Wireless hubs et. al.

[david at thekramers.net (David Kramer)]

On Wed, 5 Dec 2001, Jerry Feldman wrote:

> I currently have a Linksys BEFSR41 Cable modem/DSL router. However, I am contemplating
> acquiring a wireless hub and a wireless cf card for my iPAQ and possibly for my laptop.
> Currently Linksys is having a special on their wireless version of the CableModem router
>  BEFW11S4 - EtherFast)B? Wireless AP +                                Cable/DSL Router w/4-Port Switch
>
> IMHO, I think that I could simply swap out the old router and replace it with a new one.
>
> I'm looking for people with experience with this and other similar wireless solutions. (I could spend
> $150) for a PCMCIA sleeve for my iPAQ and simply use my existing PCMCIA laptop card, but I
> already have a compact flash sleeve. Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>

I have a separate DLink DWL-1000AP WAP that talks to an Orinoco (Lucent)
card in my Dell Latitude laptop.

I would recommend you get a separate WAP and not one built into your
router for one important reason: you can turn it off when you're not
using it.  802.11b is amazingly insecure.  I always leave my WAP off when
I'm not using it (I use my X10 stuff to turn it on or off from anywhere
in the house).

For the record...

I recently went to a presentation (at Harvard FAS Security Working
Group)[0] by Netgear, talking about this kind of stuff.  They mentioned
quite a few advantages of their offerings over linksys for reliability and
functionality:

- Metal case, not plastic, for lower RF emissions[1]
- Two internal fans for better heat dissipation
- Better browser support (some have complained about certain web pages
  of the Linksys control panel only working in IE)
- Content-level control
- Internally they use the SonicWall software, which is excellent
- Configurations and firmware can be saved off to a PC on the network

It is more expensive by about $50 when the Linksys unit is NOT on sale, so
you probably won't go this route (no pun intended), but I thought I would
mention it.

[0] They have a meeting coming up on secure 802.11b, also relevant.  I'll
get the info.

[1] At that point, someone in the audience shouted out "Yeah, and it's
rectangular, so you can stack stuff on top of it!" ;)

--
DDDD   David Kramer                           http://thekramers.net
DK KD
DKK D  "Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity,
DK KD  and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them."
DDDD         -Joseph Heller (1923-1999) "The Great Executive Dream"