I'm starting to think about how I'm going to set-up the wireless network in my house and I'd like some help in deciding what kit to buy.

Basically, I have a network of machines and servers in my spare bedroom, and also an mp3 player (soon) and PS2 'online' (soon) in the lounge. Now, both devices in the lounge will be connected to a small 4-port hub, and the set-up in the spare room is set-up on a switch, all 100MB.

What I'd like to do firstly is join these two seperately wired networks transparently using wireless. What I don't want to do is to have two different subnets and NAT between them so I want a proper 'bridged' solution, so that they both appear on the same subnet, without traffic having to be routed between them.

Then, I'd like a PCMCIA wireless card in the laptop. This should connect to the wireless point in the spare-room (so presumably the one in the bedroom would need to be both a WAP and a bridge???) but again I want it on the same subnet as the other machines.

Finally, it would be better if the laptop-->spare room wireless connection was 54Mbit but obviously it doesn't matter if the PS2 and MP3 player only access the network at 11 or 22Mbit as that will only be for 'net access so it won't be utilising a fast connection at all. Presumably then, the spare-room's access point/bridge would then need to be running at two speeds simultaneously. Can this be done? I had in mind as a starting point that a Linksys WET11 should be used in the lounge.

Does anyone know what sort of kit I should be looking at, or whether what I want is possible? Does anyone understand what I've actually asked? ;) Does anyone care? :D;):D

Any help much appreciated.

Simon.

www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk

SD,

I have cut'n'pasted one of my standard replies to people who ask about wireless. If you can answer them then it would help me suggest the best wireless equipment for you.

What type of house do you live in e.g. 3 floor Victorian Town House, Modern 5 Bed house. Etc.

What type of interior walls are they e.g. Brick or plaster board?

Whereabouts will the router be located within your home?

How far and how many walls will the computers/consoles have to go through to reach the router?

Also are you going to be transferring large files locally between computers or do you want to have wireless access to your broadband connection?

Do you have a pool of IP addresses or a single/dynamic IP address?

Hi SD, YHM

From what you say, wireless equipment should work fine within your home.

A solution that's worth considering is >

D-Link DSL-504 ADSL Router. The DSL-504 has excellent functionality for the price and is PS2 Online compatible. It can perform Multi-NAT (NAT each of your IP separately) or Non-NAT (Full Routing) for your 8 IP's.

For your wireless > Netgear 54G Access Point with Half Price 54G Laptop Card - Good Bargain. For the PS2/MP3 I would suggest sticking with the same manufacture to help eliminate any compatibility issues. Netgear are soon to be releasing their ME101 Wireless Ethernet Bridge.

Reason why I haven't suggested a 54G router is because the functionality is limited at the moment (i.e. you wouldn't be able to use your 8 ip's.) and the majority of them don’t work very well on ADSL.

Roadrunner,

I live in a modern 2 bed terrace with plasterboard interior walls.

The WAP will be located in the front bedroom.

The furthest point from this is where the PS2 and MP3 player are in the lounge. It's around 7-8 metres in a straight line from there to my main network in the front bedroom (small house ;)) and the signal would pass through 2 walls or 1 wall and a floor to reach there.

I want to transfer large files from my laptop to the network but the PS2/MP3 connection only needs to be for small data traffic ie: accessing MP3s on the server and accessing the 'net.

I have a pool of 8 (5 usable) IP's but I'm trying to static-NAT these to a larger range of private IPs using my firewall (see this thread).

Thanks for your thoughts.

Simon.

[Edited by SD - 5/9/2003 7:48:22 AM]