[kwlug disc.] detecting wireless

[Unsolicited]

Oksana Goertzen wrote, On 3/07/2007 8:43 PM:
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> I see.  Thanks! - that was a good explaination.   I thought they would 
> see the traffic but not be able to interpret it.

Nah. To them it's not even 'traffic' yet.

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> the ghost.  It's a DLink - and i could replace it.  Any recommendations 
> on what to buy - i'm assuming a Linksys WRT.  The Wifi detector you 
> mentioned sounded interesting/cool as well.
> 
> Oksana


Personally I would strongly suggest you wait, if you can, before 
buying wireless again.

And all I mean by that is ... 802.11n is coming. 300 Mbps. Pre-draft 
devices are out now, but I've yet to see one that promises standard 
compatibility after it's released. 300 Mbps, if realized, means copper 
becomes largely irrelevant, _except_ for security/load concerns, in 
the home. Video seems viable, and beats the 10/100 copper connections. 
You still want copper gigabit between servers (backups). Heck, there 
are gigabit 802.11n routers out there now!

And I'd strongly suggest anyone buying cordless phones these days to 
stick with 2.4GHz. 802.11n uses 5.8, like the latest cordless phones. 
They're not supposed to interfere, but, as this thread is about, less 
noise is better.

Having said that, there's reasons to buy these days. I picked up my 
first wireless router Boxing Day 2005 - $15 for router _and_ a usb 
adapter. Prior to that had picked up a linksys usb adapter that's also 
a scanner.

	Just needed something for my Palm to talk to. And maybe a laptop for 
internet access every so often.

If you consider your purchase disposable, do it. Check out 
factorydirect on Victoria, for example. 
http://www.factorydirect.ca/catalog/category_list.php?cat=1320. 
Doesn't matter if it self-destructs in 3 months. I was on 
pricegrabber.com the other day looking at wireless routers and reading 
the comments. A few said the "pre-N" routers were significantly faster 
than the 'post-N' routers. Belkin or Linksys I think it was.

In your case, even better, you get something to test with (if new one 
acts same as old, old one isn't broken), and you extend your range. 
Plunk the new one upstairs, have it talk to the old one, and voila, 
you'll have 4 copper connections available to you too.