Re: [NTLK] Recommended setup for wireless network?

From: Ed Kummel (tech_ed_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Aug 03 2002 - 00:06:08 EDT


Well, the nice thing about the 802.11b standard is
that almost any piece of hardware that understands the
standard will work!
I only recently got into wireless and have yet to
finalize my connections.
But, you only really need 3 pieces of equipment. A
gateway to the internet, a wireless access point and a
wireless NIC.
Essentially, (and optimally) you would have some kind
of broad-band connectivity that uses some kind of
ethernet interface. This will most likely be some kind
of Router of Cable Modem. I may have one ethernet port
or as many as 8 (my Netopia has 8) Since this is
usually rented from your ISP, you may not have a real
choice as to what you get. Which is not really
important as long as you have at least one ethernet
port. As for your wireless connection, forget about
these base-stations and fancy 8-port switch/hub/router
devices..you don't need one! You're going wireless,
right? Who needs a hub? Get your self a simple
wireless access point! I recommend something with
diversity (dual antennas) signal capture for the
highest sustainable speeds. Something like a cisco
Aironet 340...What makes an access point preferable is
that you can get them much cheaper than the full blown
switch/router/hub devices, and you can spend more
money getting the best wireless access point you can
afford (you can get a better Wireless access point for
$150 than you can get a wireless hub/router/switch!)
Then, get any cheap (or whatever you can afford)
wireless NIC! Microcenter has some really nice dlink
dw things complete with PCI slot and NIC for $38! I'm
picking up a few this weekend)
And there you have it! Personally? My configuration is
a Netopia DSL router (it has 8 ports, but since it's
just a hub, I don't use but 1 port) From there, I have
an Alteon switch (I can't read the name from here, but
it says something like "ace-switch" of something. This
is a bit much for the home user, but I like it for
it's auto failover to dialup if my DSL fails, and it
can be partitioned so that I can loadbalance and
switch with one device at the same time!) From there,
I have a Cisco Aironet 340 wireless access point.
Tomorrow I will have the Dlink dw cards installed and
I shall see how I function wirelessly!
Oh yeah, it was mentioned here on the list recently
(was I Victor I believe?) that there is sometimes a
problem with auto-negotiate between network
devices...This is true! Especially with Cisco
equipment and almost every other device! My Alteon had
a bear of a time with the Aironet Wireless access
point...had to hard set it to 10/full on both devices
to avoid collisions...I've seen this in our
datacenters, but never experienced it first hand until
I got my own equipment here at home!
Ed
web/gadget guru

--- Steven <steven_at_zenacon.com> wrote:
>
> There has been a lot of talk about what WiFi cards
> work and what routers to
> use, etc. I was wondering if someone can recommend
> a complete setup for
> someone with simple needs like myself and a limited
> budget. I have a cable
> modem and an IBM laptop at home and would like to go
> wireless so I can use
> the laptop and my Newton around the house (the
> Newton has never been
> connected to the net). It would also be great if
> the Newton were able to
> access other WiFi networks such as at coffee shops,
> how do you do that?

=====
"I believe that viewers who skip television commercials are Thieves who are guilty of Stealing network programming"
 - Jamie Keller CEO/Chairman Turner Broadcasting

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better
http://health.yahoo.com

-- 
Read the List FAQ/Etiquette: http://www.newtontalk.net/faq.html
Read the Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
This is the NewtonTalk mailing list - http://www.newtontalk.net/



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Thu Sep 05 2002 - 10:02:21 EDT