Wireless Broadband Kit

waynef_2

Hello all,

I am planning on changing my dial-up connection at home to a broadband one, and at the same time, making it wireless for my laptop.

My laptop is an old one, and doesn't have Wi-Fi capabilities, so I know I need to buy a Wi-Fi card.

My questions are:

1) What Wi-Fi cards would you recommend?
2) What wireless modems would you recommend?
3) Are (1) and (2) all I need to buy?

Cheers!

Wayne

Toxteth_OGrady

1) This
2) This
3) This Edit to add: If you have a desktop and a laptop, you can either get a wireless PCI card/dongle for the desktop (expensive) or, if you place the router next to the desktop, you can use a PCI NIC and patch cable (max £10 for both)

............and it's a good deal  :)

8)

TOG

BigAl94

From personal experience and recommendations, I find Netgear products to be very reliable and easy to set up. This is what you need, http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pr=DG834G-WG511 the website also gives a lot of information on wireless networking.

I would recommend hard wiring you main PC to the modem/router via the lan port, if your PC doesnt have one, easy to add http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pr=NGFA311 or you could connect it wirelessly also by using this http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pr=WG111 but the first option is cheaper.

I have bought from thses people and so have others I know, good prices and good support if needed.

waynef_2

Thanks all!

From personal experience and recommendations, I find Netgear products to be very reliable and easy to set up. This is what you need, http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pr=DG834G-WG511 the website also gives a lot of information on wireless networking.

I would recommend hard wiring you main PC to the modem/router via the lan port, if your PC doesnt have one, easy to add http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pr=NGFA311 or you could connect it wirelessly also by using this http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pr=WG111 but the first option is cheaper.

I have bought from thses people and so have others I know, good prices and good support if needed.

Homeboy_2

Hi,
Christmas is out of the way, I need to get lively and network the kids and my computer, preferably wireless with scope for further laptops (University years are imminent).
Being slightly technophobic, I've just got a few concerns, perhaps you kind folk can help.

I'm on BT broadband (512Mbps) currently with an Alcatel ADSL modem fitted to each base unit. Can I fit a single wireless router at the phone point and do away with all the phone lines to the computers?
Am I right in thinking all I need is a router and PCI cards for the computers?
Can I add wi-fi enabled laptops at a later date? How many?
the computers have different Operating Systems (2000 and ME) does this cause any problems? (I can if needs be load Windows 2000 on both).

What effect on bandwidth, speed and distance from the phone socket is having a 54 Mbps or 108 Mbps router going to make (I don't want to upgrade it anytime soon).
Is there anything to choose between Netgear or D/Link equipment, is it all compatable.
Any recommendations for products would be appreciated.

Last question concerns security, can it be 'hacked' into by a spotty youth outside in a car?

Thanks for your time, I don't want to purchase all the wrong equipment and appreciate any (constructive) advice.

akmodi

HI,

One router is fine, all the other cables, modems can be removed.

Yes wifi laptops are OK--total of 253 pc's.

54mbs or 108mbs both are OK--you are sharing only 512kb or 0.5MB. Do not pay extra for 108MBPS.

Hacking---yes you could be--enable wep or still better--WEP and MAC filter.

mail me at ak_modi@yahoo.com if you need more info.

Cheers

Toxteth_OGrady

This and this will give you some idea of typical wireless router performance and set up. I'm not endorsing these products as there are many other good brands such as Billion, Buffalo, D-Link and Netgear to name but a few.

If however distance and number of walls may be an issue take a look at the 'behind 4th wall' performance of the USR in the first link.

It is worth noting that 802.11g (54Mbps) and 802.11i (Wi-Fi Security) are both IEEE emergent standards and subject to change. In fact both are due for a significant update this quarter. The knock-on effect of this is that the standards can be subject to differing interpretation by the programmers who write the firmware for these devices.

This frequently leads to incompatibility issues between the different bands particularly if you want to run at speeds around 100 Mbps with WPA encryption and MAC filtering.

As such I would urge that you buy the same brand router and pci card as obviously the same company will have thoroughly tested and debugged any connectivity issues amongst its own products. I'm sure we'll hear on here from lots of people who say 'my product A and product B work fine together' but you have been warned because you will only be seeing an insignificant sample on here. The industry consensus is that it remains a risk that's not worth taking unless you have plenty of cash to throw away.

If you don't wish to fit pci cards in your PCs you could always go for USB dongles.

Before you even consider encryption your first 2 lines of defence are to ensure you change your SSID from its default name and to enable MAC filtering.

Having established this you now need to enable the strongest possible authentication/encryption that your firmware supports. In order of best to worst these are:

WPA-TKIP (WiFi Protected Access - Temporal Key Integrity Protocol)

WPA-PSK (WPA - PreShared Key)

WEP - Open Authentication (Wireless Equivalent Privacy)

WEP - Shared Key Authentication

None

The strength of the WEP encryption decrease from 256 bit down to 64 bit. 128 bit and below has already been compromised.

To run WPA-TKIP you need to run a RADIUS server. WPA-PSK is the best solution for SoHo users.

If your firmware doesn't support WPA then use WEP-Open at the highest bit strength your firmware supports. Generate 5 WEP keys and change them at least weekly. Google for "WEP Hex Key Generator" and create hexadecimal keys of the appropriate length for the strength of encryption you are using. Most of the utilities you find on google will walk you throught this.

One of the weaknesses of WEP compared with WPA is that it uses the same key for initial authentication and subsequent real time data encryption. That is why for WEP, Open Authentication is better than Shared Key because you are not revealing your key for authentication and hacker cryptanalysis as part of your broadcast.