(Small) wireless home network

Time to upgrade at home, but preferring to go the wireless route and would
really appreciate some advice, recommendations and/or online resources.

Have two desktop PCs in a shared office, one connected to Demon broadband
via a modem.

Want to have shared broadband (presumably via a router), with a firewall,
peer to peer PC networking and a shared LPT printer port (printer isn't
network enabled). Don't want to have one PC dedicated to acting as a
server, so either need a third dedicated PC or, hopefully, a wireless box.

Any recommendations? And what does one put in the PCs as networking cards.

Dim newbie questions, I know, but thanks for your indulgence.

Cheers,

Martin

 

think through what firewall you need, as the number of proper
firewalls in modem/router boxes is small.

you can get a wireless thing to plug your printer into, like the
D-link DP-311P http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=174

or a DI-714P+ http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=19 wireless + 4 port
wired router which has a printer port and includes a firewall "The
DI-714P+ also features a Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall
which helps to protect against Denial of Service (DoS) attacks such as
SYN Flood, Spoofing, and Ping of Death"

this would need an ADSL ethernet modem or router with an ethernet
connection for the wireless unit, sometihnk like
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=67
if one computer is next to the modem/router you may as well plug it in
directly, and use wireless for the other one.

You can get USB wireless cards for the PCs, or a PCI one to go inside
(may put the aerial in a poor location) or an ethernet one if the PC
has an ethernet card. Scroll down
http://www.dlink.com/products/category.asp?cid=1

No recommendation for Dlink implied, just a useful source of info on
what's available.

you can also get an adsl modem / wireless access point / SPI firewall
in a combined unit like
http://www.netgear.com/products/details/DG834G.asp?view=

Phil

 

That's really useful, Phil - I'll start reading. Thanks very much

Rgds,

Martin

 

Im no expert, and am looking at doing the same myself.

I read an article in Personal Compter World this month that suggested that
Wireless technology is still relatively immature, with faster variants on
the way. Also the achieved throughput is not what you would expect, (What
size files will you be shovelling around ? ) plus in my opinion its just too
expensive.

I have decided to go wired, using an ADSL Modem/Router. You can get one for
about 60 quid, plus a tenner for the network cards, giving the 10/100 speed.
The wireless equivalent is about £123 + £50 for a single wireless card, for
a slower network speed. OK it is wireless, but once you have run the cable
you dont need to do it again !

Just my opinion.....;-)

 

Cheers and thanks !

 

Wireless is appealing to people as they can avoid the wires. It
really isn't difficult to run the wires and the resulting network is
(a) much faster, (b) much more reliable and (c) much more secure.

In a couple of years wireless will have improved a lot, and those
wired network points you install now will still be useful for
attaching WAPs to your network.

Just my opinion too

jay

 

Good opinion, WiFi is nowhere near as good as the manufacturers would
have you believe it is.

I've got a mixed network and WiFi is fine for internet sharing but the
speed can be quite low (Still faster than 512kbps though).

I can get a 40pc loss of pings to a next door room as well so my
suggestion is, don't expect too much and you wont be disappointed.

Geoff Lane
Welwyn Hatfield Computer Club - Hertfordshire, UK
www.whcc.co.uk - Online facilities for non locals