S.B.

Was in pcworld and saw a bt modem/router thing for £149.99 card for a laptop for £49.99 and same price for a usb wireless adapter for a desktop, it said it was a new model,is this expensive?

Figment

Depends on what exactly it does, but I'd say it was expensive

S.B.

I wanna run my laptop and desktop on adsl at the moment i have a usb modem for the laptop but i want it to be wireless, the bt stuff that i see also had a wireless adapter to buy for the desktop which would be ideal because the phone line doesnt go to where the desktop is. If anyone has any recomendations i would like to hear them....

Dougster

New faster wireless standard out.

802.11b is current standard changing to 802.11g with speeds between 24 and 54Mbps. Older standard runs at a max 11Mbps

Try Belkin or U.S Robotics. £100 for access point and £50 for card seems about right for the newer gear.

S.B.

I think This is the one i have seen.



[Edited by S.B. - 8/13/2003 7:14:18 PM]

Chris L

I use the Buffalo wireless cable/dsl router and pcmcia card - very good performance and dead easy to install.

They do both products in a bundle for about £130. Do a search on 'WBS-G54-CB-1' - this is the product code for the router and card.

Chris

.justin.

i have a zyxel broadband adsl wireless router & pcmcia card for my lappy.

the router has a wireless pcmcia card that slots into the side of it & bingo - wireless interweb!

got it from www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk

there is a new standard just come out, but don't be put off by the older stuff - the top speed is only ever as fast as your net connection :-)

RoadrunnerV2

S.B.

I sugguest you look at wireless ADSL routers which have built-in modems.

Cable/dsl routers (starting to be known as broadband routers) require external ethernet broadband modems to operate. Therefore you would need an Ethernet ADSL modem for a cable/dsl router to work.

RoadrunnerV2

With regards to wireless, you have two choices to consider - 11Mbps (11B) and 54Mbps (54G).
11B Wireless
If your looking to access your ADSL connection wirelessly and perform the odd file transfer locally between computers then 11B would be suitable.

54G Wireless
If your looking to access your ADSL connection wirelessly but also perform a lot of local activity between your computers then 54G would be preferable. One thing to consider about 54G - 54G is approximately 20-25% more than 11B. All 54G products are incorporating the new wireless security standard WPA. Current 11B products are unlikely to adopt WPA.

Nog

Folks, be VERY WARY about linking a DSL network to a wireless network.

There's some dodgy people out there kitted up with Dell 1150 series wireless cards, AirSnort, Network Stumbler, Kizmet, Etc, Etc.

It takes less than 48 hrs to crack a WEP key, meaning an always-on DSL link can be hijacked by such an individual. It's OK, as long as you don't mind paying for someone to use your broadband!!!

Richard Curtis

S.B - looks expensive.

From PCWorld you can get a D-Link 604+ wireless (22Mbps) router/modem/access point for £150.

Has 4 wired connections and 4 wireless + basic hardware firewall.

Rich

S.B.

Is THIS a good buy...

S.B.

Or This one..?

S.B.

robbiehall

Chaps,

What is a safe way of doing a wireless ADSL home network then ??
Don't like the sound of other people using my connection..

Cheers
Rob

Nog

Wireless is still in its infancy.

Some of the wireless "plug and play" kits sold via retail outlets such PC World don't even mention things such as "shared key authentication". When they do, people often read the quick start guide, get a Wireless LAN going, then forget about security!

A must for any wireless user is to enable shared key authentication (may be documented under WEP or RC4).

However, as mentioned in my previous post, a WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) key can be broken in less than 48 hours.

There are many "white hat" hacker WEB sites that discuss this, and provide tools to break WEP keys, find Wireless networks, spoof MAC addresses, Etc. For example:

http://www.networkintrusion.co.uk/wireless.htm

In my professional capacity, I have been rejecting requests for wireless connections to our corporate WAN for a long time now. From a domestic stand point, however, I would be thinking about risk vs reward. What are you getting out of wireless, and what data, resources, Etc, are you [potentially] exposing?

Finally, from a research point of view, look at www.wardriving.com. A laptop, a wireless PCMCIA card, a car, and hey presto, you're messing up McDonald's food ordering system from their own car park. Only kidding. Would never take my Scooby to a McDonalds!!!!

robbiehall

Cheers m8,

That's food for thought (no MacD pun intended)

I shall stick to cat5 cables.
Is Blackice a good firewall for say, one pc to run the ICS from?
Or am I better off geting a modem/router?

Cheers
Rob

Nog

Wouldn't like to comment on BlackICE. Only have hands on experience of NetScreen [hardware] firewalls and Microsoft's Internet Security & Acceleration Server.

However, a very good URL for firewall information/reviews (particularly client side firewalls) is:

http://www.firewallguide.com/software.htm

Don't be put off the wireless route - just be aware of the risks!

Cheers

Nog

Chris L

Nog

Be interested on your thoughts on Netscreen firewalls - mail me if you prefer.

Cheers
Chris

As regards wireless, it is true it still have some way to go. That said it is inevitable. In a commercial environment it is going to need some good security around it. From a home point of view, yes there is a threat, but you can limit this by using the security that is available, limiting connections by known MAC address, don't use a DHCP server etc etc.

robbiehall

Tnaks guys,
I wll look at the websites tomorrow.

Cheers
Rob

Phil

I have Netgear Wireless ADSL its great for my laptop

I put the Transmitter under the stairs and get 100% around the house

85% sitting in the garden

IMHO waiting for new technolagy you will always be waiting

Go for it

Phil

twice

[Edited by phil_stephens - 8/19/2003 11:26:11 PM]

Nog

Chris L

Very impressed with the NetScreen range. We use the NetScreen 25 and 50 boxes. Relatively easy to manage, via a HTTP interface (can also be managed via telnet).

They are very robust - we haven't had one crash yet. Fail, yes, but not crash. The single failure we had was replaced under our maintenance contract with NetScreen, and the config was reloaded from a backup, so no problems there.

We are currently trialing the VPN options, as ISDN is proving a little slow for some of the bloat-ware admin programs these days (i.e.: for remote support - standby, and the like).

Cheers

Nog

ChrisB

Have you considered the Sonic SOHO TZW? You can enforce an 3DES IPSec VPN onto all wireless clients. No VPN, no connection to your wired LAN. Very impressive product IMHO.

Nog

ChrisB

Haven't looked at Sonic's options. Will have a nose...

Cheers

Nog

[Edited by Nog - 8/21/2003 6:42:18 PM]

JasonHook

On the security front I configure my wireless router to use MAC Address Filtering, 128 bit WEP, use a long and difficult to guess SSID which is not broadcast. Not sure if I can make it any more difficult to abuse than that (besides switching it off).

On the machine security side.
my wired and wireless machines are behind two routers each machine updated with latest patches and personal firewalls and up-to-date anti-virus and spyware detection stuff.

[Edited by JasonHook - 8/22/2003 12:11:05 AM]