[ale] About wireless vs. wired - you all were right!

[Ronald Chmara]

On Friday, August 8, 2003, at 09:54  PM, griffisb at bellsouth.net wrote:
>>> I priced out wireless versus wired. My wife wanted wireless for her
>> laptop, so
>>> I decided to take the plunge. Already have a router (Linksys
>> BEFSX41). So
>>> decided to get a Linksys WAP. The WAP54G. Cost 109.99 or so (might
>> have been
>>> 129.99). Bought a 802.11G wireless cardbus card for her laptop. Went
>> for
>>> 69.99.
>>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> Alright, yaw'l got me wondering. I just bought the Linksys wireless-B
>> W11S4PC11 router + notebook adapter WiFi 2.4GHZ 802.11b kit for 
>> $129.99
>> at BB, I wasn't going to save anything buying separate and if I did 
>> I'd
>> have to mess with rebates which I hate! Didn't think I'd need the more
>> $$ 802.11G since I have horrid slow cable (128up/256down) and likely
>> will never have more than two puters on the 'net at any given time.

Will the 'puters ever need to talk wireless to *eachother*? I keep an 
extra-long ethernet cable around for such things, but if 802.11a was a 
lot cheaper, that's the route I'd take today (for seamlessly stringing 
AP's at higher speeds).

>>  But
>> the router will be in the basement and I may have to tx 80-100'
>> upstairs and out to the outside deck. Did I screw up? Should I swap 
>> out
>> for the G? I haven't opened the B kit yet. Thanks.
>> -fgz
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ale mailing list
>> Ale at ale.org
>> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>
> No - you didn't screw up at all. I didn't notice any difference in 
> signal strength between the 802.11G on my wife's laptop, and the 
> 802.11B game adapter for my PC (call me lazy, I didn't want to even 
> think about drivers - although MadWiFi group is working on drivers for 
> 802.11G with the Athenos chipset).

<salesdroid>Note that "peak" throughput is theoretical, of 
course...</salesdroid>

> I did notice that you can get a signal booster for the Linksys 802.11B 
> router, so was thinking of dropping to 802.11B myself. If just to give 
> increased distance. At longer distances signal strength drops and your 
> speed is reduced.

I bought that product. Played with it for a few days now.

Here's my mini-review: Don't bother, unless you want it for clear 
line-of-sight boosting, or boosting in some areas with somewhat lower 
(but steady and existing) signal levels.

> You might want to hold on to the receipts while you test it. I found a 
> dead area in the house. You might have some reception problems with 
> your wireless router in the basement.

My dead area (sun room and entire backyard) isn't helped by the signal 
booster.

At all.

We're talking about adding *2 feet of distance*, where the signal drops 
from 60% to 0%. I noticed my signal strength is a tad (not a lot) 
higher in all the areas outside of the dead area, but that's not why I 
bought it.  :-( It looks like I'll either have to go with 802.11a, or 
use multiple 802.11b AP's.

Yet another reason for a community hardware chest: At the very least, 
those of you who want to try the booster could "check it out", after 
leaving a reasonable deposit (firstborn, wife/girlfriend, root perms to 
your hardware... heh.) I'm probably not deploying until I take a few 
steps back and re-evaluate my options, so those with children, 
wife/girlfriends, root on valuable systems, etc.  are welcome to borrow 
this "booster" for testing in your own topographies.

:-)

-Bop
Ronald Chmara
Ronin Professional Consulting LLC
"It  can only be attributable to human error." --Hal.

_______________________________________________
Ale mailing list
Ale at ale.org
http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale