wireless compatibility

E

ElJerid

Because there is no Linksys wireless NIC card available in my local store, I
wonder if a D-Link card would do the job when connecting to a Linksys access
point router. Thanks for advice.
 
G

Grinder

ElJerid said:
Because there is no Linksys wireless NIC card available in my local store, I
wonder if a D-Link card would do the job when connecting to a Linksys access
point router. Thanks for advice.

As long as they support a common standard, 802.11g for example, they can
work together. The only other consideration is the type of encryption
being using. Both items will most likely support WEP and WPA. (WPA on
the card side may be left to software, so it'll depend on your choice of
operating system.) WPA2 may or may not be supported by either bit.

If you can identify the exact models of hardware in consideration, here,
a more specific conclusion could be reached.
 
E

ElJerid

Grinder said:
As long as they support a common standard, 802.11g for example, they can
work together. The only other consideration is the type of encryption
being using. Both items will most likely support WEP and WPA. (WPA on
the card side may be left to software, so it'll depend on your choice of
operating system.) WPA2 may or may not be supported by either bit.

If you can identify the exact models of hardware in consideration, here, a
more specific conclusion could be reached.

Thanks for your advice.
The card should be a D-Link DWL-G520, while the router is a Linksys
BEFSR41W. Does this help?
 
G

Grinder

ElJerid said:
Thanks for your advice.
The card should be a D-Link DWL-G520, while the router is a Linksys
BEFSR41W. Does this help?

http://support.dlink.com/products/view.asp?productid=DWL-G520
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Sate...sitorWrapper&displaypage=nodata#versiondetail

That's an 802.11b router that you're pairing with an 802.11b/g card. It
will work, but relatively slowly. 802.11b has a max throughput of
11Mbps, which is higher than you can expect from most broadband
providers. You probably won't get that throughput, though, so I would
expect some slowdown from a wired connection if you've got a half-way
fast internet connection. 802.11g is substantially faster, but you'd
have to buy a new router to get that going.

As far as encryption goes, the router only supports WEP. That puts it
behind the times, but isn't a fatal flaw. Practically any card you buy
will support WEP--the DLink one certainly does.

Bottom line: These devices will work together. If you want to latter
upgrade your network a bit, you can get a new router that supports
802.11g (or even 802.11g/n) and take advantage of a capability that your
card already has.
 
E

ElJerid

Grinder said:
http://support.dlink.com/products/view.asp?productid=DWL-G520
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Sate...sitorWrapper&displaypage=nodata#versiondetail

That's an 802.11b router that you're pairing with an 802.11b/g card. It
will work, but relatively slowly. 802.11b has a max throughput of 11Mbps,
which is higher than you can expect from most broadband providers. You
probably won't get that throughput, though, so I would expect some
slowdown from a wired connection if you've got a half-way fast internet
connection. 802.11g is substantially faster, but you'd have to buy a new
router to get that going.

As far as encryption goes, the router only supports WEP. That puts it
behind the times, but isn't a fatal flaw. Practically any card you buy
will support WEP--the DLink one certainly does.

Bottom line: These devices will work together. If you want to latter
upgrade your network a bit, you can get a new router that supports 802.11g
(or even 802.11g/n) and take advantage of a capability that your card
already has.

Thank you, Grinder, for the clear information. I knew about the router,
which is already 2 years old (!), but I wasn' t sure about D-Link - Linsys
compatibilty. Now I understand they should work together.
 
E

ElJerid

ElJerid said:
Thank you, Grinder, for the clear information. I knew about the router,
which is already 2 years old (!), but I wasn' t sure about D-Link - Linsys
compatibilty. Now I understand they should work together.

Interesting story...
Finally I installed the D-Link DWL-G520 on a Vista computer using the
included installation CD, but at the restart, I got some error message about
a not found entry point. I could skip the error and the Internet connection
seemed ok, however apparently slower than it should be. And at each Internet
start, the same error message, which I also had when starting the D-Link
network utility.
Seaching the net gave me some strange answers: unlike mentioned on D-Link
site, the network card should not be supported under Vista and only a beta
driver should actually be available. Many users are asking about working
drivers for Vista and got no satisfying answer from D-Link.
And suddenly, I found a message saying that no drivers have to be installed,
as they are included in Vista. I deinstalled the D-Link drivers and let the
system search for the Windows driver for the DWL-G520. This worked fine and
the connection is now ok, at normal speed. The only minus point is that I
have to miss the D-Link utility.
The conclusion should be that MS has drivers for a D-Link product that
D-Link does not have !
Strange world...
 

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