The objective: I want to be able to use my laptop for internet type stuff wirelessly in my house. I live alone and only have the one machine which will be connected.
I’ll start by saying I know just enough about these kinds of things to be a real danger to myself and those around me, so bear with me.
I was standing in Circuit City the other day with an 802.11b wireless router in my hand when I realized that for just a little more money I could get an 802.11g router instead…
I almost spent the extra cash for the g, but then I got to thinking… I did a bandwidth test on my computer at cnet.com today and I’m getting about 616 kb/s over my cable modem. If I’m only getting 616 kb/s, will it even matter whether I have an 11 Mb/s or a 54 Mb/s wireless router?
It seems like it might be a waste to have the huge 802.11g pipe if I’ve only got 616 kb/s coming out of my cable modem… Any IT types have any advice?
Yes if you only want to move the data from your modem to and from your laptop both 802.11b and 802.11g are more than adequate for the job. I would go with 802.11b if it is less expensive.
If it’s not that much more expensive, I would definitely go with the ‘g’. You never know when you might want to add another computer in the future, or upgrade your internet connection. I made the same decision a while ago, and decided to go with 802.11b, and now I really regret it - I since bought another computer to back up files and such and it takes HOURS if not a whole day just to back up my laptop; with 802.11g I could probably do it in under an hour.
In short, shell out the extra dough for the 802.11g now and save yourself the trouble of upgrading later.
Note that the final standard for 802.11g is just a week old. All the stuff in the stores does not meet the standard. Nothing has official 802.11g certification yet. (Beware of “compliant” products, not the same thing.) Jumping the gun on standards is one of the many reasons we are in such a mess: one company keeps a non-standard feature in their product to stay backwards compatible, gets dominance in the market, other companies forced to add the “feature” in order to be “just like the #1 seller”, etc.
So who knows what you’re getting with the current 11g stuff in stores.
OTOH, 802.11b has security problems. But 802.11g is backwards compatible with 802.11b, and I don’t know what security issues it may have.
Just keep in mind: security is more important that saving money or meetings standards. Take every security precaution seriously.
Well, any wireless network is inherently insecure. I mean you’re broadcasting any data you transfer hundreds of feet in all directions. Anybody with a laptop and a similar wireless card could easily park outside your house and, at the very least, “see” your network, and if you’re not using encryption, they can break in and do just about anything they want, too. I actually had a friend a while back who set up a wireless network in his new house to do nothing more than check his email and back-up files. Several months later, his ISP started sending him letters, threatening to cut off his connection due to “excessive use of bandwidth”. It turns out his next-door neighbor had tapped into his network and was running a file-sharing server 24/7 using his internet connection.
Anyway, the point is when you’re talking wireless nothing is 100% secure, but as long as you use proper security (at least 128-bit encryption, with good keys and passwords), one standard isn’t really any better than another.