Might be going wireless. Questions.

Does anyone know of a a quick and simple guide that explains the different wireless standards?

Also, what are the brands I sould trust and the ones I sould stay away from? I'll more then likely mount the base on the wall, but the laptop will be moving between 1 to 5+ walls, and distances from 5 to 50 or so feet, so I'll need equipment that can keep the speed fast and reliable.

Lynksys, Netgear, 2Wire are good brands in my experiance.

802.11B is the mainstay right now, about...300 feet IIRC, broadcasts okay through walls. 11mbs max speed

802.11G is the latest Standard, Slightly shorter range especially through walls, within 50 feet probably would not be noticed. Max speed of around 54mbs.

I like G, even tho I don't use it, because it does NOT operate in the 2.4Ghz freq range, Which is EXTREMELY cluttered with Cordless Phones, Microwaves, Cell Phones, EVERYTHING.

G works in the 5Ghz Freq range, which is far less cluttered. This won't make a difference if your in the suburbs. But if your in a dense area, go G and save the headache and worry.

This explains it pretty well.

Beast: B and G run on the 2.4Gig range. A runs on the 5gig range. (Thus the compatability between B & G, but not A)

yea basically

A has higher speeds than B but with less distance, and operates in the 5Ghz freq.

G has the distance of B and the speed of A but operates in the 2.4Ghz freq.

I have G and I love it. I tried B first but didnt like it, file sharing was too slow for some reason, so I switched to G and haven't had a single problem.

Numbstruck!? G!? w00t! w00t! w00t!

Thanks for the replys! I guess the G would be the better investment for now since the number of walls and distance would more then likely cause problems for the A standard.

But any recommendations on hardware manufacturers? I know a long time ago when wireless first came out, 3com was pretty much at the top of the pack, with Belkin at the very bottom. What about now? Linksys and Netgear really that much better now?

I bought a Belkin router (Hey! It was on sale! ) Well, I wasn't able to connect to it at all. I returned it and bought a NetGear. It works great. So, I suppose I recommend NetGear equipment.

Mpegger said:

But any recommendations on hardware manufacturers? I know a long time ago when wireless first came out, 3com was pretty much at the top of the pack, with Belkin at the very bottom. What about now? Linksys and Netgear really that much better now?

Click to expand...

From what I have heard the best networking hardware comes from NETGEAR.

su root said:

This explains it pretty well.

Beast: B and G run on the 2.4Gig range. A runs on the 5gig range. (Thus the compatability between B & G, but not A)

Click to expand...

I thought A and B ran in 2.4 and G ran in 5?

Oh well, I'm one to admit when I'm wrong. I probably just got temporary dyslexia or something ^_^;

Well, since thats a couple of votes for Netgear, I guess I'll start price hunting. Thanks!