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I have a Netgear 802.11B/G base, seems to work OK, I picked it up for
under 100 pounds (< US$150), connected it to my switch, configured via
the HTTP management interface and was up and running within minutes.
This is a good, inexpensive home option, if you want a rock solid
corporate performer you couldn't go to far wrong throwing as much
as you can afford at Cisco, Lucent or 3Com, they are the big names
in wireless networking.
Like most things in life, you need to work out your requirements
first, then go looking for a vendor solution...
Some questions that may help you:
1) If you want speed go for the standard 802.11G ;
2) If you want distance go for the highest signal to noise
(receiver) you can find (look in the tech specs), this
applies to both the base and remote cards. As a rule of
thumb, distance and speed are inverse proportional,
though even ~ 1 Mbit is still very useful, considering
most DSL/Cable modems operate at 0.5 Mbit or lower ;
3) If you want long distance (> 500m) look for a unit that
supports external antenna(s), remember to do your legal
research both in the area of planning permission and
FCC ;
4) If you want remote monitoring of the base look for a
unit with SNMP ;
5) If you want high availability look for HSRP or other
"heart beat" infrastructure between clustered bases ;
6) If you want to co-exist with existing 2.4 Ghz wireless
devices (wireless DECT phones / Bluetooth etc) consider
the 5 Ghz standard 802.11A ;
7) Try and get a unit that is flash upgrade capable (I've
had my unit under 6 months and have already applied two
firmware upgrades) ;
8) Remember WEP (the current wireless encryption standard)
will shortly be replaced with WPA (or another) - will
your base be upgradable? What about your wireless
cards? ;
9) Look for MAC layer filtering and the ability to
turn off "SSID broadcast" (this helps obscure your
network from "drive by" snoopers) ;
10) Try to get a unit that supports HTTP configuration,
you don't want to be configuring via SNMP writes
or an RS-232 management port unless your confident
with that sort of thing ;
11) Finally, if you're looking to cover a very large
area, or simply want high performance in every
area of your house/office, you may consider
multiple bases that support automated client
hand over (from one base to the next).
This is a general guide you may find helpful:
http://www.iss.net/wireless/WLAN_FAQ.php
Kind regards,
Justin
---
dennis wrote:
Mark,
I know some guys on our team who use the Linksys at home and a quite
happy. The thing to remember are you can only get 10mbps instead of the
100mbps with direct connects. Our HP sites use wireless, but don't know
the brand.
Dennis Todd
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Brown [mailto:markbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 3:05 PM
To: omega-list@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: OT:Wireless?
Hello ,
i had some smc (crap) wireless thingy's. anyone know of a good hard
core wireless brand name? i see linksys has some new products.
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