Is this a viable network setup?

[xsilver]

I would like to ask if it's possible to connect 2 pc's downstairs to 2 pc's upstairs via a wireless network
The catch is that I hope not to use any switches or access points

At the moment upstairs and downstairs are not linked but each floor is already hardwired with crossover 100mbps

** If I only get 2 wireless NICs (1 upstairs, 1 downstairs) will the 2 computers without wireless NICs be able to talk? at what speed?
(By this reasoning, at least I will have 100mbps for floor to floor)

btw running WinXP pro on 3 systems 1 has WinME.... will this make a diff

 

[Bovinicus]

I don't see how it is going to work unless you hardware at least one of the wireless network PCs to one of the PCs that isn't going to have a wireless NIC...

 

[JackMDS]

The difference between a good deal on two Wireless NICs, and one Wireless Cable/DSL Router is about $10-$15,

Using two NIC?s in Ad-Hoc the way you want it might or might not work, If it works it will be very Quirky.

As for speed?

802.11b vs. 802.11g.

For Internet surfing it does mot matter since Internet broadband connection is slower than 802.11b

For traffic across Internal LAN, 802.11g is significantly faster.

General Wireless info.

802.11b = 11Mb/sec. Network "Speed" (Carrier transmission 2.4GHz)
802.11g = 54Mb/sec. Network "Speed" (Carrier transmission 2.4GHz)

Wireless Ethernet needs additional protocol over head for the transfer. In addition, it is not as stable as Wired so it needs extra processing procedures.

As a result the 11Mb/sec. of the Network chipset is translated to a much lower actual performance. Usually 4-6Mb/sec.

Few 802.11b hardware units are also capable to work at 22Mb/sec.(usually referred to as b+) it is nice if it works, in real term will yield 20%-40% more than 11Mb/sec. systems.

The 802.11g line that is rated 54Mb/sec. in the real world it yields 18-22Mb/sec.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Do yourself a huge favor and run a cable between the LAN segments.