[FAQ] - 802.11b networking

T

thisbechuck

Mac-ing
hey everyone... I am thinking about setting up an 802.11b network for my house and was wondering what exactly I need. First off, I have 3 macs (2 laptops, 1 cube) and a Toshiba laptop (don't blame me, it's my brothers). I currently have the cube hooked up to dsl via wire, but I'd like to "air" the laptops. I am completely uninformed about laptops, so I need to know exactly what I need to get. (also, since airports are rather expensive, I'd rather go with a d-link wireless portal or something).
 
It's really pretty straightforward. You'll connect the base station to the dsl and the cube to the base station.

The laptops will each need a pcmcia 802.11b card.

As for choosing the base station maker, the Cisco stuff is the fastest and it had the furthest range. However, if price is the chief concern you should look at the linksys or smc offerings.

Vanguard
 
Depending upon your DSL carrier, you may need a router between your modem and your wireless hub. I'm using a Graphite Base Station on AT&T Broadband, and I can't connect directly to my cable modem without using a router. Can't figure out why, but I've read that it's not uncommon with some providers.

I would definitely go with the D-Link Wireless Router. It's only $30 more than the access point, and seems to have alot more to offer.

Wireless rocks, however if you are going to be doing a lot of Mac to Mac or Mac to PC filesharing, you are going to find the speed very lacking. However, for websurfing it's more than fast enough.
 
I just did this a few days ago at home. I went with the Linksys BEFW11S4 Cable|DSL router with 4 port switch. It was only $199.00 at CompUSA ($169.00 if you order online). The setup couldnt have been easier. Go on to the Linksys website and check if they have the instructions on setting up your ISP with their hardware. They aint "Mac" friendly (don't claim to support Macs at all), but their hardware seems to work just fine. My G4 and my Newton are connected via ethernet cable, and an iMac is connected via Airport card in another part of the house. I bought the wireless router and Airport card for the cost of the Airport Base Station!:D
 
k, that sounds great. about the router deal... I have earthlink if that matters... could anyone inform me if a router is necessary?
 
They work great for me I have installed 6 of them without a hitch.

They are friendly to all PPPoE DSL providors,
They are friendly to all StaticIP DSL providors,
They are friendly to Mac, Win, and Linux...

Also, to extend the reach: Get a Lucent Pigtail...
its a 75dollar fancy antenna that will extend another 50feet.
 
wow, 72Mb is fast, however,

for home use, espeically with DSL, you are going to average
256K. From the Hardware you will get 2MB for peer to peer, and 11MB with a WAP. You need, what, a oc3 to get 11Mb to the internet.
 
Recently I built a home network with a ibook and a PC. I bought a linksys BEFW11S4 and linksys WMP 11 at $256 for PC wireless card.
They works fine.
 
You must use a router to link all of your computers to one access. You have contracted for only one access license. The router will be that one access license. The computers you connect to the router will not be seen by the ISP.

D-Link is evidently becoming accepted by Apple. Keep an eye on their products. Otherwise, Linksys is a good solid company. As an alternative you could look into Maxgate. There are others that will work as well.
 
I have tested linksys BEFW11S4 with my ibook and a desktop PC. It works fine. No hassle. I have constructed a wireless home network.
 
I have a D-Link DWL-1000ap wireless hub and a Hawking Router. I had the router before I bought my Powerbook, I added the Wireless hub later. I use these with my Powerbook via internal Airport card, I was also able to easily get my friend's Powerbook on my network with his PCMCIA Lucent 802.11b card. As well as the Beige Mac G3 and 2 PCs at my house which are wired to the network. The D-link was on sale a while back as was the Airport card, the whole thing cost me around $180.00, the router was $60.00 after rebate, I've since seen routers as low as $29.00.

I can walk 2 houses in either direction on my street and maintain a connection. I can also connect from any point in my house or any part of my front or back yard. If I wanted to I could share my connection with my neighbors. Then Hub can be secured by excluding mac addresses or wep encryption.

The cool thing about the D-link vs. the Linksys and Netgear stuff, I have used, is the D-link will do regular plain old Appletalk, all my Macs whether wired or not show up in the Chooser while the others I tried will not. You can of course do Appletalk via IP with the other products. I just like having everything show up in the Chooser.
 
I have an old powerbook that I want to keep in another room and connect to my wireless network, the only problem is it has to working PCMCIA slots and no USB ports.

If I get another access point, SpeedStream 2623, like the one I already have, can I use the Ethernet port on it to hook up to my Powerbook.

If I just make sure both access points are on the same network it should work correct?

Or is there another solution to get my Powerbook with only an Ethernet port for networking connected to my network without running cable all over the house?

Thanks for your help...
 
Theoritically that should work. Check your documentation for the product, and/or call the support at the company to see if the uplink will let you connect to a node rather than a LAN.
 
Hey all - just a quick update for this thread - there is a driver available for tons of cards. Check it out here:

http://wirelessdriver.sourceforge.net/

There is also a link on there to a list of supported cards, whether they use wep encryption, etc. Hopefully it will help someone looking to setup their network.

J5
 
is it better to use the airport card as oppose to other pcmcia wireless card? I mean it costs a little more, but it seems to be more native and works with all the sys util?
Thanks for the advice.
 
Anyone have any problems with the linksys and wep? I can't get it to work. Turning it on turns off any routing once-so-ever.

Thanks!
 
I suggest that you go with Netgear 4port wireless router MR814. It's pretty cheap and there is 30 dollar rebate going on now. (Netgear NIC card can be bought at buy.com for a pretty cheap price today as well.)
I just bought this for my G4 and PBG4.
You can setup the wireless router with your web-brouser so it was quite straightforward. I was in fact quite surprised that I cound finish setting it up in 10 minutes. The router is on the first floor and I did not see any loss of sigal in the second floor rooms with doors closed.
 
hey im about to go buy equipment to hook up an old gatewway laptop to my sloatloading iMac (late 01 model) and was wondering about software base station... for a 99 buck airport and 50 buck cheap pc 802.11b card could i get the mac to serve as the basestation? both computers are in the same room generally, and the pc has no ethernet and two card slots. im pretty new to this but could it work? thanks!
 
Hi. I have a ISP that allows me to log in with 4 simultanious logins giving me 4 IP adresses on the internet. I am however unable to use PPPoE over the airport adapter. I have a Dlink 300 ADSL modem hooked into my 3com wireless hub.

Regards,
Ivar E. Hosteng
 
Originally posted by mr. K
hey im about to go buy equipment to hook up an old gatewway laptop to my sloatloading iMac (late 01 model) and was wondering about software base station... for a 99 buck airport and 50 buck cheap pc 802.11b card could i get the mac to serve as the basestation? both computers are in the same room generally, and the pc has no ethernet and two card slots. im pretty new to this but could it work? thanks!
Click to expand...

You'll have to use an Airport card in the iMac because it doesn't have any PCI slots. The Airport card fits in a special slot in the iMac.
 
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