Wireless LAN - access point required?

[Erik Hegeman]

Hi,

I have a home network server which has some shared folders on it's harddisk
and a shared printer. It also shares the internet connection. It has two
10/100 mbps NIC's (actually they're integrated in the Asus A7N8X-deluxe
mainboard), one of them connects to the wired LAN (actually it connects to
one other computer using a crossover cable) and one of them connects to the
DSL modem/router.

Anyway, I am thinking of buying a laptop with Centrino technology with
integrated WLAN, and I am not sure how to connect this to the existing LAN.

The cheapest woul probably be buying a PCI WLAN card for the server and
setting up an ad-hoc connection. Sweex seems to offer a nice PCI card with a
relatively large antenna (http://www.sweex.com/product.asp?pid=223, don't
know if the 802.11G card also has such an antenna) However, I have no idea
how far the signal will go without an access point. I would like it to go at
least 6 meters and through one concrete wall, but it doesn't have to be fast
at that distance (1 mbps would be enough). Buying an access point will
probably be better, but they are relatively expensive and of course I don't
want to throw away money.

Does anyone have experience with the Sweex PCI WLAN cards (or other cards
with good antennas) and/or can anyone tell me what will be the range of an
ad-hoc wireless LAN connection? Or should I really buy an access point?

Thanks,
Erik

 

[Tj]

Doesn't Centrino have built in wireless on motherboard? Yes it should go
thru wall, about150 feet.

 

[Erik Hegeman]

Hi, thanks for your reply,

Yes, Centrino has built-in WLAN support. I'll go to university in september,
the university (University of Twente, the Netherlands) has a huge wireless
LAN (with 650 access points), and many students use a laptop there. The
university supplies them, last year they were Centrino 1.4GHz laptops with
54mbps integrated WLAN, 512MB DDR, Radeon 9200 graphics I believe, some
things may have been optional, don't know exactly.

150 feet, that would be about 45 meters, which would me more than enough

greetings,
Erik

 

[John]

Hi,

I have a home network server which has some shared folders on it's harddisk
and a shared printer. It also shares the internet connection. It has two
10/100 mbps NIC's (actually they're integrated in the Asus A7N8X-deluxe
mainboard), one of them connects to the wired LAN (actually it connects to
one other computer using a crossover cable) and one of them connects to the
DSL modem/router.

Anyway, I am thinking of buying a laptop with Centrino technology with
integrated WLAN, and I am not sure how to connect this to the existing LAN.

The cheapest woul probably be buying a PCI WLAN card for the server and
setting up an ad-hoc connection. Sweex seems to offer a nice PCI card with a
relatively large antenna (http://www.sweex.com/product.asp?pid=223, don't
know if the 802.11G card also has such an antenna) However, I have no idea
how far the signal will go without an access point. I would like it to go at
least 6 meters and through one concrete wall, but it doesn't have to be fast
at that distance (1 mbps would be enough). Buying an access point will
probably be better, but they are relatively expensive and of course I don't
want to throw away money.

Does anyone have experience with the Sweex PCI WLAN cards (or other cards
with good antennas) and/or can anyone tell me what will be the range of an
ad-hoc wireless LAN connection? Or should I really buy an access point?

Thanks,
Erik

Havent tried Sweenx or a card for a laptop but Im getting really good
results with a cheapo belkin . The belkins get bashed a lot - I got
both for around $20 each and there have been recent memorial day sales
on wireless gear including a G card I think at Circuit City. Its kind
of confusing because the newspaper shows a card but when I was down
there they had a router for the same price.

I think Compusa had a similar deal the last two weeks as well as the
usual B stuff. Some bashing reviews claim they could only get it to
work 4 feet away - I havent found that to be true.

When I say it works great --- thats with some conditions. Somedays it
can be erratic but in general it works amazingly well. The speeds are
very fast . Ive downloaded stuff from the net and it doesnt feel all
that slower than my wired connection to my cable modem.

The other PC is about 30-40 feet away in another room and there are
about two walls though they arent concrete. The PCI card I have - the
antenna is on the card so it sits behind the metal PC case surrounded
by a sofa ,underneath a desk. It still works very well , though it can
be erratic at times.

The big problems are the microwave which greatly affects the signal
and the cordless phone which kills the signal. On some days Im not
sure if its other wireless networks or the rain - the signal can
sometimes be erratic. In general it works well . The big big caveat
with my card is - its really screwy depending on how you install it.
Ive read that the chipset AMDTEK 8xxxxxx I forget the number - has
some problems and the newer chipsets are better. They supposedly used
this chipset in a lot of cards/brands. I also notice the newer
version of this belkin card has as wired antenna - which you can place
on your desktop for better reception. Some people have said theyve
used another brands drivers on cards which use the same chipset or
AMDTEKs generic ones and the problems went away. I havent tried that
yet but will soon.

This card if you dont install it a certain way it doesnt work and
doesnt retain its settings. And sometimes even if you choose the right
way of installing it - it wont work. So I really hate to reinstall
this card if the install gets messed up for any reason. Once you get
it going you want to leave alone.

I was seriously thinking of buying another card this weekend since
there were some sales. The cheapo router seems fine. I think its the
card/drivers fault.