Need Recommendations for Wireless Network Setup.

[sekser]

Hi all,

A friend want his apartment hooked up via wireless networking and was wondering what everybody suggests.

He's goign to be running 2 laptops, in 2 different rooms. He has 2.4 cordless phones, is it correct that this will interfere with the network?

He also wants an all in one Fax and Printer to be wireless too? Is that what the bluetooth buzz word is? Who makes a wireless all in one device?

Also, will need a router since he wants his DSL shared as well.

No wires, eveything is wood floors at his place and doesn't want any wiring to be seen.

So break down is, what kind of brands/model #'s should i be looking for?

1 wireless access point
2 laptop wireless NIC cards
1 all in one wireless fax/printer
1 wireless DSL router.

Thanks,
bobby

 

[JackMDS]

You have Apples and Oranges mix.

Wireless Network, and Bluetooth are two different things. At the moment, I don?t thing that there is a commercially available interface between the two. Currently what is available in Bluetooth is mainly a substitute to IR connection.

If the Network consists only of two laptops, you need only one Cable/DSL Wireless Router; you don?t need an Access Point since Wireless Router is a combo unit with an Access Point.

You friend will have to dedicate a spot for the Router and the printer, some of the Routers has Printer Server interface in them, and the Printer can be connected directly to the Router and serve the whole Network. I don?t know if it supports Fax Printer Combo, but I am sure, that can find an answer on HP or similar site.

What to buy:

Conventional Wisdom* claims that the combination Orinoco Gold, SMC Wireless Router yield the best results in the Entry level category.

This link:

ORiNOCO PC Card - Gold.

There are no real big differences between the entry level Routers.

As can be seen in this link:

Wireless Routers Compared

The SMC Wireless Router has build in Printer Server interface.

 

[Nighthawk69]

I second Jack's hardware recommendations... it just doesn't get any better than that (with entry level products). I just received my last ORiNOCO Gold USB Adapter this afternoon, so tonight I will be moving the server and setting everything up! Wahoo!

 

[need4spd]

You have a great recommendation here from JackMDS.

SMC Wireless Barricade SMC7004AWBR Wirelss broadband router (With built-in print server) and Orinoco Adapters.

If you decide on the SMC "Barricade" Router... Check out CompUSA ..since they have it on sale this week for $149.99. This is the best retail price I have seen... (no rebate hassle either) I have one and it is working flawlessly with 1 lappy and 2 desktops. Using the Orinoco USB Gold adapter for my Desktop and the Orinoco PCMCIA wireless adapter for my laptop.

Good luck

 

[noced]

 

[noced]

About the cordless phone issue. There are 11 channels within the 2.4ghz spectrum. What you will have to do is see if there is interference at the default channel, if there is, you can change the operating channel, the defacto standard I believe is 6 channels of seperation, so if there is interference at 11, go to 5.

 

[ktwebb]

Just to add to what noced talked about. There are three non overlapping channels. THe normal default channel is usually 6, as mentioned, which is 2.437 Ghz. Channel 1 and 11 are the other non-overlapping channels, 2.412 and 2.462 respectively. Since you have two phones, if your router is on 6 and you are getting interference, switch to 1. If your still getting interference, from the other phone, switch to 11. At this point, if you still experience interference, you have something else in the mix causing the difficulty. As long as the phones are Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 2.4, which I believe all the 2.4 wireless phones I have seen are.

 

[bhad]

thanks guys, this was some info I was looking for also!