Moving from 10Mbps Ethernet to Wireless 802.11g - HELP!!

Could someone who knows about these things give me some advice?

WHERE I WAS
My home/office has two desktop PCs (both 3.2GHz Pentium IVs) running
Win98SE. Both have USB2.0. Also, both have PCI Ethernet 10/100 adapter
cards and I am running a peer-to-peer Microsoft Network (i.e., the one
built in to Win98SE).
The internal network wiring is all ancient BNC coax, which means I am
limited to 10Mbps (and why I am not using the LANs built-in to their
motherboards, which have RJ45 connectors). This slow speed is getting to be
a real hassle when doing backups. Additionally, it is preventing other
sharing work I need to do.
I still connect to the internet using 56K V92 dial-up; half-decent
broadband has only this year become economically available in my neck of
the woods (IMO it is a swindle to market 128Kbps as broadband). I use
Windows Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) so both machines share one dialup
modem (3com USR, serial connection).
Changing to RJ45 wiring to get 100Mbps is not an option because the BNC
coax wiring is sealed into a solid concrete floor and I don't want trailing
wires.
I have Win2K CDs, SP4 and licenses to cover these PCs but have held off
from upgrading from Win98SE because "if it ain't broken, don't fix it". A
very wise dictum indeed when complex operating systems are concerned, I'm
sure many may agree.

WHAT CHANGED
Yesterday I bought a Toshiba Satellite P25 portable PC preloaded with WinXP
Home and SP2. The laptop is fitted with built-in (not via a PCMCIA card)
Atheros AR5001X+ 802.11 a/b/g wireless network hardware. According to:
http://www.atheros.com/pt/ar5001X+.html
this has a "108-Mbps Atheros Turbo Mode" too. I realize from some research
that 108 Mbps will in the real world at best be 60-65 Mbps, but that is a
lot better than the 40-45 Mbps which is the best I can hope for from
"standard g".

WHERE I WANT TO BE - HELP!
I want to use the laptop in my network, and this seems a smart time to
upgrade my network capabilities to a wholly wireless LAN as well as my
dialup internet connection to 1Mbps broadband.
Used where they will be, none of the three computers will be more than 30
feet from any other, and there will never be a brick wall between any two
of them (only a wooden partition or floor).
I would like to make use of the "turbo mode" on the Atheros so I can get
better than 50mbps from the new wireless-only network.
What PCI cards should I buy to be able to get the faster networking between
all three? And what hub/router/modem/whatever (makes and models, please)?
(yep, I asked toshiba and atheros already...nr)
I already know that in order to get the claimed "108 Mbps" I must have
cards from the same manufacturer - but remember, the laptop has the
Atheros-based 802.11g built-in. I don't want to have to add a PCMCIA
network card to it.
Would I be wise to upgrade Win98se on the desktop PCs at the same time?


All help and suggestions gratefully accepted.

I am not an expert at this but after carefull research I bought and recommend
the Netgear WGTB511T 108Mbps Wireless Firewall Router with a couple of WG311T
Pci adaptors for the desktops.The 511T comes as a package with a PCMCIA card.The
build in card that came with your laptop might not work with another companies
router at the speed that you want.Since I bought all Netgear I have my 108Mbps
connection...well at least faster than 50Mbps.The units where a snap to install
and configure and has been running without any problems for about a month now.I
am Running XP SP2 on 2 PC and a Laptop all in different parts of the house and
they all interconnect nicely and reach the web thru a DSL modem attached to the
Wireless Router.
No idea how this would connect to an ancient dial up modem but with Internet
Connection Sharing this should not be a problem....other than a slow way to
connect to the net and it will seem even slower once you have your network up
and running....maybe its time to think about that swindle ?
My opinion
peter

"via Userbeam Remailer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ...
> Could someone who knows about these things give me some advice?
>
> WHERE I WAS
> My home/office has two desktop PCs (both 3.2GHz Pentium IVs) running
> Win98SE. Both have USB2.0. Also, both have PCI Ethernet 10/100 adapter
> cards and I am running a peer-to-peer Microsoft Network (i.e., the one
> built in to Win98SE).
> The internal network wiring is all ancient BNC coax, which means I am
> limited to 10Mbps (and why I am not using the LANs built-in to their
> motherboards, which have RJ45 connectors). This slow speed is getting to be
> a real hassle when doing backups. Additionally, it is preventing other
> sharing work I need to do.
> I still connect to the internet using 56K V92 dial-up; half-decent
> broadband has only this year become economically available in my neck of
> the woods (IMO it is a swindle to market 128Kbps as broadband). I use
> Windows Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) so both machines share one dialup
> modem (3com USR, serial connection).
> Changing to RJ45 wiring to get 100Mbps is not an option because the BNC
> coax wiring is sealed into a solid concrete floor and I don't want trailing
> wires.
> I have Win2K CDs, SP4 and licenses to cover these PCs but have held off
> from upgrading from Win98SE because "if it ain't broken, don't fix it". A
> very wise dictum indeed when complex operating systems are concerned, I'm
> sure many may agree.
>
> WHAT CHANGED
> Yesterday I bought a Toshiba Satellite P25 portable PC preloaded with WinXP
> Home and SP2. The laptop is fitted with built-in (not via a PCMCIA card)
> Atheros AR5001X+ 802.11 a/b/g wireless network hardware. According to:
> http://www.atheros.com/pt/ar5001X+.html
> this has a "108-Mbps Atheros Turbo Mode" too. I realize from some research
> that 108 Mbps will in the real world at best be 60-65 Mbps, but that is a
> lot better than the 40-45 Mbps which is the best I can hope for from
> "standard g".
>
> WHERE I WANT TO BE - HELP!
> I want to use the laptop in my network, and this seems a smart time to
> upgrade my network capabilities to a wholly wireless LAN as well as my
> dialup internet connection to 1Mbps broadband.
> Used where they will be, none of the three computers will be more than 30
> feet from any other, and there will never be a brick wall between any two
> of them (only a wooden partition or floor).
> I would like to make use of the "turbo mode" on the Atheros so I can get
> better than 50mbps from the new wireless-only network.
> What PCI cards should I buy to be able to get the faster networking between
> all three? And what hub/router/modem/whatever (makes and models, please)?
> (yep, I asked toshiba and atheros already...nr)
> I already know that in order to get the claimed "108 Mbps" I must have
> cards from the same manufacturer - but remember, the laptop has the
> Atheros-based 802.11g built-in. I don't want to have to add a PCMCIA
> network card to it.
> Would I be wise to upgrade Win98se on the desktop PCs at the same time?
>
>
> All help and suggestions gratefully accepted.
>

OOPs slight mistake.........The 511T Package contains a 624 router and a 511T
PCMIA card
peter
"via Userbeam Remailer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ...
> Could someone who knows about these things give me some advice?
>
> WHERE I WAS
> My home/office has two desktop PCs (both 3.2GHz Pentium IVs) running
> Win98SE. Both have USB2.0. Also, both have PCI Ethernet 10/100 adapter
> cards and I am running a peer-to-peer Microsoft Network (i.e., the one
> built in to Win98SE).
> The internal network wiring is all ancient BNC coax, which means I am
> limited to 10Mbps (and why I am not using the LANs built-in to their
> motherboards, which have RJ45 connectors). This slow speed is getting to be
> a real hassle when doing backups. Additionally, it is preventing other
> sharing work I need to do.
> I still connect to the internet using 56K V92 dial-up; half-decent
> broadband has only this year become economically available in my neck of
> the woods (IMO it is a swindle to market 128Kbps as broadband). I use
> Windows Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) so both machines share one dialup
> modem (3com USR, serial connection).
> Changing to RJ45 wiring to get 100Mbps is not an option because the BNC
> coax wiring is sealed into a solid concrete floor and I don't want trailing
> wires.
> I have Win2K CDs, SP4 and licenses to cover these PCs but have held off
> from upgrading from Win98SE because "if it ain't broken, don't fix it". A
> very wise dictum indeed when complex operating systems are concerned, I'm
> sure many may agree.
>
> WHAT CHANGED
> Yesterday I bought a Toshiba Satellite P25 portable PC preloaded with WinXP
> Home and SP2. The laptop is fitted with built-in (not via a PCMCIA card)
> Atheros AR5001X+ 802.11 a/b/g wireless network hardware. According to:
> http://www.atheros.com/pt/ar5001X+.html
> this has a "108-Mbps Atheros Turbo Mode" too. I realize from some research
> that 108 Mbps will in the real world at best be 60-65 Mbps, but that is a
> lot better than the 40-45 Mbps which is the best I can hope for from
> "standard g".
>
> WHERE I WANT TO BE - HELP!
> I want to use the laptop in my network, and this seems a smart time to
> upgrade my network capabilities to a wholly wireless LAN as well as my
> dialup internet connection to 1Mbps broadband.
> Used where they will be, none of the three computers will be more than 30
> feet from any other, and there will never be a brick wall between any two
> of them (only a wooden partition or floor).
> I would like to make use of the "turbo mode" on the Atheros so I can get
> better than 50mbps from the new wireless-only network.
> What PCI cards should I buy to be able to get the faster networking between
> all three? And what hub/router/modem/whatever (makes and models, please)?
> (yep, I asked toshiba and atheros already...nr)
> I already know that in order to get the claimed "108 Mbps" I must have
> cards from the same manufacturer - but remember, the laptop has the
> Atheros-based 802.11g built-in. I don't want to have to add a PCMCIA
> network card to it.
> Would I be wise to upgrade Win98se on the desktop PCs at the same time?
>
>
> All help and suggestions gratefully accepted.
>