wireless LAN

[JPicasso]

Okay.

looking at a wireless network for my house.

The new 802.11g spec and 820.11b run at 6.4GHz, the same freq as
several of our cordless phones.

What kind of interference can I expect?

Anyone experience any problems with this sort of thing?



ALSO,

Does anyone use a wireless lan with a usb connection to the reciever form the PC, instead of a pci card?

Does this create a bottleneck of any sort, or is perfomance largely the same as a PCI connection?

[dglienna]

i'd bet that my neighbors have 2.4g phones, but it is rare that I get any interference. the wireless lan is nearly always up. I think that the usb would not be any problem. the microwave is also on the same frequency, and I know that it doesn't cause problems, and its right in the next room.

usb is fastter than 802.11b, as it is 11mbs

[JPicasso]

screw it, no way I'm crawling around under my house for this.

wireless it is.

[dglienna]

wireless is good, plus it may pay for itself if you have neighbors that still use dial-up for $20/month. They'd prolly gladly pay something around that amount to be connected 24/7 !

[BodwadUK]

Wireless can be a pain. I get a signal of 40% - 50% on mine

[JPicasso]

What does that mean?

40-50% of the time it don't work?

or your signal is weak and you just can't compute from accross the street?

Is it noticeably slower?

[SLH]

It means it'll be slightly slower (for things like transfering files, the internet should be fine).
It may disconnect occasionally, but only for a second or 2.


Bodwad, i had a similar problem ('very poor' connection constantly), i upgraded the drivers and now get 'Excellent'. If you havn't got the latest drivers i suggest upgrading.

[JPicasso]

Anyone have any good links for securing this wireless B*TCH down?

My friend had his neighbor sucking up his bandwidth.

I don't expect any troubles from my little old lady neighbors, but still...
They are the sneaky ones, ain't they?

[dglienna]

use encryption on the router if you have it.
even the older ones usually have WEP.
make a key, and then users need that key to use the signal.

[alacritous]

Originally posted by JPicasso
Okay.

looking at a wireless network for my house.

The new 802.11g spec and 820.11b run at 6.4GHz, the same freq as
several of our cordless phones.

What kind of interference can I expect?

Anyone experience any problems with this sort of thing?

You can change the channels, which solves the problem. I have a phone that interferes, and if you don't change the channel, obviously, you're going to be disconnected while the phone is using that channel.

ALSO,

Does anyone use a wireless lan with a usb connection to the reciever form the PC, instead of a pci card?

Does this create a bottleneck of any sort, or is perfomance largely the same as a PCI connection?

Yes, I have used a USB Connection reciever. I havn't noticed any differences....

Anything else? I'm glad to help,
alacritous

[dglienna]

most phones automatically scan for open channel. they don't re-assign when a LAN is detected. Neither does my router. It is rare that I can't connect. Not sure what causes it, but all goes well in a few minutes, or else a re-boot solves things.

[BodwadUK]

Dont buy netgear thats what I have got. bought two pci cards and had to send them back because they didnt work. Very bad in my opinion

[alacritous]

Yeah, personally, I go for Linksys. I have set up Netgear for a friend, and it is a lot more complicated that Linksys. Don't get me wrong though, none of them are complicated, in my opinion.

Although, I have had trouble with the Wireless Gaming Adapater. It might have been my fault for keeping the power adapter plugged in forever, though.

Alacritous