing, I'd go for the Orinoco. You'll save money in the long run.
Although I like using both Netgear and Linksys for home use, they simply
have a higher failure rate. Since Cisco recently deleted an email
request for service of mine, WITHOUT reading the email, I won't be
recommending them anymore. Although not on your short list, I would have
otherwise added them as a suggestion. It seems that the Linksys terrible
attitude toward service is now bleeding over to Cisco. I never imagined
that happening, but things change I guess...