Wireless networks...review and questions
 

I was wondering if anyone had any input on wireless home networks? Experiences good or bad? Here's my latest encounter.

I went to set up a new network at my residence not too long ago, and opted for the Intel AnyPoint 1.6 Mb/s wireless network. Rather than going through the hassle of running kitty-kat5 cable all through the place, I thought I would try out this new fangled wireless technology. 1.6 Mb/s sounded pretty good. So I got 4 modules (About $100 a piece) and installed them on 4 different machines, using one as the server.

Installation was easy, and all the machines were recognized without much problem. We were able to surf the net at a reasonable although not remarkable speed, and email worked fine.

But when you measure transfer from one machine to the next, it topped out at about 50 kb/s, which seems slow since it's touted as a 1.6 Mb/s system. So after some investigation, it turns out that 1.6 is the TOTAL figure, and over half of that is used for local network information. So over 800 kb/s is used to let each computer know the other machines are there. And the remaining 800 kb/s is divided in HALF (for inbound and outbound) and then each of those is divided between every machine on the network. So instead of being 1.6 Mb/s, you can only get about 50-100 kb/s max to any individual computer. This kind of sucks.

The software also seemed to use a large portion of the server's resources, and the server eventually started developing spontanious blue-screen-of-death syndrome. Peer-to-peer programs, such as Napster, don't work across this network either.

Anyways, the Intel AnyPoint system does work, but it sure isn't what I had hoped. So I was wondering if anyone had input on some different wireless networks, or if I should just stick with an old fashioned router and cables.

Thanks for the time and space,

peace

i planning to get the linksys wirelss router and wireless nic cards.

i heard they work great.. upto 9-11mpbs

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While I'm rambling about wireless stuff, does anyone know of a good replacement for Ricochet? They were really handy for laptops, etc...but they ran straight out of cash. They should have planned a little harder.

I was wondering if anyone knows of a good replacement? Or any ideas on what to do with this $200 modem? ;-)

whoreans, I had heard good things about that as well. Do you know where the best place to get a hold of them might be?

Ahh.. good ol' bits and bytes

1.6 megaBIT is what they say... if you translate that in BYTES.. (dividing by 8) you get 200kiloBYTES/sec.. that's the maximum speed... or to put it differently the faster time you can download a 1MB file is 5 seconds..going at max speed...however there is always interference.

I use a wireless network at home. I use the D-Link system @ 11Mbs.

This is the best peice(s) of equipment I have bought in a long time.

Setup is a snap, just install the software, install the hardware and your ready to go.

I have Full sized machines and a labtop running on it. I can take the labtop anywhere in the house and outside with no problems, and the speed is great.

Nice thing about it as well, I installed the same system at my step son's place and I can take my labtop over there and be online with no reconfiguring.....

The shit is GREAT !!

Its a bit exspensive, about $200 per machine plus a $200 access point but well worth it.



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Michael Burns
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i have 4 PC's in the basement hooked up to a router, is there anyway i can hook something up to my existing configuration so i can go wireless on my laptop only? or do i have to go wireless for everything else too?

that intel wireless crap was a piece of shit,,, 1.6 meg is to damn slow,,,
i was pissed that i had to eat the 15% restocking fee,,,

the best option which i used is

SMC barricade wireless router
and the lucent orinco silver pc card,,

works like a charm,,,

now i'm living my dream,,

surfing the net while taking a shit



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Playa
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JakeR,

You should be able to plug an access point into your router and then go wireless on your labtop. It should not be a big deal.



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Michael Burns
Head Programmer for:
AmateurPages.com
ADULT.COM
EraserCash.com
GoFuckYourSelf.com
and more to come !!!
God I love this job!!!

How far can you go though? Like would i be able to take a laptop to the beach and be woreless?? Thats what i want?? How do i do this

Snow, it depends on how close your house (or mansion) is to the beach.

Many wireless companies are not offering wireless modems which you can use to connect to the Internet from almost anywhere without having to be anywhere near the base station.

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Thanks for the input guys ;-)

playa, I have to agree, it pretty much sucked from a network point of view.

Snow, I was using Ricochet with a laptop to get wireless internet about everywhere, but they went belly up a couple weeks ago. They spent a lot of money installing receptors in street lights, so coverage was excellent in big cities. And it worked at up to 70 miles an hour in the car. One draw back was that they used un-regulated frequency ranges, and it seemed to cause interferrence with some laptops and monitors.

But they're under now, so I'm looking again as well.