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Wireless LAN - access point required?
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 |
#2
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Doesn't Centrino have built in wireless on motherboard? Yes it should go
thru wall, about150 feet. "Erik Hegeman" wrote in message ... 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 |
#3
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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 "Tj" wrote in message ... Doesn't Centrino have built in wireless on motherboard? Yes it should go thru wall, about150 feet. "Erik Hegeman" wrote in message ... 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 |
#4
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On Tue, 1 Jun 2004 18:25:08 +0200, "Erik Hegeman" wrote:
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. |
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