Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: Wireless internet?

well i just got back from costco and they had a microsoft 802.11g wireless router for 40 bucks so i picked it up. The online reviews are so so.. i still need to buy the usb adapter for the other computer and wait till we get our cable back to try it out but hopefully it will be fast enough through the walls. I'll have the base station on my computer and the wireless adapter on the other one which my sister would use so if she doesnt get the fastest connection speeds i dont really care

Bum deal is that costco only had the router. although a couple of weeks ago they only had the adapter. Maybe its just me but it makes sense to sell both at the same time i think

Right, I forgot about the Microsoft ones, having never tried them myself. But I have heard good things about them, and MS generally makes excellent peripherals.

I'm a network engineer by day, work with all kinds of crap, Cisco, 3Com, etc etc

For home I'd definitely recommend D-Link OVER Linksys. Every experience I've had with Linksys left MUCH to be desired.

I would recommend 802.11G over B or A (mainly most G systems will do B as well and A's higher freq doesn't penatrate walls as well as G)

This is the bundle I have, Router/Access Port/Switch and PCMCIA card for ~50bux

This is the new extreme series (~100Mbs) for ~80 bux.

Of course if you don't think u'd ever need a PCMCIA card (think laptop) you can find those all in one access points seperately.

All I can say is that my D-Link crashed constantly, as did the replacement one they sent me after me jumping through about 1000 hoops. So far, my Linksys has been trouble free. Now that I have said this, it will burn down my house and destroy my marriage or something along those lines.

I run 802.11b in my house. Netgear router, Linksys USB adapter, Linksys PCMCIA card, Centrino built-in wifi. They all work together. I wouldn't sweat getting everything from the same company. Get what's cheapest. That's what I did. Also, the only time you'd need 802.11g is if you are running some type of streaming video. I can't think of any app that needs that full speed. I work for a company that makes all of the wireless chips and honestly, 802.11g is more of a checkbox than a usable speed.

Try these places, sometimes you can get wireless routers for $10 after rebates:

Able Shopper
Tech Bargains
Slick Deals

Fair 'nuff. I suppose I use cross brand stuff myself... I'm just not sure about the Windows side of things (ie drivers, utilities, etc.)

Actually, you can use an USB Wireless adaptor for a desktop. I use one (I think it's a D-Link) for my desktop. Works very well, though it has a limited range relative to my notebook wireless cards. I know it sounds funny to talk about "range" when talking about a desktop, but what I mean is that you'll have to see if it works with where you have your base/router in the house.

No real advantages over a PCI card other than sheer laziness/ease of not having to install it. If I recall the cost was around $30.

Regards,
Rich

Oh yeah, I hadn't thought of that...

Something else to keep in mind (if it hasn't been mentioned) is that 2.4 GHz cordless phones operate at the same frequency as 802.11b and g (ie, 2.4 GHz). Doing as much as answering such a phone can knock the wireless network down. This is a continuing problem that many people I know have encountered, myself included. Best solution, if you have a 2.4 GHz phone, is buy a new phone. (900 MHz or 5.8 GHz)

One other thing that is relevant is that the speeds (11 and 54) are applicable to the network. The speed of the internet connection will be the limiting factor....unless you have a very significant pipe!!!!