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

This is a question for all the computer experts out there. I have cable internet access, and would like to go wireless. I understand that I need a wireless adaptor card, a wireless card and a wireless router. Are there differences in brands or is all hardware pretty much equal? Is there anything else I need?

Generally speaking, a wireless adapter card and a wireless card are the same thing. Are we dealing with multiple machines here? Are they Windows/Linux/MacOS/MacOS X? Laptop/Desktop?

Generally, I would stay far, far, far, far, far away from D-Link and Netgear. I've had (so far) a very good experience with my Linksys WRT54G (yes that security hole is a bit of a myth, as long as the firewall is turned on).

My old D-Link router was a piece of junk and trouble ever since I got it. I recently returned it for warranty repair/replacement, and ended up with a new one that had the exact same problem. They swore they were going to have Level III tech support call me and determine whether they should pay the return shipping, but they only called once and have not returned my multiple messages.

My Netgear router did not work at all with my Mac laptops (when they went to sleep, you could not recover the connection without rebooting.) No such problems with the D-Link or Linksys, so don't try to tell me it's a Mac thing.

The Apple Base Stations are very good, but also very expensive. I'd only go with those if you've got Macs and some extra cash. High quality, good warranty, good customer support, built in print server, but is it really worth an extra $130?

Windowsxp/os. Desktop/labtop network. I was under the impression that I would have to add an adaptor to my desktop to use a separate wireless card. From your post it appears that my compusion was complete.

OK, what you will need is a PC card for the laptop and a PCI card for the desktop if you wish the desktop to be wireless as well.

kcarlile -

What kind of mac do you have? Have you had a chance to use/see the new G5? And did you check out the new monitors?! Those are sweet looking.

I have a G4 (FW800) Dual 1.25 GHz (last of the G4s...dammit!) and a PowerBook G4/867 from work and a PII/450 from work. My wife has a PBG4/667 (nominally from work), and we have an Athlon 1400. Since I work on Macs, I have had a chance to work on most of the G5s (as well as just about everything else, including Xserve G5s!), but not the new dual 2.5 giggers, as they're not out yet. Haven't seen the new monitors in person, but they are pretty sweet. Pity that the 30 inch requires the $600 video card, but hey, that's the way it is.

Thanks K!

No problem. I would recommend getting cards from the same manufacturer as your router, but I think there's a little less difference there. Although I'm not sure...

Good question.. i just recived a new computer and now im looking for a wireless router and a usb adapter. Theres a few to choose from locally but i was under the imrpession that the 802.11g is better then the "b" the two computers will be roughly 100' apart seperated by numerous walls. The price for 100' of cat5 cable was as much as a wireless usb adapter so the choice seemed obvious. right?

802.11g is certainly faster than 802.11b. I'm not sure if it's better for distance. It also depends on what kind of walls and what kind of antennas you've got. The Linksys I mentioned is certainly more powerful than the D-Link I had, but other than that comparision, I'm not sure how far it will go. Of course, you can always replace the antennae with powered ones.

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!!!!

I have the D-Link Xtreme G gear. The router is near my desktop machine and cable modem, in the basement at one end of my house. I run a short network cable from the router to my desktop, so I didn't bother adding a wireless card to my desktop. My son and his laptop are upstairs at the opposite end of the house. He had trouble getting a signal in his bedroom, so I bought a D-Link wireless repeater that is upstairs, nearly directly above the router, and that solved the problem.

For each of the three components, I had to call D-Link tech support to get them working correctly at the top speed. I think two or maybe all three of them required firmware downloads. I did get through to tech support fairly quickly, and they did a good job of walking me through the process. The system has been working well for months now, with no crashes.

I haven't encountered this problem. I've often sucessfully been on the 2.4 GHz phone and the wireless network. Maybe channel 6 isn't vulnerable? Maybe my 2.4 GHz phone is a piece of crap? (Oh wait, that's not maybe. Let this be a lesson to you folks... if a product is selling for half the price of its competitors with similar specs, it's probably a hunk of junk...Axioms excepted.)

well this does bring up an interesting question. At home, I own a Panny 2.4Ghz cordless phone. We also own a Windows XP based PC (currently connected to the net via DSL). My gf just got a Mac laptop through work and we are looking for a way to set up a wireless network to incorporate the laptop. Is there any way to do this without potentially causing problems with the phone?

thx in advance everyone

Pray. I haven't had a single problem with the phone and the wireless network, no matter which router I was using. (famous last words... Yeah, I'm superstitious. Do computer maintenance/repair, and you will be too...) I'd say give it a shot, maybe try different channels on the wireless.

Now that I've thought about it a bit, this may only happen with the "secure" 2.4 GHz phones which, I think, scan through various channels while in use in order to avoid being picked up by a scanner. I could see those popping onto the wireless frequency and totally hosing things. The answer may, in fact, be a cheapass phone!

i think i'll do as you advised and pray! Actually it's a fairly expensive phone and I seem to think it does alternate channels. Hopefully in it's multitude of features there is an option to stick to one channel. I'll check it out tonight when i get home. Thanks for the tip Ken.

Well, the phone I've experienced the problem with is a VTech 2468 (2.4 GHz) cordless. It doesn't always kill the network either. Most of the time in fact there's no problem at all, but it does mess things up from time to time. A quick reboot of the router and everything is running fine. More of a hassle than anything else. I would chalk it up to a buggy router except that the physical connections running through it have never dropped, even when the wireless goes down. The router BTW is a Linksys BEFW11S4 (802.11b).

Bizarre. I'm too lazy to get up right now, but I've got a VTech 2.4GHz phone, too, and obviously a similar-ish router. Well, who knows...

If you didn't get a card yet, Proxim/Orinoco are generally considered the best range wise. I wouldn't recommend their access points, but the cards are great.

I agree with Ken. I have many friends who have DLink and get dropped all the time. QC is bad. I have great luck also with Linksys and MSI RG54GS routers. MSI cards, cardbus's are also much cheaper than competition. I have sold 10 MSI routers with built-in print server to people and all are happy except one that had a issue with one of the Dell All in One printer's software.

Ah, it's nice to know I'm not insane...

So i bought a linksys pci adapter the other day, we have our cable now so yesterday i hooked up the wireless stuff (i wish)! i have the router working and internet on this computer ( hooked to router ) but i cant get the wireless part working right. I was able to get the router and adapter to talk but it wont connect to the internet and i have no idea where to start... The adapter came with NO manual, only a stupid easy setup paphlet which didnt do anything. Its like i can get them to connect but i dont have something set right to allow for intenet acess.

linksys website is compltely worthless... no way im gonna spend 6 hours on the phone with them. i'll just return the thing! or return this microsoft router and buy the linksys one walmart had and then it might work. . dunno but im getting pretty frustrated!

SEEE! Linksys bad!

Is your machine getting an ip address? Do an ipconfig -all to see if it's picking anything up. Try an ipconfig -release, then an ipconfig -renew to see if it gets anything. Check if the router is set to hand out ip addresses (DHCP) over the wireless. Make sure that the computer is set up to use the wireless card as its network device. What OS are you on? (should have been the first question...)

omg it works!!!!!

im typing this on the wireless computer. I just set it for DHCP or whatever and then redid the network wizard and now its working like a charm

The true test will be if it works good at a distance because right now they router and adapter are about 2 feet apart. Hopefully none of my settings will change now when i restart or something. Thanks for the help, although i didnt see it till i got it working

ok it *was* working. until i restarted both the computers. then it lost my network settings or something i think. The two OS is XP pro on my wired computer and 98se on the wireless. I know it has to do with this internet gateway thing on the wireless computer but i cant get that to work now. lol.


edit- now it works... apparently it doesnt save my network settings and everytime i turn them off i need to redo the whole deal. which is a real porblem since i turn this 98 computer off everyday

Sigh... computer repair man is NOT my favorite activity

Welcome to my world. I've had 98 machines working, but it was with an Orinoco card... and unfortunately, I specialize in Macs.

What's the internet gateway thing? Is it for DSL or something (ie a PPPoE translator?)

I dunno, the internet gateway deal is i guess the internet sharing stuff. ( my technical explanation )lol.

At any rate, i dont know why it wouldnt be keeping my network settings. And although i have the internet working i dont have the file sharing working yet. and i dont even want to start on that fiasco. my usb key will have to do

Why do you need to set your network settings on your machines? It should be on Dynamic IP which needs no setting. Sometimes..but not really needed ... you can set your workgroup on your machines the same as what you have for your Linksys. In your Linksys it is the name of the wireless network you setup. Or use the default name created by your router.
Once in a while it may just stop altogether. That usually happens when the IP given by your provider changes. I don't get this issue with the MSI router I have as it realizes it and changes the IP accordingly. But what happens is that the router keeps the old IP given by the provider and the IP already has expired on the provider side and assigns a new one. To fix this ... shutdown your PC's, the router and your cable/DSL modem. Turn on your DSL modem...wait...till your cable/DSL modem picks up the assigned IP...a minute is good enough...turn on your router...to get the new IP .... then turn on your computers...that usually fixes that situation.

As with IPs not being saved on the Win98...something with your driver or network registry is corrupted. I have seen that on occasion. The only way to fix that is to remove the network card and driver software. Remove ALL entries in the registry (a pain). Re-install it from scratch.

As with dropping a wireless network the cordless phone and microwave(I think) runs on the 2.4Ghz. The older Dlink models drop signals when any of the two operate. I do not see this with the MSI or Lynksys. But if your router does do this there should be a place in the setting of your router to move the frequency from 2.5Ghz to like 2.48-2.54Ghz. I believe the MSI and Linksys router does this automatically when the network starts degrading due to the noise generated by those devices. But don't quote me on that. Just last night I was working on my dining table with my Laptop with a MSI wireless cardbus connecting to my router about 16 feet upstairs. My fiancee was talking on a 2.4Ghz phone and heating up some food in the microwave...all of which was within 10 feet of me.

Not that this is the root cause of your problem, but those who mentioned Linksys problems should check that they have a newer piece. Some of the older models suffered from a problem with the embedded OS (Linux) that runs the box.

Not to fear, but the Tivo appeared to be ok, as it ran embedded Linux as well.

Mine's brand new. I think I'm ok. Of course, that means I haven't got proof of long term usability, but if it lasts a year, it'll be longer than that D-Link.

In reply to:

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As with IPs not being saved on the Win98...something with your driver or network registry is corrupted. I have seen that on occasion. The only way to fix that is to remove the network card and driver software. Remove ALL entries in the registry (a pain). Re-install it from scratch.

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True it could be the 9x network bug, but a slightly easier way to fix it is this...

In networking just remove everything STARTING with File/Print sharing (if its there), then M$ networking, then the protocols (TCP/IP, others if any), I would actually leave the network adapter there. When you click OK it will likely say networking not complete, continue? just hit OK and reboot.

After restarting go back to networking, add the TCP/IP protocol and reboot (should only have the network adapter and TCP/IP that is bound to it in networking at this point), after rebooting go to RUN and type WINIPCFG and see if its getting an IP address. If it is go back to networking and add back M$ networks and click the box for file and printer sharing. If its not well.... upgrade to XP (be sure the router is working correctly too, prolly need a 2nd PC to know thou)

yikes that sounds technical! lol.

I had it working without the stupid gateway deal and i turned off the security but when i restart it doesnt work again, as usual. i guess for now i will just have to redo the network wizard everytime i start it up


I might just return this stuff and buy another cable modem. Why i didnt do that in the first place is beyond me