Linksys-G Products [WiFi Info Required]

Fastflys

I already have a wired 4 port Cisco 800 router and HP notebook attached to a docking station on my desk.

I’d like to create a wireless connection for those times when it is more convenient to work from another room in the house with set ups as follows:

Option 1: HP notebook removed from docking station and using a PCMCIA wireless card to connect with a “Wireless Device” which in turn connects to my Cisco 800 wired router which connects to my ADSL line.

Option 2: HP notebook attached to docking station using a wired connection to my Cisco 800 wired router while at the same time a Compaq laptop using a PCMCIA wireless card is also connected via the same “Wireless Device” which in turn connects to my Cisco 800 wired router which connects to my ADSL line.

Option 2 being the most likely set up.

I’m leaning towards a Linksys wireless-G Ethernet bridge, model: WET54G which will plug into one of the 4 ports of the wired Cisco router and a Linksys wireless-G PCMCIA card, model: WPC54G for the HP notebook [O/S Win XP pro SP2].

I chose Linksys products because they are part of Cisco Systems and I already have a wired Cisco router so thought it better to match like with like.

I’ve zero knowledge of wireless technology and have read reviews of the above products which range from brilliant to useless so confusion reigns.

Do any of you guys out there have experience of these or other Linksys products and if so, how did you rate them?

deary65

You might try "filesaveas.com",there is a great deal on the subject&forum.

Hunnymonster

Rather than getting an ethernet bridge, you'd be better off with a Wireless Access Point - the bridge is for turning a wired device into a wireless one typically. Something like a WAP54G.

If you then find that you want to add multiple devices at another location (eg. kit out a home office with more than 1 PC, and a networked print server/printer - then that's when you need a wireless Access Bridge like the WET54G.

As far as performance goes, the only 'big' brands I hear consistent complaints about are D-Link & Belkin - having been called in to try and get both brands to behave (separately) I can heartily agree with that.

Stick with Cisco/Linksys/Netgear/3Com IMO - they built their reputation on networking goods, and the service is excellent from Netgear & 3Com (3Com even wrote me a custom firmware because I wanted to do something that the access point was capable of, but didn't do to my satisfaction)

Toxteth_OGrady

Stick with Cisco/Linksys/Netgear/3Com

Not discounting Buffalo/US Robotics/Zyxel/Billion/Solwise/Draytek.

:cool:

TOG

Fastflys

Thanks for your info.

I’ve re-read my post again and I could have worded it better and may have mislead you. I will edit it accordingly.

What I should have said is:

"I already have a wired 4 port Cisco 800 router and HP notebook attached to a docking station on my desk".

"I’d like to create a wireless connection for those times when it is more convenient to work from another room in the house" with set ups as follows:


Option 1: HP notebook removed from docking station and using a PCMCIA wireless card to connect with a “Wireless Device” which in turn connects to my Cisco 800 wired router which connects to my ADSL line.

Option 2: HP notebook attached to docking station using a wired connection to my Cisco 800 wired router while at the same time a Compaq laptop using a PCMCIA wireless card is also connected via the same “Wireless Device” which in turn connects to my Cisco 800 wired router which connects to my ADSL line.

Option 2 being the most likely set up.

I’m a WiFi novice, so hope I’ve got the terminology correct.

I don’t envisage both computers being used wire free at the same time so can one PCMCIA wireless card be plugged into either computer as and when or is the set up such that it will work in one only?

The HP notebook is for business use and the Compaq laptop for private use
[mostly for my son’s benefit] so I don’t require them to interact with each other.

The Operating System on one is Win 2000 pro and Win XP pro + SP2 on the other.
I don’t think this is a problem. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Bearing the above in mind, would you still recommend the Linksys Wireless Access Point WAP54G in preference to the Linksys Ethernet Bridge WET54G?


Thanks for your input,

FF

Hunnymonster

I'll try to explain this.... but you might need some imagination with the 'diagrams' lol

Broadly what you have today is this:

ADSL -> Router -> Wired LAN full of PCs

What you are after (if I read your description correctly) is:

ADSL -> Router -> Wired LAN full of PCs and wirelessly connected PC or PCs


In order for allow for wireless connectivity to your wired LAN (which is what you're after) you need to add a Wireless Access Point (like the WAP54G) and wireless cards to the PCs which you want to connect wirelessly.



A Wireless Access Point usually provides many wireless connections and a single wired ethernet connection.

Wired LAN -> Access Point -> Many Wired Devices



A Wireless Ethernet Bridge usually provides a single wireless connection and one or more wired ethernet connections.

Wired LAN -> Access Point -> Ethernet Bridge -> Another wired LAN device or devices



Hope you're still awake and following all this



So ultimately what you need to allow the laptop wireless connectivity is this:

ADSL -> Router -> Access Point -> WLAN card -> Laptop

You have the ADSL line, the router and the laptop - so just need the access point and the WLAN card. This is the exact scenario I followed myself about 12 months ago.



If at a later date you decided that you wanted to homework from the shed at the bottom of the garden, you could also add the ethernet bridge, and transport your wired items down to the shed without adding cards etc.

Having just moved house and wanting to put my home office well away from the ADSL router, I'm now building the second option on to my setup - although I (and Mrs Hunnymonster) still use a laptop around the house as well, it's saved me buying 5 additional wireless cards for the devices in my home office. But it only works if the items are physically close, and are not required to be portable/self-contained.


Using different OSes isn't an issue - as long as the drivers are available for the wireless card under all the OSes (which they should certainly be for W2K & XP)

Switching the cards between PC's also shouldn't pose a problem - but experience tells me that you may just have a niggle if you don't always put the WLAN card in the same slot as it was configured in first time around.

Fastflys

Well it’s a WAP54G for me then.

Checked out some online prices and the WAP is around £15 cheaper than the Ethernet Bridge. :j

I also accessed Linksys UK website and read the WAP54G user guide.
Wow, more questions than answers!!

As you have already installed a WAP, can you tell me how do I find the following:

I.P. Address

Subnet Mask

Gateway

The User Guide states that this info is required soon after starting the setup wizard but fails to mention the process necessary to find them.

WPA Security – TKIP or AES. Which should I chose? Again, the User Guide is no help.

I can't understand why authors of Guides assume their readers to be I.T. literate but then as the saying goes,


"Why make it hard when you can make it bloody impossible”. :wall:

Toxteth_OGrady

You'll find XP does it for you automatically. Just connect the laptop and the access point to your router with ethernet cables and from the laptop Control Panel run the Network Setup Wizard.

The router should assign an IP address to the laptop and the WAP as DHCP is usually enabled by default. It will also identify itself to the laptop and the WAP as the gateway. Subnet will be 255.255.255.0, assigned by the wizard. Don't know the specifics for the your router but its default IP (and gateway IP) will be something like 192.168.2.1, with the laptop and WAP dynamically assigned something like 192.168.2.2 and 192.168.2.3.

Once you've run the Wizard, open the web browser on the laptop and type in the IP address of the WAP into the browser's address bar. This will allow you to configure the router settings through a web style interface.

You'll be able to configure the wireless connection and security.

For a home user TKIP and AES makes no difference.

hth

:cool:

TOG

Hunnymonster

TOG's answered most of the questions. IP of the WAP will either pick it up via DHCP and you should be able to ascertain that from your DHCP server. Failing that there'll probably be a config utility that locates it by 'magic' on the LAN. Your subnet mask etc are all as they are now on your wired LAN.

fastflys wrote:

WPA Security – TKIP or AES. Which should I chose? Again, the User Guide is no help.

As far as security is concerned, I personally use WPA-PSK with TKIP (using a passphrase rather than a 256-bit hexadecimal key) - although again as TOG says - to Joe Public there's no discernable difference between the two.

fastflys wrote:

I can't understand why authors of Guides assume their readers to be I.T. literate but then as the saying goes,

You should try some of the engineering test user guides that I get to see - written in "pidgin engrish" coupled with flaky devices that don't match the guide.... you have the luxury of a guide that's probably been proof read and bears more than a passing resemblance to the product itself

Fastflys

Sorry to be a nuisance but your last posts have raised a further doubt in my mind,
so before I take the plunge I wonder if you can help me out again?

My wired network, I.E. notebook computer, Cisco 800 router, ADSL line, Docking Station, Flat Screen, Printer etc., are all Company owned and paid for. Our I.T. staff have taken care of all the technical bits. They have configured the wired router [or is it the notebook] so that I can securely access the Company network as well as the internet. My notebook is 90% locked to, "Administrator Only" so I can make very few changes to the way the computer operates.

That said, I do not want to make any changes to my notebook or wired router. I do want to connect a Wireless Access Point to one of the four Ethernet ports on the back of the wired router and place a PCMCIA adapter in my own Compaq laptop primarily for use by my son so that he can access the internet from his room instead of my Study, so avoiding the heated debate when I have to work. At present I have hard wired a second Ethernet cable into one of the wired router ports to avoid unplugging the Ethernet cable attached to the back of my docking station.

TOG states that XP will configure everything automatically if I run Network Setup Wizard from the Control Panel then open my web browser to allow me to configure the router settings through a web style interface. Is this as well as or in place of Linksys own
CD-ROM Setup Wizard?

Will the wired router [configured by I.T.] allow XP to discover it’s Default IP and Gateway IP automatically? If not can I gain access to these settings manually and if so how?

With regard to “Wireless Mode” I assume I should choose, “Infrastructure Mode” but the User Guide says, “Choose this if you want your wireless computer to network with computers on your wired network using a WAP". Does this mean that data stored on my company notebook will be viewable from my private laptop?

I cannot allow this to happen. I just require my private laptop to have wireless access to the internet via a WAP and company owned wired router. Can this be done?
If not then I’m wasting your time and mine.

Martin says that there’s no such thing as a stupid question on this Forum, so that’s my get out clause.

Thanks again,
FF

Toxteth_OGrady

OK, since you have the core of your network already up and running there's no need to run the Network Setup Wizard.

Just connect the WAP via ethernet to the router and run the Linksys setuo CD from your company notebook.

Then connect your son's laptop to the router and run the Network Setup Wizard on that Compaq.

Once you've done that, go back into the WAP via the web browser on either PC and configure the wireless settings (including security) for it.

Then configure the wireless settings for the Cardbus card in the Compaq. You'll then be able to remove the patch cable between the router and the Compaq.

You need to set the WAP up in Bridge mode. With that selected the choice between Infrastructure/Adhoc should be unavailable as it's not applicable. See this diagram



To prevent the Compaq from accessing data on the HP, you need to configure your firewall.

:cool:

TOG