Mix Matching Brands

What is everyones experience with mixing equipment. Such as netgear AP and
using linksys cards???...anyone had any problems with this?

Ron

> What is everyones experience with mixing equipment. Such as netgear AP
> and using linksys cards???...anyone had any problems with this?

Most people have no choice but to mix (they get a wireless card built into
their machine and the AP is provided by their coffee house, or their job,
or their conference center, ...).

I still haven't had a chance to try my hardware in a non-mixed
environment ;-)


Stefan

"Ron" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

> What is everyones experience with mixing equipment. Such as netgear
> AP and using linksys cards???...anyone had any problems with this?
>
> Ron
>
>
>

It increases the finger pointing if you start having problems, IMHO

Duane

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 11:38:55 -0400, "Ron" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>What is everyones experience with mixing equipment. Such as netgear AP and
>using linksys cards???...anyone had any problems with this?

Well, every time you use a wi-fi hotspot (coffee shop, skool network,
corporate LAN), you're probably using a mixed system. However, most
of those are 802.11b or perhaps 802.11g.

Where you can get into trouble are the proprietary enhancements such
as 4X, 22Mbits/sec, Super-G, SpeedBooster, and such. In general, you
need matching equipment to take advantage of the peformance
enhancements.

Another place are transparent bridges connecting two LAN's. There's
no real standard wireless transparent bridge protocol, so you'll
probably need to use identical hardware at each end of the bridge.
Similarly, WGS is a relatively new proprietary protocol what usually
requires compatible hardware support. In general, you can often get
away with using different manufacturers that use the same chipset, but
compatibility should be investigated before buying.

Another potential problem is mixing 802.11g and 802.11b radios.
802.11g is rather polite and slows down when in the presence of
802.11b signals. If you want to build your own indoor 802.11g
network, you should use all 802.11g equipment to prevent any slow
downs. However, they need not be from all the same vendor as 802.11g
is a published standard and well supported.

If you're not sure, or have a paranoid fear of failure, check the
corresponding Wi-Fi certifications at:
http://www.wi-fi.com/OpenSection/cer...ucts.asp?TID=2
which insures that at least someone looked at the standards compliance
for the equipment in question.


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 11:38:55 -0400, "Ron" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>What is everyones experience with mixing equipment. Such as netgear AP and
>using linksys cards???...anyone had any problems with this?

I bought a Netgrear WG511 and a Netgear WG602v2. Had nothing but
trouble with the WG511 (BSOD after coming out of standby). Finally
changed it for a Buffalo G54, that works well with the WG602v2.

"Jeff Liebermann" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 11:38:55 -0400, "Ron" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
> >What is everyones experience with mixing equipment. Such as netgear AP
and
> >using linksys cards???...anyone had any problems with this?
>
> Well, every time you use a wi-fi hotspot (coffee shop, skool network,
> corporate LAN), you're probably using a mixed system. However, most
> of those are 802.11b or perhaps 802.11g.
>
> Where you can get into trouble are the proprietary enhancements such
> as 4X, 22Mbits/sec, Super-G, SpeedBooster, and such. In general, you
> need matching equipment to take advantage of the peformance
> enhancements.
>
> Another place are transparent bridges connecting two LAN's. There's
> no real standard wireless transparent bridge protocol, so you'll
> probably need to use identical hardware at each end of the bridge.
> Similarly, WGS is a relatively new proprietary protocol what usually
> requires compatible hardware support. In general, you can often get
> away with using different manufacturers that use the same chipset, but
> compatibility should be investigated before buying.
>
> Another potential problem is mixing 802.11g and 802.11b radios.
> 802.11g is rather polite and slows down when in the presence of
> 802.11b signals. If you want to build your own indoor 802.11g
> network, you should use all 802.11g equipment to prevent any slow
> downs. However, they need not be from all the same vendor as 802.11g
> is a published standard and well supported.
>
> If you're not sure, or have a paranoid fear of failure, check the
> corresponding Wi-Fi certifications at:
> http://www.wi-fi.com/OpenSection/cer...ucts.asp?TID=2
> which insures that at least someone looked at the standards compliance
> for the equipment in question.
>
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

Can someone clarify for me, or point me to an explanation on how 802.11g
"slows down" when in the presence of "b" signals?

--
Bob Alston


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On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 17:24:33 GMT, "Bob Alston" <bobalston9
(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Can someone clarify for me, or point me to an explanation on how 802.11g
>"slows down" when in the presence of "b" signals?

See:

http://www.computerworld.com/mobilet...l?nas=PM-81450
http://www.computeruser.com/articles...1,0315,04.html

The basic problem is that 802.11 and 802.11b send their managment
frames at the slowest possible speed (1Mbit/sec) so that all radios
can receive broadcasts, flow control packets, beacons, etc. This is
where much of the overhead comes from.

In a pure 802.11g system, management packets are sent as the
connection speed. (I'm not sure about this but will check the specs
later). During idle periods, the 802.11g radio is suppose to listen
for compatible 802.11b managment frames at 1Mbit/sec. If it hears
just one frame, the 802.11g access point slows down to compatible
speeds for a few seconds. I'm not sure exactly how the transition
process works, but there's a substantial slowdown during the speed
transition and negotiation.

Some access points have an "802.11g only" mode, that literally ignores
802.11b packets.

Here's an example of one such slowdown:
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/Sectio...le43-page2.php
Note the big drop in the graph. However, note that even with the drop
in speed, 802.11g is faster than 802.11b.

If you're really into it, you might wanna read both articles (24
pages):
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/Sectio...le42-page1.php
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/Sectio...le43-page1.php


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558