Wireless Network

[sabotai]

I'm thinking about setting up a wireless network in my house (so my sister can stop using her shitty ISP). I have heard that there are several different kinds and all kind of crap...anyone have experience with wireless networks?

[Fritz]

yes

[Draft Dodger]

my understanding.

802.11 b is the most common.
802.11 a is faster, but not compatable with b. avoid it.
802.11g is faster than b, but with a shorter range for the fast speed...after 50' or so, it drops down to the b speeds.

g is backwards compatable with b, so a b card could access a g network. a wont work with the other stuff at all.

Go with b - it's fast enough for several people to share internet. If you are doing lots of large file sharing, might be worth going to g. Also, sometimes the g stuff isn't that much more expensive, so it wouldn't hurt to go up...but, again, for most people, b is fine.

[Tasan]

Also, watch out on the transmit power. Most lower end products will only offer 30 milliwatts of power, and that'll hurt your range. Higher, say upwards to 100 milliwatts, will help, but it will add $20 or so to your cost per network adapter.

[sabotai]

Thanks DD and Tasan (go to hell Fritz :D). Judging by the prices I'll be going with "b".