802.11b vs 802.11a

[JediAgent]

802.11b vs 802.11a
I know the theoretical differences, A being 5ghz and 54mpbs and B being 2.4Ghz and 11mbps, but i want to hear form ppl who have owned BOTH types and what they think. Is there alot of problem with 2.4Ghz phones and B? Whats the real life difference in file sharing and print services? Im gonna buy one and i want to know what you have aswell...

[bigjackusa]

I don't have any rev.a stuff, but I have heard of the interference problem though. It is also not backward compatable with rev.b . When rev.g comes out, it should be almost as fast as rev.a, without the problems.

[JediAgent]

What problems does rev.a have?
I've heard of the 2.4Ghz phone prob with rev.b, but nothing with a.

[pga1234]

My friends have both but really I would just wait till rev. g

[JediAgent]

i dont know anything about rev.g what is it?

[pga1234]

Just a newer version. Like ^^^ said speeds of A but no bugs

[JediAgent]

and no one has yet to explain the bugs of A to me

[pga1234]

lol, I really don't know many of the bugs as I don't own one. My friends keep complaining though. Now if I could remember what they were complaining about :?:

[JediAgent]

I have a good explanation for my loss of memory. (long time fling with a girl named mary jane)

What about you?

[Osiris]

About a week or so ago, a group of us here in Warrnambool had a meeting about setting up a wireless network here in Warrnambool - all the gear we've got so far has been 802.11b and we've had absolutely no problems with regard to mobile phones.

Speedwise, however, I don't think there's a huge difference - definately not 43Mbp, anyway. We did, however, manage to copy across some Mp3s over a 1.7km distance with a non-fine-tuned omni antennae at a speed of about 4mbps, so it wasn't too bad :).

[bigjackusa]

JediAgent

My error! It was not interference that I thought I remembered, But the 5gz frequency that can limit the range of rev.a . That and it seems that most manufacturers have a sort of "turbo mode" for their rev. a products which is rather proprietary and dosn't work between brands. Yep, I've got a mind like a steel sieve.

[Osiris]

^^^^^

Apparently, the best brand to go with for cross-operability with wireless is D-Link...

Incidentally, this question came up at our gathering, does anyone know what point-to-multipoint mode on an AP does?

[JediAgent]

A Point-to-Multipoint function on a wireless AP makes it so that one AP can transmit to another AP thus doubling the possible Wireless clients and increasing the range of the whole network, but i think one or both needs to have routing functions built in...

... i think.

[Osiris]

That's what we were hoping/thinking... we know that you can use an AP as a client, but haven't yet been able to get one working so that it can host clients and still transfer data with another AP...

[Grim Reaper]

Yeah we're pretty certain that it will talk to other AP's while still accept connections from clients...we will know if this is correct or not for certain soon, once we've gotten the base network setup with a few users to test it with...

As with who the best manufacturer is...I strongly stand by D-Link...all the hardware we currently have are D-Link products, and none of it has missed a beat :)
Not to mention the capabilities of it being able to reach 22mps (yes, this is a marketing tactic, but from our tests you actually do get quiet a bit more speed) with the new Texas Instruments chipsets...unfortunately there isnt any linux support for the cards because of the new chipset as yet, but is suspected to be by early next year...


btw, none of you will probably believe this but I'll tell you anyway, I still don't believe/know how the hell it happened either...when we were out testing a couple of weeks ago, we were at this same location that Osiris was talking about for the meeting (1.7kms away), and had connected via a 24dB direction Galaxy dish...so i was pinging to machine at the other end with the -t trigger to continually ping, we then unplugged the directional and while the AP was just sitting there, using its little 4dB internal antenna, it was still pinging over this 1.7km distance!!! we both looked at each other and go WTF?! lol...we haven't been able to do it again since, i guess it was a one time sort of thing...

Also, if you intend to run 802.11b, and want it to be secure, _do not_ rely on its WEP security key...i suggested you disable this, and then run the entire network through a VPN (Virtual Private Network)...the WEP key is easily breakable, but a VPN isn't :)