wireless network help needed :)

[JBP|]

my son wants a wireless network for xmas so he can get his pc online via his mothers pc

can anyone recomend a semi decent set up that isnt to costly pls?

 

[SheepCow]

Well you'd need:

• 2x Wireless network cards
• 1x Wireless access point

I think that's all ... you might not even need the access point with 2 devices, I'm not sure how the old wireless works.

You'll want 802.11g (54Mbit) or newer though as there are massive overheads and it can get slow.

 

[nath]

You can do adhoc/p2p wireless, which means you'd only need two wireless cards. There's a number of ways you could do this really. You definetly want 54g, belkin/linksys/netgear are all decent brands to my knowledge.

Actually, if it's not a huge distance between the two computers you can get a fairly decent pair of usb wireless 11b devices that work peer to peer and you'd be able to share with them I think. That'd set you back a cool 15-20 quid.

The best way to do it (in my opinion), but not the cheapest, would be to get a wireless router to plug in at one end and wireless bridge at the other. The point of a wireless bridge is (as said by someone else somewhere else) that the pc never knows it's on a wireless lan which takes windows dodgy handly of wireless networking out of the picture.

I don't know how much you know about this subject so I could go in to more detail or perhaps I've gone in to too much already but I'm sure someone more clued up about this subject will come along and summarise everything in a more intelligent manner

 

[JBP|]

i know bugger all about wireless networking

 

[anattic]

This ended up turning into a bit of an epic, so apologies in advance if you wake up face-down on the keyboard having fallen asleep half-way through.

Hope it helps, anyway.

First up, you have a choice between 802.11b (WiFi) and 802.11g (54g) networks. The old 802.11b networks run up to 11Mbits/s, are cheaper and (arguably) more reliable. The advantage of the 54g networks are higher data rates (up to 54Mbit/s). There is another 54Mbit/s type (802.11a), however this is not as well supported in the UK.

Given you're just trying to share an Internet link (which I'm assuming is less than 10Mbit/s), 11b is probably fine.

The next choice is one of architecture. As nath said, there are a couple of ways you can organize the network, and all of these work whichever network type you picked:

* Access Point

 ____________                            ______________
|            |                          |              |
|            |                          |              |
| PC with    |                          | PC with      |
| Net        |                          | Wireless     |
| Connection |                          | Network Card |
|            |                          |______________|
|____________|      \|/   -  -  -  -            | 
      |          ____|____         /_  _  _  _ /|\
      |         |         |
------+---------| Access  |  wireless link   
 Ethernet       | Point   |  
                |_________|

This is the 'normal' way of doing things - you connect an access point to your existing wired network (assuming you have one), then other devices with wireless cards in can connect to that network. Access points start around £30. The advantage of this approach is that more than one wireless device can connect at the same time.


* Ad-Hoc

 ____________                            ______________
|            |                          |              |
|            |                          |              |
| PC with    |                          | PC with      |
| Net        |                          | Wireless     |
| Connection |                          | Network Card |
|            |                          |______________|
|____________|                -  -  -  -  -    | 
      |    |                  \               /|\
      |   /|\  -  -  -  -  -  -  
------+               wireless link
 Ethernet

This is probably the approach you want if cost is key - in this case the two PCs have wireless cards in them, and set up an ad-hoc network between them. This only works as a point-to-point connection, so if you wanted to add other things, you'd need an access point.


* Bridge

 ____________                                          ______________
|            |                                        |              |
|            |                                        |              |
| PC with    |                                        |    PC        |
| Net        |                                        |              |
| Connection |                                        |              |
|            |            wireless link               |______________|
|____________|      \|/ -  -  -  -  -  -  \|/                |
      |          ____|____              ___|____             |
      |         |         |            |        |            |
------+---------| Access  |            | Access |------------+-----
 Ethernet       | Point   |            | Point  |         Ethernet
                |_________|            |________|

In this mode (as nath suggested), you link two wired networks together with a wireless bridge. This has the big advantage of not having to install drivers onto the PCs, although its a bit more expensive than the ad-hoc solution. Bridging is a little more 'proprietary' than the other two modes, so often you'll have to get two APs from the same manufacturer.

The last choice is security and encryption - if you decide to secure your wireless link, there are three options Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), 128-bit and 64-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). WPA is the best option however is still, even with SP2 poorly supported by Windows XP (not a problem in a bridge network). Failing that, use 128-bit WEP - 64-bit WEP is fairly pointless.

So what kit:

I use Linksys kit at the moment (although I've used Belkin and NetGear stuff in the past without any problems) which has the virtue of working and being cheap. They do 11b and 11g access points which both bridge:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?LIN-WAP54G
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?LIN-WAP11

These come in for about £35 for the 11Mbit kit and £45 for the 54Mbit. They also do PCI, USB and PCMCIA network cards for between £20-40 each.

 

[nath]

but I'm sure someone more clued up about this subject will come along and summarise everything in a more intelligent manner

Told ya

 

[JBP|]

thankyou for explaining that to me

my next question is how difficult will it be to set up an ad-hoc network and keep it secure?

(is it just a case of fitting the cards and enabeling sharing of the internet connection?)


i believe the computer that has the internet connection is running xp home (most likley not with sp2 atm) and my sons has 2kpro (which will get updated as soon as i get my hands on it)


thankyou in advance

 

[anattic]

my next question is how difficult will it be to set up an ad-hoc network and keep it secure?

(is it just a case of fitting the cards and enabeling sharing of the internet connection?)


i believe the computer that has the internet connection is running xp home (most likley not with sp2 atm) and my sons has 2kpro (which will get updated as soon as i get my hands on it)

Sure you wouldn't prefer a bridge network...?

Setting up the wireless ad-hoc network is pretty easy on both XP and 2K (here's a link to the Linksys 11Mbit PCI card user guide, as an example). The big manufacturers have dramatically improved their software driver useability over the past few years, as WLANs have moved out of the corp/geek market into the consumer realm.

In terms of security, 128-bit WEP seems the best bet (and turning the WLAN off when you're not using it... ) Again, the drivers/tools are pretty straightforward to use to set this up.

The bit I'm not sure of is the Internet Connection Sharing between 2K and XP - I will follow nath's example and suggest that others know more than I...

 

[old.user4556]

In addition to that adhoc setup mentioned above,

Will a laptop with centrino technology work in the same way as the PC with the wireless NIC?

Basically, my gf will be getting a laptop with centrino technology but also requires net access. They have a family PC which is connected to the net via DSL, so am I correct in thinking that they can purchase a wireless NIC for the PC with DSL connection and she can share the net connection by utilising the wireless feature on the laptop?

G