On Fri, 14 May 2004 23:56:30 -0500, LittleJohn
wrote:

"Wireless is a pain. It's slow, expensive, will not work in some areas,
and has security issues."
Slow? It runs at or faster than the cable modem speed.

Yep, and that's slow also. The max transfer rate on a cable modem is 10
Meg with an effective rate of about 2 Meg. Normal wireless (not g) runs
about the same.

And that's the exact point. The bottleneck is the cable modem, and
always will be. Since the internal network, wireless, is as fast or
faster than the slowest point, you can't tell the difference between a
wireless network, a 100 MBPS cabled network, Gigabit over ethernet or
fiber.

expensive? You can get a 4-port Linsys WAP for next to nothing.
Wireless NIC is cheap as well.

Wireless cards are two to three times the cost of a standard network
card... And the required access point is four to five times as much. You
can lessen the cost by buying a combination access/firewall/router, but
not a lot. You can go up to 802.11g and get around 50 Meg, but you best
float a loan before you go check them out.

Oh yeah, the price goes from a minimum of about $20 US for a NIC and
a long crossover to a cable modem, to not much more for a crossover to
a second NIC in the primary system running ICS, to about $80 for two
cables long enough and a cable router (assumes NICs in two systems
alreaday), to about $100 for a wireless cable router and a wireless
PCI card. No cabling, and you can move it at will. Wireless G ran me
$200 for the router, two USB cards and a PCI card weekend before last.
20 minutes and a Diet Coke later, the guy's systems were sailing
along, a PC, a PC notebook and a Mac. With security.

will not work in some areas??? He's talking ACROSS THE HALL.

True, but he might want to put another computer somewhere wireless won't
penetrate. Like behind a concrete wall.

Wireless penetrates concrete fine. He might want to put a wireless
laptop in his neighbor's treehouse too, but he said a room across a
hall.

security issues? Enable WEP and MAC filtering and only those who REALLY
want in will get in. If they want in that bad, they will get in no
matter what.

The point was that running wires is something most everyone can do and
hard wired connectivity is totally secure. Not even the high tech
equipment of goverment agencies can penetrate a hard wired lan when it's
not connected to the Internet.

First, in the OP's point, he doesn't need a LAN if he's not connecting
to the internet. Second, you happen to be wrong.

They can, however, access any file on any
computer in your house from a van across the street if you're running
wireless. And they're not the only ones that can do it.

Stop by my house and try.

128 bit WEP is like a cheap padlock. It only keeps out the honest and
those unable to obtain the tools to get past it.

For all the flap on wireless security, there really aren't any
instances where wirelss in a home using WEP or another security option
gtes broken into. There are darned few where even open wireless
connections in homes get hacked.

Plus, since your statement about wireless not being able to get to
some places pretty much means the hacker has to come sit at your
dining room table, it's not that big an issue now is it?

The OP should take this to one of the networking or wireless groups
for the real low down. And if he wants to run the cable himself,
check out sandman.com. Plus, at least locally, he can get it
professionally wired for less than the cost of the tools he'd use.

Jeff