Wireless Network Advice

I currently have a working 100Mbit ethernet network, comprising of two
laptops, three desktop machines, one of which is a software router for my
DSL line.

I'm considering an upgrade to wireless, now there's a 108Mbps standard (at
least provisionally). However, I'm a little concerned about range. I live in
a house built in 1771, and hence has nice thick walls. I've always used
Intellinet network cards (Realtek 8139 chip) and switches, and haven't had a
single failed device yet. I've had some experience with US Robotics wireless
networking gear, which I found was pretty easy to set up and get going.

Anyone have any advice? Preferences for manufacturers?
Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Dave
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Bah... apologies for hijacking your thread, Chris.

For anyone using Outlook Express, the post I'm replying to should've
appeared as its own seperate thread.

Dave
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Bad news first...

o you will not get faster real wireless speeds than you get with your
wired network...expect roughly 50% of the box speed.

o wireless security is fairly pathetic. You can make it more robust,
but it certainly is not as robust as wired. Be sure why you want
wireless, and be sure to investigate how to make it more robust.

Being more helpful...

Getting round the thick walls is just a case of throwing money (extra
WAPs) at the problem. Siting it (them) high so that the signal goes
through the (relatively thin) floor rather than the wall will help,
but in extremis you may find you need a WAP in each room where you
have a wireless computer.

Presumably your existing network has points where you are going to
want to work? This makes putting a WAP in there easier

I'd certainly advise you not to make all your machines wireless "for
the sake of it". You will get a real loss in performance (though not
noticeable if you only share the web connection rather than print/file
share across the lan) and the security considerations should not be
overlooked.

For simply sharing the internet, the cheap, "slow" Belkin 802.11b
products are extremely good value. For higher speed 802.11g I have
had good experiences with D-Link. But I would question the benefits
of wireless if you really need this speed.

jay

Jay,

Thanks for your reply.

> Bad news first...
>
> o you will not get faster real wireless speeds than you get with your
> wired network...expect roughly 50% of the box speed.

Why on earth do they advertise 108Mbps if it won't deliver? I guess it's
unless you're at seriously close range, but then what's the point of
wireless?

> o wireless security is fairly pathetic.

Security isn't too much of a bit issue here - we're a good distance away
from the neighbours and out in the middle of nowhere. But turning on WEP and
MAC address authentication wouldn't be a bad idea.

> Presumably your existing network has points where you are going to
> want to work? This makes putting a WAP in there easier

Allow me to elaborate further on my setup. One of the laptops is mine, the
other is my father's. Most of the time, we're downstairs in his office. But
father tends to take his laptop into the kitchen to use the larger kitchen
counter so he can spread out his work files and have more space to work. He
does a lot of geneology, so the space is kinda essential at times. I don't
want to run a regular ethernet cable in there so he can use the net - it's
not exactly close, he's not in there regularly enough to make it worthwhile,
and tbh, I really can't be bothered pulling up carpet, etc, etc to make it
look pretty.

Other times, I take my laptop upstairs to my office. I've run an ethernet
cable up there, but it's not pretty - crosses two doorways, long hallway,
one flight of stairs, another doorway upstairs, then into the office. It's
not an ideal setup, and I want to get rid of the cable if possible. However,
this is one location that faster speeds are needed.

> But I would question the benefits
> of wireless if you really need this speed.

I figured, if I'm gonna make changes, I may as well get the best I can for
my money. So I may as well go for the 108Mbit...

-Dave
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On Fri, 2 Jan 2004 14:49:16 -0000, "David Baxter"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Why on earth do they advertise 108Mbps if it won't deliver? I guess it's
>unless you're at seriously close range, but then what's the point of
>wireless?

Grin - its called marketing Similarly, though you will probably
not get 100mbps transfer speeds across your wired network.

>Security isn't too much of a bit issue here - we're a good distance away
>from the neighbours and out in the middle of nowhere. But turning on WEP and
>MAC address authentication wouldn't be a bad idea.

Geographical remoteness is the best defence WEP is pretty
shockingly poor - it uses a fixed key and is very easy to brute force
attack. MAC address spoofing is also easy. Worst is the ease at
which some devices can be reprogrammed as many people forget to change
the default user/passwords.

>Allow me to elaborate further on my setup. One of the laptops is mine, the
>other is my father's. Most of the time, we're downstairs in his office. But
>father tends to take his laptop into the kitchen to use the larger kitchen
>counter so he can spread out his work files and have more space to work. He
>does a lot of geneology, so the space is kinda essential at times. I don't
>want to run a regular ethernet cable in there so he can use the net - it's
>not exactly close, he's not in there regularly enough to make it worthwhile,
>and tbh, I really can't be bothered pulling up carpet, etc, etc to make it
>look pretty.
>
>Other times, I take my laptop upstairs to my office. I've run an ethernet
>cable up there, but it's not pretty - crosses two doorways, long hallway,
>one flight of stairs, another doorway upstairs, then into the office. It's
>not an ideal setup, and I want to get rid of the cable if possible. However,
>this is one location that faster speeds are needed.

Remember, though, that you need an Ethernet cable at some point for
the WAP to talk to the network. You *could* plug it into a switch
next to your "main" PC (your father's office?) but that is almost
guaranteed not to be the best place to put the WAP for signal strength
and coverage... For that you could do with using the upstairs network
point - but you are hoping to do away with that. (

Do you see why I question whether wireless is the ideal solution?
(And in most situations it is unfortunately not even a good solution -
it just saves a wire run.)

What would be best for your described use are properly cabled network
points in the "main use" areas, and perhaps a carefully chosen spot
for a WAP to cover the kitchen. But another network point would be
faster!

>I figured, if I'm gonna make changes, I may as well get the best I can for
>my money. So I may as well go for the 108Mbit...

Fair enough. Wireless security has to be improved over the next year
or so - I'd buy cheap kit for now as proof of concept and upgrade in a
few years when really fast wireless is available.

But you'd still get better value and performance out of doing the
wired stuff neatly

jay