Impressions of wireless networking needed...

[intercede007]

Ok fella's, heres the deal.

I just bought a new house (http://members.cox.net/intercede007/index.html) and I couldn't get the contractors to drop Cat-5 and make outlets, so in a effort to avoid nasty wires, I am going wireless. I am going with the 802.11a spec (54Mbps, 5ghz) and I want to know if anyone has used that, or the 802.11g (54Mbps, 2.4ghz) spec, and what their impressions are. I heard that the bandwidth is shared between all clients and I don't get 54Mbps per connection..is that true? There will be 3 computers on the network, 2 of which see heavy use. I am kinda nervous about how big the gap from 100Mbps to 54Mbps (at best) is.


Thanks for the help fellas.

Ohh..and I am sticking to Linksys products, and I would find it especially helpful if anyone could chime in on those.

[The Baron]

Linksys makes great PCI cards. Have 2 802.11b ones, they work great.

As for your questions:

1. Initially, games will run like hell. You need to tweak the RTS/CTS thresholds and the fragmentation thresholds to overcome the packet loss inherent with both of those being set really high. When they're high, bandwidth improves, but you lose packets very often if you're not in very close proximity.

2. You get 54Mbps per AP (in this case, a router). So, think of it as using Ether with a hub instead of a switch. Same thing.

3. If you copy 6GB files and want them copied within 5 or 10 minutes, prepared to be disappointed. It won't happen. If you do, however, just share normal files and such, you're peachy.

4. Go 802.11g. 802.11b backwards compatibility is never a bad thing. 802.11a will more than likely be phased out, so cards will increase in price.

5. DHCP is the devil. 'Nough said.

[jnd3]

Yeah, what The Baron said. And then some. Stick with 802.11g now. I went with 802.11b (since that was all that was available when I got it). It serves the purpose, but file transfer is a little slow on the WLAN. But since we rarely transfer large files between computers, it's not a big issue for us. It's great for a house. We've got the wireless router (D-Link) set up by the cable modem. I haven't found a place in the house yet where we can't connect. As for Linksys products, we have two of the WUSB11 (v.2.6) USB 802.11b adapters. They work great with my desktop PC and my laptop, Windows 2000SP3 and Red Hat 8.0 (with a little tweaking).

Cheers,
JND

[intercede007]

Thanks alot guys.

I am really looking at the 802.11a spec because I like the fact it uses the 5ghz frequency, and alot of the AP's do both the A and G spec. I have 4 cordless phones in the house that all use the 2.4ghz frequency, and I've heard accounts from other PCS users that sometimes cell phone reception in the home is almost non-existant with the 2.4ghz.


Be that as it may, have any of you found that things interfere/stop working with the AP's? It's a one level house, and all of the computers will be no more then 30 feet from the AP, along with a TV right next to it (remotes), Garage door opener very nearby, etc etc. If I feel comfortable enough, I might just settle down with the 802.11g spec.

Also, Linksys products for the A and G have whats called a "turbo" mode that uses 72Mbps? Any info on that?

Again, I really appreciate the input guys!!

[The Baron]

Also, Linksys products for the A and G have whats called a "turbo" mode that uses 72Mbps? Any info on that?No idea. Probably not very good though--22Mbps 802.11b wasn't very good, either. Otherwise, it'd be in the official spec. :p

I have 4 cordless phones in the house that all use the 2.4ghz frequency, and I've heard accounts from other PCS users that sometimes cell phone reception in the home is almost non-existant with the 2.4ghz.

If you use it in the direct line of site between the wireless card and the router, interference is pretty bad. But, anywhere else, it's fine. Got a 2.4Ghz phone I use in my room with no problems, and I haven't even played with the channel yet.

As to 802.11a... it will only increase in price, so if you want to add new boxes, that's a bad thing.

Seriously though, I think the interference claims are highly overrated. My house has THE crappiest wiring on the face of the planet, I'm going through about 5 interior walls, AND my computer is in a corner--STILL, I get good reception. Refrigerators and ovens, though, cause problems.

Other things to remember--the higher you place the AP, the better. Makes an incredible difference (used to get disconned from the router every half hour or so until I moved the router 4 or 5 feet higher, and since then, it's been perfect).

WEP, I think, is highly overrated too. MAC filtering is where it's at. WEP is easily broken, and while you can fake MAC addresses, it's not as simple as WEP packet sniffing fun.