802.11a Wireless (Updated) Now with review!

[DnetMHZ]

I ordered the Intel Pro 5000 Wireless AP
the other day along with the wireless PCcard to replace my existing 802.11b setup.

54 megabit wireless should be very nice.
Unfortunately the AP is on back order

I will post with my review of the product when it arrives

DnetMHZ

<edit> the AP arrived today and is waiting at my house, I will be installing it tonight</edit>

<edit 2>Ok so I got everything setup last night, the install went pretty smoothly. The AP has a nice web interface for configuration.
I created the 26 character hex key for 128 bit WEP, setup the network ID, configured the ethernet options, access control list(based on client MAC address), and then configured the PC card. First impresions are pretty good, the one thing i noticed is that the card is almost constantly negotiating different speeds(between 12 and 54 megabit). It does seem to take a little longer than the 80211b equipment did to shift between speeds. I'll be posting some speed tests once I shake out a few other network issues I'm having (possibly have a switch going bad). So for now my initial rating will be a B+.

more to follow

DnetMHZ

 

[bsobel]

Curious, why did you choose A and not wait for G to come out (which would allow interoperation with B hardware). I've been toying if I should get the same setup as you, but the G issue has me waiting (for now). Would love your opinion on it.

Bill

 

[n0cmonkey]

Im just waiting for 802.11b prices to fall... Plus driver support will be better for b for a while...

 

[CSFM]

Curious, why did you choose A and not wait for G to come out (which would allow interoperation with B hardware). I've been toying if I should get the same setup as you, but the G issue has me waiting (for now). Would love your opinion on it.

Wireless is coming a long way and fast!

I did a 2 story office out with 802.11a wireless the other week, it was great... working at top speeds through 3 feet of concrete in a very jumbled office space. We connected 8 workstations to 2 servers all running Win2K or Win2K Server over 2 access points, one on each floor. It worked really well for these guys. ADSL running very nicely and I was quite supprised by the speed through all the interference that was around in this office... they had sh!t lying around everywhere! Downstairs was a sewing room area and upstairs was just offices but they had crap wall to wall in there! This was a fasion company with a low to medium traffic flow on their network and they were over come with the performence... and as I have said a couple of times now, so was I.

 

[cipher00]

working at top speeds through 3 feet of concrete

Makes me want to go out and get the 11a equipment now...

But, you mentioned 2 access points, one on each floor. How did you test the concrete throughput? I'm curious since, at higher frequencies, I was afraid that the normal household/office stuff (walls, floors, brick, metal, wood) would seriously degrade throughput. (I don't want to shell out $ only to replicate 11b performance.)

 

[ktwebb]

<< working at top speeds through 3 feet of concrete in >>




While your utility software may have told you that you had an 11 Mb cell, there is virtually no chance you were transferring data at the AP's max throughput. Path obstacles cause signal loss of varying degrees based on the makeup of the obstacle.

 

[DnetMHZ]

<< Curious, why did you choose A and not wait for G to come out (which would allow interoperation with B hardware). >>



reason 1... I'm impatient
reason 2 .. there is only one computer using this wireless network so backward compatibility isn't a big factor in my decision.
(I'm actually selling off my 11b stuff)
reason 3 .. see reason 1

DnetMHZ

 

[DnetMHZ]

^^ bump for an update

 

[bsobel]

drool Let us know how it works, please! You might push me over the edge on waiting.

 

[DnetMHZ]

<< drool Let us know how it works, please! >>



I will post my opinions tonight.

 

[DnetMHZ]

^^ bump for another update

 

[Eug]

I think I'll wait until maybe G, or else A if the prices drop significantly.

Most of the filez I transfer are documents so bandwidth is not a huge problem. Plus my 802.11b is more than sufficient to cover my cable modem's bandwidth for downloads of software updates, etc. If I need to transfer my MP3z I just run upstairs and plug in Ethernet. (My wireless machine is a 5 lb laptop so it's no big deal to move it around.)