wireless networking. Is wireless G really worth the extra money?

[Stg 58]

I want to set up a wireless network in my home. Now that the current standard is "G" there are great discounts on "B" models. I know they advertise 'G" as being a lot faster than "B" but in a home networking situation will I be able to tell the difference???

Any switch from "B' to "G" and can give me real hand experience.

Thanks

[Kevin]

I'd go with G in a new installation. It's not that much more money. The only place I'd go B is if I had an older notebook that I wanted to include in the net. The B notebook cards are almost being given away at the moment.

You really won't be able to tell the difference until you look at some streaming video. Then it will be readily apparent. If you don't do much of that, probably not a big deal.

Good luck.

Kev

[Odd Gibbs Shooter]

Got it and have been using it for a couple months!!
Only way to go....

OGS

[redmenace]

It depends on what your going to be doing with it. If your going to be trading a lot of data between computers (like lan gaming etc) then it is definatly the way to go. If all your doing is using it for an internet connection its probably not worth the extra money. Most internet connections arent going to come CLOSE to even 11mbps (wirelessB) so having anything faster than that wont make a difference.

[ronster]

I am with redmenace on this one.

Most 802.11g hardware was/is too proprietary.

Most companies were shipping 802.11g hardware long before it worked right or was truly interoperable.

At that time I recall only seeing 802.11g with 54 mbps w/in 14 feet of the WAP. If I am within 14 feet I can just plug an ethernet cable in and get 100mbps.


However I have not played with 802.11g for awhile.

I currently use 802.11b+ (22mbps w/ proprietary cards to WAP) and I don't take full advantage of the speed difference as my broadband connection is cable and is usually 2.4 mbps down.

The only time you will see an advantage with 802.11g over 802.11b is transferring files across your LAN.

Your bottleneck, even with expanded dsl and cable speed offerings of up to 6mbps is still slower than you 802.11b speeds (11mbps) or 802.11g (54 mbps).

[raeldridge]

I don't know what the price break is, but my experiences echo previous posters.

I have a Linksys "G" router, two laptops, one "B" and one "G"

couple bucks more for the brandname parts vs. no-name, worth it to me.

"G" laptop is noticeably faster, but not amazingly so.

if you're just screwing around, or for a short term network, go with the cheap stuff. if you're really going to use it, SOHO or serious user, get the "G"

WEP will slow you down, "G" helps. (you *are* going to enable WEP, aren't you?)

get a router so you can mix and match hardwired vs. wireless. linksys has 4 10baseT ports on it in add'tn to wireless.

get a router that you can upgrade the software on it!

I've had my main PC (hardwired) along with another PC I was downloading patches for in addition to the two laptops going at one time. pretty darn impressive!

router also works as firewall, I've tested it, it's pretty secure.

enable every bit of security and more! I have WEP, changed the default router password, got MAC blocking. get ad-aware (or some other spyware checker), Norton antivirus, update religiously.

having all that extra speed just means you have a chance to have your systems screwed up that much faster!

[Stoney]

I just got it from Qwest and my other two computer can't get on the internet, but I can share data with them. Spent 3 hours on the phone with tech support and did me no good.

[jt325i]

I would go with the G. It isn't much more. I got a MS access point awhile back & the G version was barely anymore than a B. It is backwards compatible with the older standard anyways.

[Max Mike]

Most 802.11g hardware was/is too proprietary.

Not true… was true 2 years ago but not now. Virtually all 802.11g equipment on the market now meets the 802.11g standard.

At that time I recall only seeing 802.11g with 54 mbps w/in 14 feet of the WAP.

Never was true. Range of 802.11g is similar to 802.11b and signal degradation follows a similar pattern. When both are at the same ranges and in the same conditions 802.11g will almost always be 5 times faster than 802.11b.

The only time you will see an advantage with 802.11g over 802.11b is transferring files across your LAN.

True, most of the time… I have found in certain rooms of my house that my 802.11b speeds drop to a level at which it is clearly operating more slowly than my cable connection. This should not happen with 802.11g due to its extra bandwidth.

Most 802.11g equipment is capable of better/stronger security than 802.11b if that is a concern for you.

I would suggest if you are buying new equipment and you can afford it get 802.11g the extra bandwidth give you more room for growth in the future. The cost difference is not that great.

[Sword of Laban]

Isn’t the 802.11g a dual bandwidth device? I thought is combined the features of the 11a and 11b offering both the longer range of the 11b at 2.4 GHz, along with 11b compatibility and the 5 GHz expanded bandwidth with reduced range. I have an 802.11 b network but the G is attractive to me. WEP keys will be changed daily no matter what.

[ronster]

Max Mike,

I work for a company that makes networking hardware, including wireless networking hardware.

The information I give is from testing under controlled conditions. If I mentioned it, its accurate under the conditions tested.

BTW hardware tested was name brand 802.11g off the shelf from major retailers, not vaporware not in the market six months ago.

This is a Your Mileage May Vary situation.

Your experience varied from mine.

Both experiences are equally valid.

[jimmyjoebob]

also, G is a more secure enviroment, in our home lan, the linksys offers to use a combo of B, B/G or G only. I have it set to only allow G type devices connect, this along with other safeguards such as WEP, and only allowing access by listed MAC addresses just makes for a more secure usage

[blackbird]

WEP, MAC filtering, etc. are available under both B and G in most routers. There is one question you need to ask yourself, "do you feel lucky..." (just kidding). Actually, unless you move lots of data between your machines at home, you can save some coins going with B. The bottleneck on web access is your broadband connection.

As an interesting note, the public HotSpots are mostly B (Airports, Wayport, T-Mobile, Boingo, etc.) and never saturate the air interface because the backhaul is only a fraction of the speed (T1's in the best of cases 1.5 Mb/s vs. 11 Mb/s).

To lock it down to a reasonable extent (there is no 100% in wireless):

1) Choose a hard to guess SSID (#Ji4^1 for example)
2) Disable SSID broadcast
3) Enable WEP at 128 bits
4) Enable MAC filtering for all the devices you want to provide access to

[19kilo]

As already stated, what are you going to do with the system? I have a buch of movies and music on a hard drive that I will be accessing from my laptop in my bedroom. the G standard is the way to go for bandwidth. IF I was only going to surf the net then go cheap.
Cheers,
KILO OUT

[Stg 58]

Basiclly I will use it to share my soon to be installed cable internet connection with the my laptop and 3 desktops. How many wireless points can i share the connection before it starts slowing down???


Thanks for the info guys

[ronster]

Depends on what the wireless connections are doing at that time.

If it is the typical usage pattern; some surfing, a teenager downloading mp3's and someone performing work across the network there will be no noticable impact.

If it is ten laptops all downloading mp3's or other files for work you may notice an impact.

[mparrish]

Be very careful with your wireless networks gang!

We just hooked up a subject who was parked in front of a house in our city. Seems he was moving around looking for a network big enough he could plug into from his car with his wireless platform. Seems he had been using the homeowner's wireless network to do his work. Not all that uncommon.

Anyway, he's facing charges of theft of services. Admitted he drove around heighborhoods looking for houses with large networks so he could surf in on someone else's dime.

[ronster]

That is why I use encryption and disable SSID broadcast.

That and I set any new computer joining my network to "Kids" group for my residential gateway (router/wireless/hpna 2.0/ethernet) Parental Controls.

I of course make sure they can go to http://www.gunowners.com and http://www.nra.org.

But that is about the only site they can use should they break encryption. Not to mention I block all other protocols; mail, chat, etc.



So should some war driver try at my house I would be too busy laughing at him to do anything else.

[Max Mike]

I work for a company that makes networking hardware, including wireless networking hardware.

The information I give is from testing under controlled conditions. If I mentioned it, its accurate under the conditions tested.

BTW hardware tested was name brand 802.11g off the shelf from major retailers, not vaporware not in the market six months ago.

This is a Your Mileage May Vary situation.

Your experience varied from mine.

Both experiences are equally valid.

NO.

Either your testing methods are not correct, the equipment tested faulty, or the equipment not current. Your information is simply not correct. Current 802.11g equipment has been widely test in the industry and the consensus of testing backs my conclusion.

I also have enough personal experience to know.

You said yourself:

However I have not played with 802.11g for awhile.

and

Most 802.11g hardware was/is too proprietary.

That is just flat wrong, no doubt about it. It almost sounds like you are talking about 802.11a which does have a sharp range drop off when it meets any obstruction.

[ronster]

Max Mike, it was 802.11g.

Granted the testing I refer to was prior to many manufacturers coming clean on compatability and stability issues (e.g. Broadcomm and Centrino).

I will let an independent test speak for me.

Round 2, February this year.

http://www.broadbandhomecentral.com/...ibaseline.html

Those conducting the tests said there was vast improvement only after updating all 802.11g hardware. Out of the box 802.11g was still unstable with weak performance over six months after the testing I refer to.

Again, no you do not get 54 mbps speed at any range. At best you get 45% of that.

Is 802.11g faster than 802.11b? Yes.
Is 802.11g 54 mbps throughput or even 50% of that ? No.

Say whatever you want Max Mike.

[Max Mike]

Is 802.11g faster than 802.11b? Yes.
Is 802.11g 54 mbps throughput or even 50% of that ? No.

I don’t think you read to well. The test you referenced said:

· The 802.11b tests averaged 4.5 Mbps throughput, with a range of 3.4 to 5.8.
· 802.11g averaged 18.9 Mbps, with a range of 16.6 to 21.3.

Which is exactly what I said test would show, that 802.11g was about 5 times as fast as 802.11b at the same range and conditions. The testing you referenced directly contradiction your conclusions.

I never said you would get 54mbs consistently: What I did say was:

When both are at the same ranges and in the same conditions 802.11g will almost always be 5 times faster than 802.11b.

You can dance around what you originally posted all and distort what I posted if you please, but you are were and are still wrong.

[ronster]

Apparently we both have reading problems.

Interoperability issues still exist out of the box, as I indicated. It was nice to see they fixed that in updates though.

I said 54 mbps is not a realized speed; that's accurate.

I did not dispute the "five times faster" that your pointed out.

Perhaps I misinterpreted your "NEver was true" comment regarding 54mbps, if you intended that to mean no one ever realized speed of that, I did indeed misinterpret it. IF not, then I did not.

[Eclipse]

Recall reading that if you have even one older 802.11b device attached to a 802.11g network then it all runs at the slower rate.

For a new install 802.11g might be an option, but in a mixed environment of older and new hardware I'd buy 802.11b instead.

[Stg 58]

Got my cable internet connection today.5320kps was the fastest I saw.its unbelievable!!!!

thanks for the info guys