Wireless networking solution for my house?

Hi there,

I've been given the task of wirelessly networking my house. There's 8 machines in total and the house is 3 floors (so will probably need a setup capable of a reasonable transmission range). I know how to set up the network, but I'm not particularly familiar with the latest wireless technology.
Does anyone have any recommendations as to what setup would be good? (preferably nothing mega-expensive). 5 people will be using Windows and 3 will be using Macs. USB network cards are probably going to have to be the order of the day, and it's going to be used with either a high-speed ADSL (8mbit) or ADSL2 (24mbit) link, but more likely the former.

Any advice would be most welcomed .

Cheers,
Binny.

cant comment on the Macs or the USB nics.

Biggest issue would be the location of the computers. Most routers use a omnidirectional antenna, but it really transmits out in the shape of a doughnut, the virtical antenna being the hole. Directly above and below the antenna will be little or no signal.

Power issues... if it is a wood house, shouldnt be a problem. I use my network through several cinder block walls and still get a decent stable connection.

Another issue to watch for it interference from other wireless devices. Wifi works at 2.4ghz, same as the majority of cordless phones these days. These phones will get interferance from the network, and vice versa. 900mhz and 5.8ghz work fine with wifi networks.

in the days of old.. it took a bridge to get mac's and pc's on the same network.. Im not sure if its still the case..
when your saying USB nic I'm assuming its just the wireless nic "card" and it shouldnt really be an issue other then the lack of a decent antena (or the option to plug an external antena in)

Binman_UK said:

Hi there,

I've been given the task of wirelessly networking my house. There's 8 machines in total and the house is 3 floors (so will probably need a setup capable of a reasonable transmission range). I know how to set up the network, but I'm not particularly familiar with the latest wireless technology.
Does anyone have any recommendations as to what setup would be good? (preferably nothing mega-expensive). 5 people will be using Windows and 3 will be using Macs. USB network cards are probably going to have to be the order of the day, and it's going to be used with either a high-speed ADSL (8mbit) or ADSL2 (24mbit) link, but more likely the former.

Click to expand...

1) Ideal location of your Router:
I would tend to suggest locating your ADSL/Wireless Router at the 2nd Floor, i.e. sandwiching between your Gound and Top Floors to get the Best Wireless Coverages if possible! Of course it also depends on your BT Master Phone-Socket is at the 1st Floor as well.
2) Choice of Router:
You would need 802.11g, i.e. 54Mbits/s at least, and even preferrably 108Mbits/s to handle your up to 8 PCs in terms of usable LAN bandwidth. You would need to be sure that your ADSL/Wireless Router can handle at least 8 PCs wirelessly and support both Windows and MAC OSs simultaneously.
3) Choice of Wireless NIC:
As for the matched wireless NICs, you could choose PCI or USB2 External Wireless NIC or even a simple "Game-Adapter" which would do just fine! The beauty of "Game Adapter" is there is NO driver required to be installed in the PCs, you just configure EACH of your "Game Adapter" respectively through their Browsers with a supporting PC! Then connect each of the configured "Game Adapter" to your PCs through its interface, which could be either Ethernet or USB-2 Port. However it may be beneficial to choose the SAME manufacturer for both of your Router and wireless NICs to get the maximum compatibility.

Then it will be a matter with setting up: NAT,Firewall, Mac filtering, Encryption and IP Filtering to secure your LAN against other unauthorsed intruptions!

Oroka Sempai said:

Biggest issue would be the location of the computers. Most routers use a omnidirectional antenna, but it really transmits out in the shape of a doughnut, the virtical antenna being the hole. Directly above and below the antenna will be little or no signal.

Click to expand...

Is there any way round this? The signal has to travel to all 3 floors of the house.

OCdragon said:

1) Ideal location of your Router:
I would tend to suggest locating your ADSL/Wireless Router at the 2nd Floor, i.e. sandwiching between your Gound and Top Floors to get the Best Wireless Coverages if possible! Of course it also depends on your BT Master Phone-Socket is at the 1st Floor as well.

Click to expand...

That was my plan . The phone socket is right in the middle of the house.

OCdragon said:

2) Choice of Router:
You would need 802.11g, i.e. 54Mbits/s at least, and even preferrably 108Mbits/s to handle your up to 8 PCs in terms of usable LAN bandwidth. You would need to be sure that your ADSL/Wireless Router can handle at least 8 PCs wirelessly and support both Windows and MAC OSs simultaneously.

Click to expand...

Cheers for all your other suggestions. Guess I'll be going for a 108Mbit/s router - are there any particular models that you could recommend? If I do go with 8bmit ADSL, is one really required? Most people in the house are students, so can't really afford to break the bank in setting this up, but obviously if one is required, we'll get one . On that note, which company offers a good price/performance ratio?

Cheers,
Binny.

Binman_UK said:

Is there any way round this? The signal has to travel to all 3 floors of the house.



That was my plan . The phone socket is right in the middle of the house.



Cheers for all your other suggestions. Guess I'll be going for a 108Mbit/s router - are there any particular models/makes that you could recommend? If I do go with 8bmit ADSL, is one really required?

Cheers,
Binny.

Click to expand...

you could always have one wireless router and buy a 2nd access point to act as a repeater (i think). this will repeat the wireless signal coming from your router so it can be boosted. then you could have one downstairs and one upstairs.

also all ariels on wireless products can be moved around, they dont HAVE to point up

i have used cisco / linksys / netgear / zoom / bt products / dlink products.

cisco = you don't need to spend the money if its just for home
linksys = cheep and cheerful, good but tend to get very hot
netgear = my favourite, reliable and very good quality products
zoom = don't even ask. RMA must be very busy for them
BT = probably the worst products on the market
d-link = very good, i rate them inbetween netgear and linksys


anything you do buy get it from www.ebuyer.co.uk because its the cheapest in the UK.

i suggest getting this http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=94178

or this http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=78906

or this
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=97271

Binman_UK said:

Is there any way round this? The signal has to travel to all 3 floors of the house.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the antenna will be adjustable, but there will always be that hole along the axis of the antenna, so if you point the antenna on an angle, the hole moves somewhere else, hopefully not where a computer is.

There are some routers that have 2 antennas though, so you should beable to adjust them to cover up the holes. I think some Linksys do...


And matching NICs are good, but that can get expensive. My Netgear router can do 108Mbps, but only with the expensive netgear NICs, so I went with some 54Mbps Trendnet cards. You will get better performance but a lighter wallet by matching router to NIC.

Oroka Sempai said:

Yeah, the antenna will be adjustable, but there will always be that hole along the axis of the antenna, so if you point the antenna on an angle, the hole moves somewhere else, hopefully not where a computer is.

Click to expand...

Ok cheers. All 3 floors of the house have to be networked.. 1 room on the bottom floor, 2 on the middle and 4 on the top. I really have to get some kit and make this work 1st time to avoid spending unnecessary money. Gorilly suggested some routers I could use, is there anything you would recommend that would be ideal for this purpose? Getting a 108mbps router and using 54mbps nics seems like a sensible money-saving idea too, and I'd like it to be compatible with both ADSL and ADSL2 for for future compatability. Ideally I don't want to buy additional routers to act as repeaters due to the extra cost.

The following 3com one has two antennas. Is it any good? Although I'm not sure this will be compatible with ADSL2.
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=97523

Cheers,
Binny.

dont bother getting a 108mbps router if your going to use 54mbps NICs unless you intend to upgrade your NICS in the future or you will be wasting your money, and you just said you want to get it right first time.

either stick with 54 or 108

ebuyer sell wireless USB sticks

i've had no experience with 3com apart from switches so cant comment.

at work we have a netgear 54mbps AP and the people who connect to it use dynamode usb sticks... http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...=c2hvd3N1YmNhdGVnb3J5X3BhZ2U=&subcat_uid=1020

sorry for another post. yes that is ADSL2 compatible http://www.3com.com/prod/en_UK_EMEA/detail.jsp?tab=features&sku=3CRWDR100A-72

gorilly said:

sorry for another post

Click to expand...

Hehe no worries, post away - any advice is welcomed. Do you reckon the "Linksys Wireless/g Adsl Gateway With Srx200" with its 2 antennas will enable me to network the whole house (8 people) @ 54mbps without having any repeaters?

Link: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=97271

Once I've got a router sorted, I need some usb nics. I think buying entirely linksys nics will be pretty pricey - is there usually much difference between them and the cheaper makes? I've also got some nics for some Macs.. unfortunately I know nothing about them, so I guess some googling is in order .

Thanks once again.

Binny.

"Once I've got a router sorted, I need some usb nics. I think buying entirely linksys nics will be pretty pricey - is there usually much difference between them and the cheaper makes?"

Yes, compatibility and stability are the main issues! Cheaper ones, they may not be 802.11g fully compliant and consequently you may experience random drop-outs. Whatever you have decided try to buy ONE wireless NIC only if I were you, and test it with your wireless Router between your ground and top-most floors for coverage. Provided it is fully covered and no random drop-outs as well as the wireless connection bandwidth is reasonable, then you will be sure that your Router and NIC combination is workable for your environment!

OCdragon said:

"Once I've got a router sorted, I need some usb nics. I think buying entirely linksys nics will be pretty pricey - is there usually much difference between them and the cheaper makes?"

Yes, compatibility and stability are the main issues! Cheaper ones, they may not be 802.11g fully compliant and consequently you may experience random drop-outs. Whatever you have decided try to buy ONE wireless NIC only if I were you, and test it with your wireless Router between your ground and top-most floors for coverage. Provided it is fully covered and no random drop-outs as well as the wireless connection bandwidth is reasonable, then you will be sure that your Router and NIC combination is workable for your environment!

Click to expand...

i would reccomend dynamode, they are really good we have lots of them. ive used linksys usb ones which were terrible.

also netgear make some good PCI ones (IIRC)

Thankyou both for your suggestons. Gorilly: do you think this router you suggested earlier in this post would be able to cover the whole house 3-floor without repeaters? Link: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=97271

I'll think I'll give dynamode nics a try, although unfortunately ebuyer doesnt seem to have any in stock. Have managed to find some for £15 @ http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/shop/detail.asp?add=true&ProductID=3121 though . Do you know if they are platform independent? i.e. will they work on macs?

Thanks again..

Binny.

Binman_UK said:

Thankyou both for your suggestons. Gorilly: do you think this router you suggested earlier in this post would be able to cover the whole house 3-floor without repeaters? Link: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=97271

I'll think I'll give dynamode nics a try, although unfortunately ebuyer doesnt seem to have any in stock. Have managed to find some for £15 @ http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/shop/detail.asp?add=true&ProductID=3121 though . Do you know if they are platform independent? i.e. will they work on macs?

Thanks again..

Binny.

Click to expand...

im not sure i've not used that model of linksys, but any consumer product is going to be a hit or miss. you will just have to see, i would say it would work but just be prepared to maybe have to get a cheap acces spoint to act as a repeater if it doesnt.

as for dynamode, im not sure, it says supports 2000 and xp but they may offer something else that supports mac'sthis is what i have at work, they are quite good and cheap too

Ok, I know what I'm getting now. Will have to wait to get paid on the 19th Jan to buy it all though . Cheers for every1's help!

Binny.