802.11a WiFi gear on closeout, not for most, but good prices for those who understand the tech

[mrVW]

Seems like both Overstock and TigerDirect have 802.11a gear on closeout. This is 54Mbps. No rebates, just good prices given that 802.11g is out and combo b/g/a cards are the norm.

802.11a operates at 5.8Ghz instead of 2.4Ghz of 802.11b and 802.11g. This means a few things:

1) No interference with 802.11b or 2.4Ghz cordless phones, video cameras, etc.
2) 802.11a has Less range. DO NOT GET THIS if you are expecting better range. In general, 1/2 the range. Especially at the highest speeds. 802.11g tends to get 54Mbps better than 802.11a at same range. But 802.11a is often better than 802.11b (which is only 11mbps) given the additional channels.
3) 2.4Ghz is bad at penetrating walls indoors and trees outdoors. 5.8Ghz is worse Line of sight is the order of the day. Or good reflection.
4) For some reason the 802.11a standard does not allow antenna jacks, so even cards like Orinoco don't have them.
5) Almost no hostspots or WiFi providers support 802.11a. So this is mostly good for LAN use.

If you are a hacker (the good old MIT train hacker term, not the "cracker" term). 802.11a is cool to have - as you may find a situation where 5.8Ghz gets around problems. HOWEVER, this is not for newbies - know what you are getting into and the limitations. Stick with 802.11b or 802.11g if you don't know all the differences.

Ok, enough with the introduction and warnings. Now to the deals:

Overstock.com

802.11a/b combo card, Orinoco brand. New, $35 shipped:
Overstock.com Item 505099
WARNING: Unlike a Orinoco b card, there is no antenna jack on this card.

Proxima 802.11a Access Point. New, $37 shipped:
Overstock.com Item 562534

Although this Access Point seems to be some type of "slave" Access Point according to the description. I found the manual online, page 21 suggests it has independent mode: Proxima Manual

Proxima 802.11a Access Point. New $37 shipped. Model 8571 with two SMA antenna connectors:
Overstock Item 566392
The photo on Overstock is wrong, but the description and detailed (larger) photo is correct.

Netgear HE102 802.11a Access Point. New $40 shipped.
Overstock Item 548319


TigerDirect

I notice TigereDirect has the same Neatgear Access Point for same price, but TigerDirect shipping is much more than $1 that Overstock has, and TigerDirect does not have the best reputation as a reseller.

TigerDirect also has a 802.11a/802.11b dual card from Dlink that Overstock does not have.

Tigerdirect 442749

$29.99. Again, watch the shipping charges and TigerDirect is not a company for those not willing to take an occasional problem.

 

[riceknight]

Nice prices, the orinoco card is a Silver and is both a/b compatible. Gotta love Orinoco, though the security freaks may prefer the gold.

 

[CrimsonKing]

Thanks! I wanted this for the longest time b/c my 2.4GHz phone and my 802.11b weren't getting along at all. Broke down and bought a 5.8GHz phone for 1/2 price and have had no problems since. Still might grab this since I'm hoping to dump the phone altogether once I get my TiVos working via LAN. . .

Great prices. Thanks!

 

[schuang74]

I would avoid 802.11a products at all cost. I have tested several brands of 802.11a products (Netgear, Linksys, Dlink), and all perform poorly when it comes to navigating walls or floor to floor. I lived in a rather small 2 bedroom apartment, and had trouble maintaining a connection from the living room to the bedroom. The router was less then 15 feet away, arround the corner. I had to get the routers close to (and some times in the) doorway of the bedroom before I could even get a signal. I would reccomend an 802.11b solution for general web surfing and 802.11g for high bandwidth needs.

 

[sk3tch]

802.11a is technically superior to 802.11g and 802.11b. However, as we all know - this doesn't mean it will win consumers hearts...just look at the classic VHS vs. Betamax from the 80s.

 

[mrVW]

bump. Good deals if you are looking for alternate to 2.4Ghz.

 

[GoatHerderEd]

I use "a" and think its pretty good. I have all d-links stuff. Great speed, and no 2.4hgz interverence. The range isnt as bad as people say. All wireless stuff needs line of site to work well. Great deals though. if it meens anything, my college uses A. Well, mostly. they are putting in g in some places. a allows for a much higher amount of users per AP/router than b/g.

 

[a2k]

Don't forget the added bonus that the hacker next door probably doesn't have 'A' gear, so he's less likely to discover your network and try to break in. Sorta like Mac and Linux having fewer issues with viruses than Windows PCs. Though it's no replacement for real security, less common loosely equals more secure.

 

[jawatkin]

Originally posted by: sonyboy851
I use "a" and think its pretty good. I have all d-links stuff. Great speed, and no 2.4hgz interverence. The range isnt as bad as people say. All wireless stuff needs line of site to work well. Great deals though. if it meens anything, my college uses A. Well, mostly. they are putting in g in some places. a allows for a much higher amount of users per AP/router than b/g.

Not entirely true... I run 802.11b, with my wireless router in the living room hooked up to the ReplayTV and my desktop comp is in the bedroom down the hall with a wireless card in it. No line of sight at all and I get great speeds (300+ K/s) thru my cable. For transferring anything faster than about 7 Mbps locally, I would recommend something else though...

 

[GoatHerderEd]

Originally posted by: jawatkin

Originally posted by: sonyboy851
I use "a" and think its pretty good. I have all d-links stuff. Great speed, and no 2.4hgz interverence. The range isnt as bad as people say. All wireless stuff needs line of site to work well. Great deals though. if it meens anything, my college uses A. Well, mostly. they are putting in g in some places. a allows for a much higher amount of users per AP/router than b/g.

Not entirely true... I run 802.11b, with my wireless router in the living room hooked up to the ReplayTV and my desktop comp is in the bedroom down the hall with a wireless card in it. No line of sight at all and I get great speeds (300+ K/s) thru my cable. For transferring anything faster than about 7 Mbps locally, I would recommend something else though...

Ya, i have run a and b, and both around walls, but its soo much better to have a line of site. i do agree a needs it more than b, but the 2.4gh thing being so crowded, a is soo much better than b and g.

 

[UltraWide]

I have 802.11b right now and it does well. I have 100% Orinoco gear, I have the AP in the 1st floor corner and another client on the other side of the 2nd floor corner and i get 85% signal @ 11mbps. (60ft away and 15ft high)

I am worried that 802.11a will not be able to work upstairs... I am tempted to get it due to the superior technology and the fact that it is made by Proxim which is a much more reliable company than Linksys, D-link, etc...

 

[poppyq]

I have d-link 802.11a stuff and it works just fine in my apartment. The AP is under my bed (where the cable jack is and my router) and I can wander throughout the whole apartment without getting anything less than the full 54Mbit signal. Also had this in a house before I moved and it did go lower but I could even walk outside with my laptop and still retain the signal even though the AP was in a hallway closet.

 

[bambam]

Thanks for the info mrVW - " 3) 2.4Ghz is bad at penetrating walls indoors and trees outdoors. 5.8Ghz is worse Line of sight is the order of the day. Or good reflection"

I just bought a $9.95 AR 802.11b model on BF . My intended use was WIFI with a couple of neighbors. I guess I'll try it as it is more trouble to return it . But it seems I need to look for hot deal on the 802.11g models .

 

[sxr7171]

I'm about to order an IBM thinkpad that supports a/b/g so this stuff might come in handy for my home network. Plus it's an extra layer security when almost no one can use an 'a' signal. Even better that you can sort 'direct' the signal in ways that keeps it inside the house.

 

[ufhockey09]

all right so im setting up the home network (broadband/cable)...

which technology should i go with? info seems to be conflicting..."a sucks", "works great for me"
given: router would be directly upstairs from me

is there a difference between a wireless access point and a wireless router? like an AP can only be accessed by one person or something?

is there a speed difference between all the technologies? is there a need for dual-band? or only if you have like a T3

EDIT: well, after a little research...it seems that a is on the way out, which seems foolish to me if its the only one that doesnt interfere with other 2.4GHz signals, and the only difference between b and g is that g is faster but this isnt even needed since cable modems only run 3mbps anyhow. also found PCI and USB adapters...any suggestions on a better buy?

any comments appreciated....thanks

 

[mrVW]

Originally posted by: bambam
Thanks for the info mrVW - " 3) 2.4Ghz is bad at penetrating walls indoors and trees outdoors. 5.8Ghz is worse Line of sight is the order of the day. Or good reflection"

I just bought a $9.95 AR 802.11b model on BF . My intended use was WIFI with a couple of neighbors. I guess I'll try it as it is more trouble to return it . But it seems I need to look for hot deal on the 802.11g models .

Bambam, I think you are reaching a unintended conclusion.

Here is my experience:

--- 802.11b only. 2.4Ghz. 11Mbps max raw rate. 6Mbps is pratical maximum given protocol overheads. Outstanding good cards: Orinoco, Sano, Cisco.
--- 802.11g only. 2.4Ghz. 54Mbps max raw rate. Estimate 30Mbps practical maximum. Uncertain which cards are better than others.
--- 802.11b + 802.11g mixed network. 2.4Ghz. You can run into problems using 802.11b and 802.11g in same area. The signal methods can seriously degrate performance for both....
--- 802.11a only. 2.8Ghz. 54Mbps max raw rate. Estimate 30Mbps practical maximum. Uncertain which cards are better than others.

In terms of penetration and signal distance... 2.4Ghz is better than 5.8Ghz. HOWEVER, there can be more interference with 2.4Ghz at this time, plus mixed 802.11g + 802.11b is a mess. My point I was making... if you have had range problems with 2.4Ghz, don't expect 5.8Ghz to fix it. However, if you are using crap equipment - better quality equipment might help. Also firmware updates, better drivers, etc. I've seen people switch equipment and fix signal problems without taking the time to find out that they could have fixed it with their equipment using better firmware, etc.

Directional antennas - using a device with antenna jacks or ports are really the way to go with linking one house to another, etc. Putting an AP on one side of your house and directing all the signal into the house might work a lot better than trying to put it in the center of the house and go all directions. You have to play a bit.

802.11g is a better protocol than 802.11b - but it is new - and knowing which equipment works best is hard to know. And there has been problems with certain brand cards + firmware not talking to another brand card + firmware (or even the same brand cards, different hardware revision or firmware). At least with 802.11b things were mostly sorted out. It is all starting over now with g. Testing is the order of the day.

One way to add antennas to an Access Point. Consider putting them on one side or corner of the house and aiming all signal in one direction...

 

[Yo2]

Great post - good information mrVW

At Overstock those in doubt over a vs. b may want to look into the netgear a/b combo accesspoint combined with the orinoco card. That way if a does not work because of range limitations you could switch over to b(- i.e. if interference is not a problem )

 

[mikew99]

Does anybody know whether these access points support a bridging mode? The manual seems to be silent on this issue.

(A briding mode would let me use two access points to connect my upstairs hub with my downstairs hub. In my case, it is impractical/impossible to outfit all clients with wireless networking cards, so I am plugging the downstairs clients into a hub and connecting it to the upstairs hub via a cable running down the walls!)

 

[bman46]

good post. The A versions are not much different from the G versions so if you can save a few dollars buying the A, its worth it!

 

[UltraWide]

Set the router to DHCP then assign the AP a fixed IP address and turn off the DHCP.
It will function as an AP instead of AP+router.

 

[GoatHerderEd]

Routers and access points:

Accesspoints just act as a bridge between the ethernet and the wireless.
Routers will do the same, but also "split" the ip address. first the router will be an IP address from what ever it is connected to (cable modem, or another source of DHCP). the router will then give the clients connected to it its own range of ip addresses. Finaly the router will see what information is requested from the clients and send that requested information back to the client when it (the router) recieves the data from the server. It sounds complicated, but it really isnt.

I dont know about the bridging.

 

[RayH]

Originally posted by: mrVW
One way to add antennas to an Access Point. Consider putting them on one side or corner of the house and aiming all signal in one direction...

I'm using the antenna reflector with a DLink 802.11a AP hooked up to a router. It definitely makes a difference in range. Using a Proxim 802.11 a/b/g card also made a big difference in range compared to the DLink 802.a card. I've read one of the reasons 802.11a hardware does not come with antenna ports is because the military was concerned about possible radar interference from extending the range.

Another plus is that most 802.11a hardware can operate in turbo mode where two frequency bands are used instead of one. This can increase speeds to 72mbps and 108mbps.

 

[mrVW]

I got some of my Proxima AP's, they are clearly _USED_ but not represented as such. They seem complete, but a little pissed at Overstock for not being more clear.

 

[CrimsonKing]

Wow. Curious to see if anyone had the same result from TigerDirect.

 

[batmanuel]

Originally posted by: a2k
Don't forget the added bonus that the hacker next door probably doesn't have 'A' gear, so he's less likely to discover your network and try to break in. Sorta like Mac and Linux having fewer issues with viruses than Windows PCs. Though it's no replacement for real security, less common loosely equals more secure.

Yeah, that's what I like about the D-Link AirPlus stuff. When you have all your stuff running in 4X mode, it is a bit less likely that your run of the mill wardriver is going to be able to get in.

On a slightly related note, anyone know if the poor range issue also holds true for the 5.8 GHz cordless phones? I'd think so, since the problem seems to simply be the way the radio waves are absorbed by common building materials at that frequency. It really puzzles me to see all the new 5.8 phones being advertised as having longer range than the 2.4, knowing that issues with that frequency range are part of what caused 802.11a to arrive rather stillborn into the networking world.