Wireless Cable Internet.

[Chuck]

Hi,

I'm getting a 512k (NTL) Cable Internet connection in a few weeks for my house. I can't lay cables everywhere so unfortunatly i'm having to bite the wireless bullet. The two Wireless AP / Cable devices I have been eyeing are the:

Linksys BEFW11S4 - "EtherFast® Wireless AP + Cable/DSL Router w/4-Port Switch"
Netgear MR314

Both appear to be good'ish products. Both have stories of large performance problems with WEP enabled (which I guess is the price you pay). The Linksys seems to be a slightly more polished product (and also has the advantage of linksys selling a wireless PCI nic, which netgear at present do not - all the comps are desktop pc's not laptops). However the Netgear does allow you to specify which MAC addresses can access the router, and too my knowledge the linksys does not have this seemingly very important feature.

All the computers are situated at the back side of the house on differing floors. Will them all being near windows help reception? (not line of sight though). One of the comps is in the next room (one wall), and the other is on the floor below (two walls, one floor i guess).

Can anyone comment on experiences with either of these products? Does the linksys allow you to specify what cards can connect to it?

Thanks.

Chuck.

 

[JackMDS]

Some answers can be found here:

AnandTech - FAQ. What do I need for wireless Networking?

My experience shows that most of the Wireless Hardware WAPs and Wireless Client Cards that are sold for under $100 perform similarly, with the exception of the Lucent Chipset (Orinoco) that seems to work a little better.

It is impossible to judge whether they will be enough to perform well in your environment since the nature of obstructions and interferences make every installation unique.

Wireless is not very secure. However the big noise is generally came out when the guys at PC Mag. found many cooperation residing in the same small environment (NYC) running Wireless systems at default on no protection, and thus totally exposed.

Take into consideration your environment. The range of 801.11b is not so great. If you have a Laptop, or Wireless PDA you can actually map your range. and evaluate your risk.

If the concern is casual Security, i.e. no body is "after you", and there is no "big secrets" on your Hard Drive.

1. Restrict your wireless communication, by allowing communicating with the MAC numbers of your Wireless Clients.

2. Change the default setting of the Wireless Access point. I.e. give the Wireless Network a unique name (SSID)

3. Change the Default channel from 6 to some thing else.

Next step (if necessary) use WEP.

Take into consideration that WEP reduces the bandwidth of the Wireless connection, in some cases by 40%-60%.

 

[henderson2001mis]

I have the Linksys BEFW11S4 and a Lucent Orinoco PC card and I love my configuration. I think for the average size house (2500 sq ft) it will work fine, even with obstructions. I live in an apartment, which is somewhat smaller, but I can even go outside and use it on my back porch. I have not messed around with the encryption, but I do restrict by MAC address as you were saying. If I could stress any one point it would be to make sure you get the Orinico card. I have used both the Linksys and the Orinoco wireless cards and there is no comparison. The Orinoco has almost double the range of the Linksys, while costing only about $10 more.

Good luck with your network!

 

[Chuck]

Thanks. JackMDS. I did actually read that FAQ before posting (I try to make sure I at least do a bit of research before annoying you all ), but I really wanted some feed back from users of those two devices.

henderson2001mis,

Thanks for the input. I'll be sure to get a Lucent card. I've downloaded the Linksys manual but I can't find the section that deals with MAC access security, and assumed it wasn't there. (even the practicallynetworked.com seemed to suggest the feature was absent. Can you confirm that this is not the case?

Thanks again.

 

[Chuck]

The other thing was that the Netgear kit doesn't seem to be WiFi certified. Argh...

 

[Chuck]

Hmm, the Orinoco adapters are almost double the price of the other ones over here int he UK.

Could you confirm the restrict by MAC address thing? I have a better gut feeling about the linksys, but the lack of that feature does make me warey.

Thanks.

 

[rw120555]

You might check the firmware upgrade docs. For example, I know the Netgear ME102 WAP did not initially include MAC address filtering, but that feature was added in a firmware upgrade.

 

[rw120555]

Hey, I think you are in luck, see this.

 

[Chuck]

Thanks.

With a little more investigation I have found the manual for the 'version 2' edition, and it does indeed mention MAC filtering, albeit a bit vaguely. (ftp://ftp.linksys.com/pdf/befw11s4_v2ug.pdf)

"Editing MAC Filter Setting
This feature filters the Ethernet adapter?s specific MAC address from going out to the Internet." (p38)

and

"Appendix A: Troubleshooting
Station MAC Filter. This option will allow you to prevent wireless users on your network from accessing the Router?s functions." (p53)

But it doesn't *seem* from those descriptions to protect my internal network from being accessed by someone who could be hacking via a wireless device. It just stops them accessing the Internet, and accessing the "routers functions", which I guessed are the admin pages?

Is this correct?

Thanks again