[kwlug disc.] detecting wireless

[Cedric Puddy]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Comments below...

On 7-Mar-07, at 10:59 PM, Unsolicited wrote:

> Oksana Goertzen wrote, On 3/07/2007 8:43 PM:
>> 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.

Here's were we disagree -- if you have 802.11b/g today, and a 2.4 Ghz  
cordless phone today, then your cordless phone has a high probability  
of knocking you offline and keeping you there while it's in use.   
I've been to a number of client homes, etc, over the years, and  
observed that I could disconnect every wireless computer in the house  
just by calling the the guy on my cell phone.

Also, the appeal of 802.11n depends on what exactly you are doing --  
if you just surf, do the occasional print job to a shared printer,  
and aren't having range issues, then even 802.11b is plenty fast.   
(Most internet connections to homes are way slower than 11 Mbps, home  
networks usually don't have enough devices to cause congestion issues  
at the AP level, and since you aren't doing anything high-bandwidth  
with local devices, then the extra speed of 802.11n or even 802.11g,  
isn't going to buy you a plugged nickle).

If you have range issues, then yes, 802.11n makes sense.

If I had my library-O-raw photos that I am editing located on an NFS  
server that I'm accessing over 802.11n, then heck yeah, it would make  
a difference.

If you don't have GigE in your home, then the speed advantages of  
802.11n are probably going to be completely un-noticeable to you, I  
figure.

My thinking is that if you are using 802.11b/g, get a 5.8 Ghz phone  
(you don't have to spend a lot, though there are those ones with  
colour displays, multiple handsets, that can be understandably hard  
for a gadget guy to pass up).  If you start using 802.11n exclusively  
later, and you have a problem again, unpack and reinstate your 2.4  
Ghz wireless phone (or buy a new one, whatever).

Like the man says, I agree with the idea of considering your phone  
purchase disposable.  A reliable network is more important than  
sticking with a particular cheap phone, and I have personally seen  
how much trouble a 2.4 Ghz phone can cause a 802.11b/g network.

By the way -- the channel numbers that a wireless phone displays have  
*nothing* to do with the channel numbers that Wireless LAN frequency  
bands use -- you may have your phone set on "channel 7", and your  
access point set to "channel 3", but that doesn't mean anything --  
for all anyone knows, channel 7 could be exactly the same frequency  
range.  (I saw some comparison of the channel numbers that were being  
used for WLAN vs the wireless phone earlier, and wanted to comment :)

- -Cedric

> 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.
> _______________________________________________
> KWLUG-Disc mailing list
> KWLUG-Disc at kwlug.org
> http://listserv.kwlug.org/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc

|  CCj/ClearLine - Unix/NT Administration and TCP/IP Network Services
|  118 Louisa Street, Kitchener, Ontario, N2H 5M3, 519-489-0478
\________________________________________________________
    Cedric Puddy, IS Director            cedric at thinkers.org
      PGP Key Available at:              http://www.thinkers.org/cedric


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (Darwin)

iD8DBQFF8H6vDyIPjFXt1HcRAli3AKCVR4txHWiOSgIXh9lxIr6MoX+CUwCdHk1U
cACN0jLVdtwxphN/yMxSDGk=
=0UHU
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----