Questions about wireless networks

[Chris Blount]

Right now I have a wired network in the my house using standard CAT5 cable to a Linksys router. I have been tempted on switching to a wireless network but there are two things that really bother me.

First, file transfer speeds. I like transferring files from one computer to another. With a wired network, the speed is fantastic and large files take no time at all. How is the speed with a wireless network? It seems it would be quite a bit slower even with the newer standards.

Second, interference and reception problems. Should I expect problems receiving a signal from the access point with computers in different rooms? What about microwave ovens? Do they cause problems when running?

A wireless networks sounds like a darn great idea but for some reason I'm finding it hard to give up my highly reliable and fast wired system. Comments?

[Mark Lamutt]

Chris, you don't want to completely switch over to a wireless network if you have a wired network now. You could certainly add to your network by adding wireless components - change out your router for a wireless one and then add wireless nodes to it, but don't give up your wired network completely. Most wireless routers also have wired connections to them. I currently have a linksys wireless router which I run 3 wired nodes and 1 wireless node.

At 10mbps, the transfer speeeds are much slower than your 100 mbps wired network, and there can always be interference problems that degrade that speed depending on how many walls you're broadcasting through.

I originally went from completely wireless to partially wired last summer for the big brother real network feeds - 10mbps wireless wasn't able to transfer the data reliably. And now that I watch HD over my network, 100mbps is a must for me.

[Neil Derryberry]

Wireless is also very insecure. Most consumer-grade wireless devices are meant to be plug and play, so if you don't touch the config on the box I can be on your home network in seconds. 128-bit wep encryption has been broken, so even if you do change things, a hacker could be in your junk in a matter of minutes.

That said, I've got a linksys wireless router running in my home network with mac-address filtering running. Not as secure as wep, but I keep a constant check for network squatters.

[blue]

I too, have a wired Cat5 based LAN in my house. I recently added wireless to augment the wired LAN, not to replace it. My server, primary home computer, and MP3 player all sit on the wired LAN. However, a couple laptops have wireless cards to allow roaming throughout the house.

If you have systems that are sedentary, and benefit from higher bandwidth keep 'em on the wired side. However, if you'd like to pick up email out on the patio, wireless is perfect.

-Blue

[firephoto]

I added an Orinoco AP-200 to my switch and an Orinoco Silver pc-card to my laptop and it works great for using the laptop anywhere in the house or around it outside. Ecost.com has a good deal on wireless items sometimes.

http://www.broadbandreports.com/ has lots off good info on wireless setups.
Wireless networking http://www.dslreports.com/forum/wlan
WISP forum (more technical/ISP stuff) http://www.dslreports.com/forum/dslalt

[RAD]

For 802.11b (10Mbps) you'll probably see only 4 to 5Mbps in real world. I have two 802.11b networks in my house and I don't get any interferance between either of them (make sure you use either channel 1, 6 or 11) or 2.4Ghz wireless phones or our microwave.

I can get all over the house without any problems, it's a new constuctions with wood stud and plaster board. I have a friend that I help set up who has an older house with real plaster on the walls with wire mesh and she get's horrible coverage. So if you get a setup make sure you can return it.

Security does suck, but you can take some steps in changing the default config, such as change the SSID and don't broadcast it and enable WEP. It's not fool proof but it would keep the casual hacker out, not worth the effort.

[jeffr]

I agree with RAD. My wireless works fine but throughput really is around 4 to 5 Mbps. Depending on the distance between your AP and your wireless device as well as other factors such as wall types, old contruction with lead paint, etc. can cause your speeds to drop as your signal level drops.

I also had to offload my 2.4 gig phone. It wasn't a constant battle but seemed to effect my network about 25% of the time the phone was in use. It was definately the phone since there were times you could show perfect disruption when the phone was in use versus when it wasn't. I jumped up to a true 5.8 gig phone and my problems are now gone. (make sure you get a real 5.8 phone, many of them are 5.8 one way and 2.4 the other).

[CoriBright]

You can get a wireless access point. That connects to the router you already have via the port. Then any notebook PCs you have with wireless already built in can be added wtihout any more hardware or with wireless PCMCIA cards if they come without.

You don't need to swap out the router.

The security is provided by you..... what you will do is find out the MAC address of the wireless PCMCIA card (or built in unit) and tell the access point that those are the only ones you want to have access to the wireless access point. The MAC address is unique to each NIC.

Read through Linksys's manuals for their Access Points on their website at www.linksys.com.

There are still three types of wireless, A, B and G. B is slow, A goes through walls, G is like a combo of B and A... it goes through walls and is fast... but still uncertified (though I have it on good authority it works just fine!) Nearly all G stuff will happily accept B stuff - but at the lower speed. Hardware that accepts both A, B and G is more expensive. Think of adding about $100 to the prices below.

A new Wireless Point is $129
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/3519524
A new Wireless Router is $129
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/3519514

[Sandman]

I am using a Linksys WPA54G Access Point with a WPC54G Wireless-G Notebook Adapter and I am getting a 54MBPS transfer rate but I find the distance between access point and notebook to be very limited, lack of line of sight is definetly a negative factor. I spoke with tech support and was told the access point should be mounted high and or close to the ceiling, but have not tried it, but overall I am satisfied with it, think it works well

Bob

[rbonzer]

With G, I don't have very much range either. Mine sits in a close, on the floor, on the first floor. I guess I should try mounting it higher and see if it makes a difference.

Rob

[gcutler]

Originally posted by rbonzer
With G, I don't have very much range either. Mine sits in a close, on the floor, on the first floor. I guess I should try mounting it higher and see if it makes a difference.

Rob

Try it on top of some book shelves a good place is where the Cat likes to perch and look down on us, except the cat will not be happy and may want to chew the wires.

[Ryan]

You can't be getting 54Mb transfer, even with g. There is networking overhead that eats away at your potential maximum transfer speed.

Another issue with the g standard (or not-as-of-yet standard) is its compatability with the b standard. If you choose to make your g equipment work with b equipment, there is an additional networking overhead hit which drops the g to g transfer rate even lower.

[Sandman]

I don't agree with either statement

[RAD]

Originally posted by Sandman
I am using a Linksys WPA54G Access Point with a WPC54G Wireless-G Notebook Adapter and I am getting a 54MBPS transfer rate but I find the distance between access point and notebook to be very limited, lack of line of sight is definetly a negative factor. I spoke with tech support and was told the access point should be mounted high and or close to the ceiling, but have not tried it, but overall I am satisfied with it, think it works well

Bob

You're getting 54MBPS (54,000,000 BYTES PER SECOND), I don't think so. I also don't agree with your statement that says you don't agree with Ryan, you are NEVER going to get actual data payload speeds due to overhead of TCP/IP let alone adding on WEP encryption (which I'd assume you are running if you know so much about networking). How about from an actual performance test:

CNET Labs put the Linksys WAP54G Wireless-G access point through a tough series of tests using both 802.11g and 802.11b clients. In 802.11g mode, the access point moved data at 13.7Mbps on average, providing more than twice the throughput of an 802.11b network.

Here's the link that contains that quote:
http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-7052-405-20796892-3.html?tag=rating

Don't mean to argue but to anyone that does networking for a living we just know what you're saying is not true and don't want others to be upset because they have a WAP54G and aren't seeing 54Mbps speeds. RAD

[Ken_F]

The best site I've found for 802.11 news and reviews is 802.11 Planet (http://www.80211-planet.com/news/).

Actual usable wireless speeds (when taking into account overhead, etc) are far below 11mbps (for 802.11b) and 54mbps (for 802.11a/g). I've blatantly ripped the following performance graph from 802.11 Planet's Linksys WRT55AG review (http://www.80211-planet.com/reviews/AP/article.php/2206371):

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/img/802/802.11abg-soho-routers-perf.gif

Whenever you are in 802.11g mode, the software will typically say that you are in 54Mbps mode. However, you are not actually getting anywhere near 54Mbps usable bandwidth.

[Ken_F]

I'll also add, if range is a concern (i.e. if you'll be using 802.11g at more than 50 feet), you may want to look at those routers that have a removeable antennas; that way, you can replace the bundled antenna, which is typically small, with a larger external antenna to [perhaps] get higher speeds at greater distances.

I just recently setup a wireless 802.11a/b/g network. I was hoping to be able to wirelessly stream HDTV from my storage server (500+Gb) to the small HTPC in my living room. Unfortunately, I can only get about 17Mbps sustained from the ~30 foot distance, when about 20Mbps is required to stream HDTV.