.. wrote:

The incompatibility is usually at a more subtle level than at the
MAC/LLC level. Andy touched on one of the most irritating examples in
his reply, and this is the issue of lame configuration software. Many
times you may have kit that talks at the physical level, but you are
unable to specify shared security settings to allow them to work, simply
because one configuration utility insists on a key being specified in
hex, and the other requires a textual key that it will then hash to form
a key. Needless to say they don't all use the same hash functions so
there is no ready way to convert one to the other.


all of which can be avoided by doing proper research beforehand and
RTFM/STFW once the correct purchase has been made.

You seem to be assuming that one gets to choose and specify the kit. In
the real world many times the job is to "make that lot work" where the
equipment has already been bought on price or advertising hype by people
who have not done any research.

If the kit is all from one maker then that can make it easier, but there
are times you can not get all the capabilities you need in all off the
the different system components from one maker (and whos parts are all
in stock concurrently with your suppliers)

When you are specifying and purchasing the kit then it falls to you to
do the research. Here you run into another problem of getting the
information required. It is frustrating how many vendors will omit
information about how their configuration software works, and the key
entry formats which are supported.

you must be unlucky, I've only had a few and that's with obscure floppy
firewall type stuff on old hardware and there was usually a workaround.

Maybe you are lucky, or don't do much of this sort of stuff.

everything you've pointed out still shouldn't put someone off using wi-fi.

I was not trying to put anyone off WiFi at all. I use it myself. However
it has its unique limitations and problems, and in some cases is less
suitable for the task than wired components. Hence back to the original
question as to whether cable is still justified for phone and data
systems. The answer is unarguably yes in some cases. In others you will
be able to avoid it with wireless solutions.

--
Cheers,

John.

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