802.11, any advice?

[Matt Keys]

I am thinking of setting my house up so i can use my PocketPC wirelessly anywhere in the house, and maybe on the deck outside. But I have a few questions that I cant seem to find answers to. Will this form of wireless work when im not by the access point, like when the access point is downstairs and im upstairs or even outside. Or is this more of a line of sight type of thing? Have any of you had any good or bad experience with a certain brand? Or have heard of one that is supposed to be good? I am not looking to spend a fortune, but I dont want to get something that doesnt work right. How much would I be looking at for a PC Card for my PocketPC and a access point? Will any 802.11 PC Card work in my @migo or do they require drivers?<br><br>     Also, the company that I am getting high speed from(whenever they get their asses in gear) is a wireless company, and they are using the 802.11 standard to communicate, so will I need a access point? because they are installing something on my roof(they were a little sketchy about this part) and that will recieve the signal and send it to my computer. Is what they are installing on my roof essentially a access point? Does that mean it would be capable of sending wirelessly as well as recieving?<br><br>Thanks for any help you can provide.

[Moose or Chuck]

Wireless means no wires. But that thing is just the receiver/sender thing. You'd need to get a Broadband internet capable wireless hub to connect the antenna on your roof to.<br><br>It's not line of site, it uses radio waves, and can usually reach up to ... 20 feet I think. I'm not sure about that one, but the hub will say, as well as the NIC.<br><br>You're looking at around $450 dollars to connect 2 computers and your PPC to the wireless network.<br><br>I'm about to do this too and would like any information I can get. I was thinking about getting the Proxim CF Wireless network card from .

[Chris Edwards]

Linksys has an all-in-one product .<br><br>Wireless AP + Cable/DSL Router w/ 4-Port Switch<br><br>so, that would be all you need. It has a fairly long range (400ft), and is pretty cheap.. ($250US -- i think).<br><br>anyways.. the 4port switch would allow you to plug your desktop computers into the switch directly instead of using wireless cards for them..<br><br>the linksys card does work with the ipaq/@migo with a little tweaking (in brighthand forums).. and the cards are fairly inexpensive.<br><br>This is what i would recommend.

[Chris Edwards]

also beware that not all wireless cards will work with all wireless access points.. usually it is best if you go with the same brand for both... but it wouldn't hurt trying to one of the cf cards...

[Chris Edwards]

oh.. and the linksys thing i was talking about also has a basic firewall built in..  and it will also act as a dhcp server for your network if you are going to use dhcp.

[Digby]

You guys might find this amusing.  This guy couldn't get DSL so he got out his telescope and found a house on the other side of the neighborhood that could get it, then setup an 802.11 directional antenna from that house to his.<br><br>Read the full humorous story

[suchiaruzu]

lol<br>'lil genius

[Matt Keys]

Ok, well I found the PC Card for my @migo for 44 bucks. And I think I can get the "Wireless AP + Cable/DSL Router w/ 4-Port Switch" thing for about 150-200 bucks used. So maybe I can pull all this off and still have some cash in the bank. BTW, that story about the guy with his 802.11 got me thinking, right across the street they have medianet cable modem service, but its not available at my house...

[Chris Edwards]

it would have to be wireless.. unless you went and spliced the cable

[Dan East]

I was just talking to Chris today about broad-band internet, which isn't available in any form in my area yet. The nearest city to me with DSL is around 10 miles. The only problem is that there is mountain in the way. In my case I could put a repeater on top of the mountain, but that would raise the $1400 cost to around $2000 or so. When I get rich that's what I'm going to do. It would definitely work.<br><br>Dan East

[Chris Edwards]

we were talking about fixed wireless broadband solutions... sprint offers it at http://www.springbroadband.com/<br><br>or.. if you are canadian like me:<br><br>http://www.wiband.com/<br><br>they have wiband in my area... very speedy (3mbps).. so, i'll be getting that soon .<br>

[Moose or Chuck]

Hu hu hu uhhuhu... you're from canada. Hu, uhhuhuhu *in beavis & butthead voice*