Wireless routers

[1pump]

OK, so I dumped my DSL and got this nifty new cable modem. It's up and running, and life is good.
BUT- I have it temporarily hooked up via coax cable to a cable outlet that's across the room in an inconvenient spot. So the coax is lying on the floor, running under furniture, etc.
Normally I'd just strap on some kneepads, grab the Hole Hawg and dive into the crawl space under the house and punch a hole in the right spot and add a new outlet. I won't go in to gory details, but this house is a nightmare to work on underneath, so I'd rather avoid it.
My question: Can wireless routers be used in this situation, in between the modem and PC? The modem is using an Ethernet cable, just like a network, so it seems like it would work. I'm not a techno-geek by any stretch, so I've never given a router any thought until today. I know they're used for networking, but that's the extent of my knowledge. I only have the one PC, so I'm not a network. I know there's issues about security with wireless, but I'm not too worried about that. I'd be more concerned about degrading the peformance of the hi-speed connection. And being able to move the PC wherever I wanted would be nice.
Anybody tried this, or know anything about it? If it will work, do I need 2 routers or just one? In case it isn't obvious by now, I don't have a clue about the latest computer gadgetry. [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img]

[ampersat]

I picked up a Belkin wireless router for myself for Christmas. I LOVE IT!!! Now I can sit in the living room with the wife and dogs and be online with my old laptop. I'm still on dialup myself but the router is set up to do exactly what you want to do.

There's a WAN (internet side) port that plugs into the output port from your cable modem. From there, I've got 4 100mb ports to run my office on along with the wireless channel for the laptop. It's really simple stuff and the CD that came with it will hold your hand through the process. You should be up and running in no time. Even better, the router has its own firewall so you'll be better protected from intrusion by the seamier side of the net.

I'm running 802.11b which tops out at 11mbps. 802.11g will go up to 54mbps. If you're going to be doing online gaming or pulling down any kind of multimedia, go G. If you're just doing web browsing stick with B since it's way cheaper.

[skrimmy]

Better security standards going 802.11G than B.
Get a Linksys, easy to set up and a great product. Cisco thinks so too....they bought the company recently.

[Pitch Pocket]

Wireless is a great convenience, but is still slower than the direct cable. I have two machines on 80211b wireless and 3 on cable from a hardwire router. The cabled machines snap along much faster than the wireless. I'd definately go for the g version if you're going to do it.

[Small Fry]

1 Pump

Can you go through the attic rather than through the crawl space. All you need to do is fish the line down the wall.

If you need more info email me.

[1pump]

No attic. Vaulted ceilings thruout the house. :depressed:

I've never used one before. Do I just need one router, or do you need one for the modem end and one for the pc, or is there a special card for the Ethernet port on the PC? :whazzup:

[Norm]

I bought a cheap 802.11B Dlink wirless router (~$50) and it works fine. It's a plug and play operation for most people. You will need 802.11B client adpaters for all the systems you want to connect (~$50 each). It has a built in firewall and 4 ethernet ports for non-wirless connections. Since I'm on a DSL link(~512K), 802.11B(~11MG) is a faster protocal than my WAN link speed will handle so 802.11B is fine for my needs. Both myself and my wife use it to connect into work through VPN connections, wich takes a little extra configuration We can work from anywhere around the house. If your worried about security just enable WEP. It's not great, but good enough for most people.

It's easy to install. Just install your client adapter and software, plug the router in and connect the WAN port to the ethernet port on your cable modem and go.

[Herring Impaired]

Wireless is a great convenience, but is still slower than the direct cable. I have two machines on 80211b wireless and 3 on cable from a hardwire router.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">If transferring files from one PC to another on a home network, this is true. 11Mbps on 802.11b wireless VS 100Mbps on a wired network.

IF we are talking about net surfing on a cable modem, my laptop is every bit as snappy on 802.11b as when I hardwire it into the network. Even 802.11b is 6 times faster than my cable modem connection on it's best day.

Wireless security has improved, but if you use WEP and the MAC address authorization table functions, I believe it would be highly unlikely that a wireless network used by a private party would be tapped. It takes hours of monitoring and deciphering to be able to crack it.

[SafetyChain]

What has failed to be mentioned thus far is the necessity to have at least one PC "hardwired" into the router. If you are wireless to all PCs and the router hiccups, you have no way to look at its programming. I setup wireless networks for public access (like airports) and you should have one direct connect to the router for maintenance.

[Gus Orviston]

Yes, what you want to do is possible and what is said above is all good.

I would suggest you still need a hardware firewall too since you are always connect now!!, so get a combo firewall and wireless router. Linksys, Dlink, etc.. are all making them.

You will get a bit less performance on wireless than direct CAT but hardly anything to complain about; it is due to protocol handling and looking for other clients. I have several notebooks and one desktop. I didn't want to deal with one more cable routing, so I did just what you want to do. I slapped in a PCI wireless on the desktop and it serves it purpose.

Where wireless BW fades is when you have multiple users on one router, the max bandwidth for .B wirless is 11mbs total so each user eats into that.

.G will be nice but just getting established right now. .B is 2.4G and some variances for more channels, simply put .G is multiple 2.4G links simultaneously. Kind of like running 3 .B connections. .A which is coming later this year will be one channel at 5.3G. .G will give the consumer high performance, very near .A.

Since .B and .G are 2.4Ghz they will use the same attennas therefore getting very near the same transmission distance. .A will drop its transmission distance to about a 1/3. So if you decide in the future to go with .A you will probably get less performance to the far corners of your house without repeaters, or more hubs.

gus

[Gus Orviston]

Also, when going wireless watch out for the 2.4Ghz phones. My new phone interfered with my wireless so bad I had to take it back. I could set the variant channel on the hub, but the phone kept sequencing and when eventually stomp the wireless signal. The new phones went back when I found I could not stop them from changing channels, and I went back to 900Mhz. I work from home often enough so it became an issue.

gus

[ampersat]

Gus has a good point. Wireless networking (B & G) runs on the 2.4ghz range, same as the phones. Much trampling happens between the two and there's really no way around it except to take your phones back to 900mhz.

[Pitch Pocket]

Yes, file transfer is grindingly slow via wireless. The internet is way slower too. My cabled machines get 1.8+ Mbps and my wireless machines only get 385.36 Kbps and 727.28 Kbps (I think distance and interference is a factor). Still better than 56k or DSL, but no contest compared to the cabled machines.

[Cool Texan]

DLink Wireless router here....$19 after rebates. Easy set up, works like a charm. Can now surf on my pda at home, and we're buying a laptop for my wife, so we'll be using that all over too.

802.11b router, dont pay more than $20. Cards are even cheaper than that. Find the deals on them. If you need help, let me know and I'll hook you up. There are a lot of good tech deal sites. NEVER pay full price for things online! :grin:

[Cool Texan]

Originally posted by Norm:
I bought a cheap 802.11B Dlink wirless router (~$50) and it works fine.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">It wasn't the DI-614+ was it? That is the one I got for $19.

[Gus Orviston]

Distance does have a lot to do with it like you said. The further you get away from the transmitter, and the xmit/rec power is reduced, the more of the communication is taken up with data handling to ensure no data loss.

I love wireless... I use it 24/7. I use it all day at work, going from meeting room to meeting room, cafe, then my office with no hiccups. I come home and open my laptop and viola...connected. Many airports supply the service nowadays as do all the hotels I stay at. Neat stuff and it is only going to get better.

gus

[skein]

Do any of you use wireless with a remote cam? Popeye over on the Salty Dog board is thinking of hooking a camera up on his boat, and I'm thinking maybe wireless would be the way to go for it.

Thoughts?

Skein

[Mr. BrownTrout]

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[jokester]

Alrighty, I have a question. I bought the D-Link DI-514 wireless router about a week ago during this thread and hooked it up Tuesday night. It's hardwired into my roomy's computer and my computer has the D-Link DWL-122 USB adapter on it. It's worked just fine up until this morning. I can't seem to load any webpages in IE. So I started troubleshooting the problem. I still have a strong signal from the router to my USB adapter, All the router lights are functioning properly, and I know the WAN is still functioning properly, cause I can still connect via MSN IM and can still IM my roomy through MSN Instant Messanger. I can seem to access all internet related processes except getting a freikin' webpage to load in IE. Any thoughts to what's going on here? I'm pulling my hair out! [img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img]

-severely miffed and not so funny jokester

[Gus Orviston]

First big question is.. and the usual answer i get it NO, but I will ask it. Did you install or do anything with the computer(s), hubs etc... Like I said I usually get No,, but then I later find a little something that proves the user wrong. They touch something they forget, went into a setup window - exited, but the changes didn't take place until a later reboot...

Okay,, did you reset both systems, hub, and everything else in the chain?

If so, then I would check you connection option from your computer.. the one that sometimes flakes on me is connecting to an Adhoc network if I hadn't already set the SSID. If you set the SSID do they match...? did you tweak it somehow?

Do a right click on the network icon in the tool tray to see "available networks" sound like you did this to see the signal strength. Then click "allow me to connect to adhoc" if you don't have an SSID...

If you don't understand what I said above, you need to before debugging further.

good luck, gus

[jokester]

First big question is.. and the usual answer i get it NO, but I will ask it. Did you install or do anything with the computer(s), hubs etc...

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">NOPE! I would think that if I messed with the system that it would affect all programs accessing the internet, instead of just one, right?

Okay,, did you reset both systems, hub, and everything else in the chain?

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">Yup!

I would check you connection option from your computer.. the one that sometimes flakes on me is connecting to an Adhoc network if I hadn't already set the SSID. If you set the SSID do they match...? did you tweak it somehow?

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">SSID's match and I didn't tweak with it any.

Do a right click on the network icon in the tool tray to see "available networks" sound like you did this to see the signal strength. Then click "allow me to connect to adhoc" if you don't have an SSID...

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">Yup, already tried that....i'm out of options short of calling D-Link IT support. Oh great, here comes the elvator music :grin:

-the funny ha ha (Slingblade), but not feeling it at the moment, jokester

[ 01-02-2004, 01:28 PM: Message edited by: jokester ]

[Gus Orviston]

skein, I got a several friends that do, it is a big part of a tool we use at work called Netmeeting. I have a usb camera on my desk at work waiting for me to set it up for my world travels. My plan is to be able to see and talk to my kids from China, Europe etc... My work buddies do it and it is great. I haven't setup a webcam persay but key things you want are resolution and frames per sec. 640/480 and 30fps would be my minium. I have a couple notebooks that have integrated cameras but haven't used them for trasmitting over wireless just capture.

Popeye's issue, other than Olive Oil's affair with Bluto, is he won't have broadbad back to the mainland. UNLESS...he is using sattelite connections (DISH etc..), which would be way cool. Over cell at 56bps, it will be choppy, but that still would be great,,, you just need unlimited minutes.

I could loan a camera to you guys if you need one, they are about a 100 bucks give/take.

Mr. Brown Trout... so it sounds like the solution is transmitting through the AC wiring in the house? I would rather invest in wireless and here is why. I use X10 for some house automation and it only transmits so far before the signal decays. Even so the signal does make it to the neighbors house and turns on a light or two, but then I changed my base codes. However, even transmitting through the house there is a lot of wiringing and in same cases the next door house is closer. In short you are sending you signal down the street without much if anyprotection. This can be stopped with a house filter but would be pain to install....street side of you fuse box...240AC and big wiring, not my cup of tea.

Secondly the house has two phases. You don't know what phase one room is to the next. Half of your house is one phase and the other half is out of phase. Bridging that phasing is possible but not cheap. For X10 it is about 250...I can do all my wireless for that. You won't know you need to until you run into the issue, but expect to buy a phase bridge if you want 100% coverage.


food for thought, I am curious how these issues were handled?

As Michael Keaton told Martin Mull in Mr. Mom, "Yeah, 220, 221—whatever it takes."

gus

[ampersat]

Hey Jokester: some stuff to think about regarding your issue.

1. Something changed. It had to or it would still be working, right?
2. Does your buddy's PC do everything fine?
3. Check the router's settings, all of them. Even my cheapie has lots of options for blocking IPs and ports and at specific times as well. Go over the router config with a fine toothed comb. I'm pretty sure that's where the problem lies.

[Pitch Pocket]

I had the same problem of having the wireless fail because Windows automatically detected the wireless card and installed it using Windows protocol in addition to the software supplied by the manufacturer (in this case Linksys). The conflict between the two setups caused very schitzoid performance. I finally figured out how to disable Windows auto-setup of the card and only installed Linksys's setup and it works fine now. Not sure if it is the same problem, but you might try it.

Even after that correction, I still lose the thing sometimes. The current fix is to physically remove the wireless card, turn off the machine and reinsert the card and then re-boot. Again, not sure what is happening with your's, but it is worth a try. Good luck.

[ampersat]

Good point, Pitch Pocket. The driver for my Belkin does this automatically for me but other manufacturers may not. Definitely could see how it would cause conflicts.

[jokester]

UPDATE:

Ok there is no update. I got tired of troubleshooting it and came to Southern IL to visit my parents and friends :grin: I just figured i'd deal with it AFTER my 2 week vacation Somehow, it doesn't even cross my mind that it's not working right....


-jokester