Todd H. wrote:
Keith Williams writes:

In article , says...
"Pat" writes:

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason you can't use a "pre-N" or "N"
wireless network? They are getting faster and stronger all the time.

I just put a "G" repeater in my mother's garage because the signal she
gets from my brother's house was a little weak. Works really well.

Data rate and security are two reasons copper isn't dead.

Neither one is a big deal for 99.44% of home systems, though I see
a lot of open networks around. I have mine configured for
encryption, only listen to my laptops' MACs, and doesn't broadcast
its SSID.

And if you're using WEP, someone can break all that in minutes. MAC's
can be sniffed and cloned simply with passive sniffers, SSID is
included in every packet sent across the air even if the access point
doesn't beacon. If you're using WPA-PSK and aren't using a very
complex passphrase, that too can be cracked using freely available
dictionary attack tools. At least you're not among the open network
drones though--kuds on that.

54Mbps is faster than my cable modem. Good 'nuff.

For you and your websurfing use. FWIW, I'm willing to be you're not
getting anywhere near 54Mbps from upstairs to downstairs.

Start pushing video or a large volume of photos across to a network
drive on a home network like many media creators do, or appreciate how
trivially most encryption can be broken if you work with sensitive
data in a home business, the case for copper becomes even more
compelling.

Wireless: just because you can doesn't mean you should.

In short, I wouldn't begrudge anyone wanting to run cat5 cable.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

I agree, copper is not dead. There's a time and a place for it. But
there is also a time and a place for wireless. I run wire to 2
computers and wireless to a third (and the kid's PSP).

If the OP is working from home and has sensitive data, wire's probably
a good idea. Also if he's downloading movies and playing games. But
if it's just "check your email" or sending things to a printer,
wireless is probably okay.

To some extent is also depends of where he lives. I live in a small,
rural community and a neighbor just put in a wireless network. Until
then, there was never another wireless network in the area and little
chance anyone would be trying to crack mine (but I still use security).
If the OP is in the middle of a city near a university, it's a whole
other story.

I was just curious about it and thought I would suggest another option
that might work or it might not.