Wireless Networkng?

cycleman77

Senior member
Jan 16, 2001
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My friend has 3 PCMCIA wireless network cards and a wireless hub or switch (I'm not sure what it is). I don't know brands or stats.

We want to use these in our desktops. The only adapter I found in online stores around $80, is a Linksys PCMRDWR. Is this card any good? Is it woth it or should I get a $40 wirelees PCI card? I also found a couple other cards by Synchrotech and CompactPCI, but not it stores, only at their homepage. Also, they were more expensive.

Please help. I don't know much about wireless networking.
 

dhslammer

Golden Member
Nov 22, 2000
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Yes they are OK, you only get up to 11 mbit per second though and less the further you go. They are adequate for surfing but i would not be doind a lot of large file transfers. email for more info.
 

Windogg

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
10,241
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The PCI adapter for $40 is only a interface to plug the $80 PC Card NIC into a desktop. I like my Linksys card alot and they work great even for surfing, streaming MP3s, and DIVX movies across a network.

Windogg
 

Davegod75

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2000
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what you mean not good for file transfers. 11Mpbs is faster than the most common 10Mpbs home networks out there.
 

Windogg

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
10,241
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Well, it's not as easy to say 11mbps is faster than 10mbps because wireless introduces a lot of potential problems. Throughput drops significantly depending on interference from other radiation sources (2.4Ghz is getting crowded), thick wall (or even thin walls with some access points), and encryption overhead. I tend to avoid transfering large files whenever possible with wireless.

Windogg
 

cchan

Member
Jul 9, 2001
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If your cards only go 2Mbits then they are not WIFI compliant. This means that the Linksys PCI adapters probably won't work.

Linksys stuff is ok for light home use (i.e. surfing), but it if you are picky for ping times (i.e. for Quake) or you want to transfer massive files, go with a wired network. Also like Windogg said, watch out if you have other stuff (like cordless phones) running on the 2.4 GHz frequency.

I use Cisco's Aironet 350 series, they are cool because they transmit at a higher power (100mW versus 30mW for Linksys), so I get a much better range. (But of course my company bought it for me...$$$$)

BTW, as far as I know there are not such things as wireless "switches" at the moment, they are all hubs.