Posted: 5/27/2004 1:33:29 AM EDT
| Yes? No? Stories good or bad? Brands? Range? Software? How do I make mine work? |
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well I have one in the house because my Mom didn't want me to run a wire down the hall. I bought a cheap wirless card for the computer. Well I had some teathing troubles with it. It had a tendancy to reset itself about every 2 min. Which ment my internet would go down for 5 seconds while its reseting. this had the affect of ending what ever I was downloading and kicking me off this site. so I finaly convinced Mom to let me run a wire. No more problems now. If you are going to do a wireless network don't skimp on the hardware. You get what you pay for with wireless. |
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If you do not transfer large files regularly wireless will work fine. Get good equipment, I recommend Linksys. I would go with the Linksys 802.11g speedbooster equipment but if money is tight 802.11b will work for internet surfing Range depends on the house; modern home construction is usually no problem. Brick, stone, concrete, and houses with wire latte on the walls to hold plaster can kill the signal. As for getting it working with Linksys equipment the instructions make it a snap… 5-10 min. job including hook-up. Bone up on securing a wireless network, there is plenty of information on wireless security on the Internet. I prefer a wired network but I do video editing and graphics and frequently transfer large files over my network, unless you have those types of needs wireless is the way to. I do have my laptop setup for wireless so I can wonder around the house and surf... very handy. |
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I use an old D-link 802.11b. It has just about the same range as a cordless phone. I don't use encryption, but I filter out MAC addresses. Just need a web browser to set it up. Got laptop, PDA, and Playstation 2 all happy. We use Lynksys at work. That's pretty easy to setup too. |
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"Cheap wireless card". More than likely your problem. As far as it resetting itself the problem is probably happening because the card is checking to see if you still have a connection to the base station / internet every two minutes. 
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The best way is to plug in your network card / set up the internal wi-fi connection on the computer you want to hook up to your wireless network (not the base station), download netstumbler netstumbler.com and see who has a wireless network running around your area. Turn off file sharing on both computers, then set up the base station with none of the network security setting to get a connection. Once you have a connection then dick around with the WEP / WPA / MAC / firewall settings. I have troubleshot a few systems for friends, two problems were the security settings were wrong, one was a neighbor who had an unprotected wireless system that had a stronger signal than my friends base station.
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Thanks guys I was considering the Linksys 802.11g as I think it will meet our needs. I have wireless capability on my system but I have no clue how to make it work. I have turned on the switch but the light doesnt come on or anything. Someone else told me that maybe that light will only come on if I am in the hotzone of a wireless network so I went to a few places where they have them and it didnt do anything but then again I was only in their parking lot maybe I should have been inside? Do I need to do anything else to turn it on besides the switch on the side that says on and off for wireless? I have had sucess helping others with their systems in their houses and all were desktop types and when we turned them on after installing they just came up with a wizard we followed. If I get in a wireless hotzone with my laptop will it auto open a wizard too do you all think? I may have to break down and drive across town to the Mazzios with the free wireless internet and go in to eat and see what it does huh? Thanks for all the info. |