Wireless networking.

A fair quantity f us at netsmog have some sort of LAn in our homes, and who wouldnt now that its os cheap to get set up.

I wanna know if anyone is running a wireless network??  

Looks like a good idea (better than snaking cables) but is still abit too costy for my liking at the moment.

What you all think?

Hi Simo,

I currently have a wired and wireless network setup here at home.  I have a Linksys 4-port router hooked up to the cable modem.  Then, I have an Apple airport station hooked up to the router to provide wireless access.  The router has two computers connected to it through CAT5 (taking advantage of the faster speed) and the airport station provides access to 4 other computers around the house.

I absolutely LOVE wireless!  I am in a three story townhouse and I have excellent connection anywhere.  However, I do notice there are performance differences with each brand of wireless card.  My roommate has a desktop that is using a wireless card by Linksys.  I have one made by Orinoco (previously by Lucent Technologies).  The one by Orinoco is absolutely better than the Linksys.  For one, I've noticed that my roommate has to tilt the backside of his desktop to face in the general direction of the airport station (one floor down).  I, on the other hand, do not experience this with the laptop.  Maybe the case of the desktop is getting in the way of the signal?  I don't know.

The same goes for the Apple wireless cards.  I think they perform very well.  So, would I recommend wireless to people?  I would have to say yes but also that it is kind of on the expensive side.  Of course, the sheer freedom of taking my laptop anywhere around the house without losing my internet connection is sheer bliss!  ;D

thats what I want to be able to do.

Walk around the house and take my lappy with me (mabey even outside on the porch) and have the net runnin.

That would be soooooooooo sweet. :-*

Here's another question about wireless networking.  For those that do have it and also have a 2.4 GHz Spread Spectrum phone, do you notice any interference between the wireless gateway and the phone?  I know that the wireless gateway's of today do operate in the 2.4 GHz range.  With the phone hoping aroung in the spectrum like the way it does, I would assume there might be some interference?  Anybody got any idea on this?

[Omega]

Well, I'm not exactly sure if this applies, but I'll share anyway:

My work is a fairly small office, with a hybrid network (cabled and wireless).  Basically it goes

Cable Modem
       V
Netgear RT311 Router
           V
Netgear 5 port 10/100 switch
               V                                                 V
Apple AirPort Wireless Hub      |     Various other hardwired junk

We also run a Siemens professional phone system (it's that one with a 2 line base station, then lots of separate (expensive) handsets.  I believe they run at 2.4 gHz.  We didn't notice any interference at first, but now we've noticed some really bad reception on the phones, intermittantly.  I haven't experimented enough to see if it's actually the AirPort that's causing the interference, but it's a good possibility.

I would be really interested to see what you find out about that.  The reason why I asked is because I'm in the market of buying a new cordless phone and I have my eye on a 2.4GHz.  However, if it's only going to cause problems because it and the Apple Airport station are fighting for the airwaves then I might as well not get one.  I really do not want to spend all that money just find out that I can't have my cordless phone and my wireless network work together, you know?

sorry, but I am a newbie in wireless networking... if I understand correctly you (all) use the Apple airport hub, and some PC (and no MacIntosh) wireless NICs together with no problem?? I know it is a standard (IEEE802.11) and it should work, but does it really??  (not like bluetooth... they promise it will work together, but it doesn't) and do you really need a Mac to configure it.. because I have none...

Yes, my current setup is that I have a Linksys 4-port router connected to the modem.  From that router, one port is connected to the Airport station that provides wireless connectivity throughout the house.  Two other ports are connected to two PCs through CAT-5.

It is possible for an Airport Station to serve as a bridge/gateway to both PCs and Macs because of the fact that it implements the 802.11b standard.  However, I tried to configure the airport through the PC and gave up after an hour of trying to get it to work with that.  So, I just used one of the Macs and configured the Airport station through the software that was provided.  After that, it was a piece of cake to configure.

So, all together, there are two computers that are wired to the router through CAT-5 and two other PCs (desktop and laptop) and two other Macs (iMac and powerbook) that have wireless connectivity through the Airport station.  Just as long as your gateway/bridge supports 802.11b any wireless NICs supporting this standard should work.  However, with the new 802.11a coming out, these two aren't easily mixed up together.

If you just want to use PCs thn its easier to run out and buy a wireless networking kit.

It is easy to so, go out the house and buy it... (I'm still a student) and also the Apple airport has the best numbers on all sides... It is the cheapest one, with the best range and the higest speeds on a far range... but I have only PCs and no Macs... so can I use the Airport, then?? (what things do you have to configure??). I just found a MacOS emulator for windows... maybe I can try that... but it seems like I need a ROM-Bios  :-[