Mixed-vendor 802.11b
Frank Peabody
I'm considering converting the network connection that my Turtle Beach
Audiotron uses from Cat-5 UTP to 802.11b wireless. I already have
an 802.11b LAN segment that works great for my laptops; it uses a
Belkin AP with a Belkin 802.11b client card in one laptop, and a
D-Link client card in my daughter's laptop; and my work laptop
(IBM T30 with built-in 802.11b) also connects just fine - I VPN
wirelessly into work that way. So I've looked at several 802.11b
wireless bridges (e.g. Linksys WET11) and the so-called "wireless
gaming adapters," which appear to be about the same thing, as
possible means to do the wireless connection to the Audiotron. I
am put off by the disclaimers I see in some of the bridge user guides,
though..."this product is guaranteed to work only with an access point
from the same manufacturer," to paraphrase. I thought all this 802.11
stuff was standards-based - and that therefore I should be able to mix
AP's and clients, bridges, etc.freely, from different vendors. Are these
disclaimers just a means of trying to sell customers more (unnecessary)
gear? My experience above suggests that I can ignore those disclaimers
and use, say, a WET11 or a Netgear ME101 or a D-Link DWl-810
with my Belkin WAP with no problem. Should this, in fact, work?
Thanks.
Tom
Frank Keeney
I've not had any problems with 802.11b compatibility for many many years.
Make sure you can return it if it does not work properly.
Frank
-----------------------------
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Wireless News and Hotspot Search: http://www.pasadena.net/wifi/
"Frank Peabody" <f...@fakedomain.com> wrote in message
news:104ilp9...@corp.supernews.com...
> am put off by the disclaimers I see in some of the bridge user guides,
> though..."this product is guaranteed to work only with an access point
> from the same manufacturer," to paraphrase. I thought all this 802.11
> stuff was standards-based - and that therefore I should be able to mix
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bridge together 2 small LANs via a SMC 2404WBR wireless router. While
this configuration has been working well, the 2 bridges do not like to
talk directly with each other at all. Go figure.
"Frank Peabody" <f...@fakedomain.com> wrote in news:104ilp9n59p1s05
@corp.supernews.com:
James Knott
> Are these
> disclaimers just a means of trying to sell customers more (unnecessary)
> gear? My experience above suggests that I can ignore those disclaimers
> and use, say, a WET11 or a Netgear ME101 or a D-Link DWl-810
> with my Belkin WAP with no problem. Should this, in fact, work?
All "WiFi" devices are required to be compatible with all others, using the
same 802.11 spec. Also 802.11g devices must be compatible with 802.11b.
That said however, some manufacturers offer enhanced modes that will only
work with their products.
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james.knott.
gary
through basic standards compliance and interoperability testing. I would
look for the WiFi Alliance certification sticker before buying anything. The
URL is http://www.wi-fi.org/OpenSection/index.asp. As a side note, no
Linksys product appears in the list of certified products, although D-Link
and other vendors of home-use devices do appear.
Having said that, there are probably still products in the retail store
inventories that do not have the sticker. For example, the 802.11g standard
was only approved last summer, and the WiFi Alliance didn't have compliance
suites in place until very late in the year. These stickerless products may
well be certified, but the box doesn't show it. I would check the URL above,
and if the product does not show up in the list, I would ask the retailer -
and eventually the vendor - if certification is planned, if so when, and if
not why not? No intention to certify is a red flag for me.
This doesn't mean that uncertified products won't work well (or even that
certified products will always interoperate properly), but certification
greatly increases the likelihood. As someone else pointed out, extensions
(such as SuperG, a 108Mbps variant) are proprietary, and may prevent a card
from being certified even if the standard functionality is completely
compliant. My DI774 router and AG650 client cards support a 108Mbps turbo
mode for 802.11a, and I suspect that this is why these cards do not appear
in the long list of D-Link devices that are certified. The 650 and 650+
variants are certified, and I am pretty confident that the B and G network
support on the AG650 is at least as compliant as with these cards.
Also be aware that certain devices that are embedded in the network
infrastructure - like repeaters - may normally be partly or completely
proprietary. For example, some expensive repeaters are full-duplex, and will
only work with APs supplied by the same vendor, using a proprietary protocol
over the 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz unlicensed bands.
"Frank Peabody" <f...@fakedomain.com> wrote in message
news:104ilp9...@corp.supernews.com...
Daniel Gu
"gary" <please...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
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gary
"Daniel Gu" <dannygu0...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:OJu3c.39040$YN5....@nwrdny03.gnilink.net...
nob...@fakedomain.com
Just a followup...I ended up going for a D-Link DWL-810 (not 810+, btw).
Powered it up, attached it to wired LAN, configured it, detached it from
wired LAN and attached it to Audiotron - works great! Could not have
taken 5 minutes from opening of box. Got rid of that nasty 50' Cat 5
cable running along the base of the staircase from switch out to living
room. Cable had a very poor WAF (wife acceptance factor). Audiotron
still plays .mp3's and .wav's just as well as when hard wired to network.
Ahhh...all is well in my network.
Might have to get another bridge to turn an existing printer server into a
wireless print server. Except that would be yet another 8 or 10
watts burning all the time...PG&E must love me.
Anyway, thanks to all who replied!
Tom