Simple Home Network

death2mess · 07-07-2005, 05:11 PM

I'm not really interested in networking my 2 computers but I am interested in sharing a cable internet connection. Comcast will charge me $200.00 plus parts to install the network. I do not know much about computers but I'm pretty sure I can tackle this problem for less than the cable company will charge me and be able to keep the hardware in the future.

I have decided to go wireless. Well actually 1 CPU will be wired and 1 will be wireless. I wanted some opinions on whether it is worth it for me to go 802.11g over b or even speedbooster over regular g.

My product list so far is to get the Linksys WRT54G wireless g router and either the WUSB54G wireless USB adapter or the WMP54G wireless g PCI card. I know USB will be easier but do I lose quality? And how hard will installing the PCI card be? I'm installing it on an old HP Pavillion with Windows 98. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Shayliz · 08-07-2005, 05:20 AM

I currently use USB and I have really no quality problems.
Speed could be affected if you are plugging a USB 2.0 into a Windows 98 machine which is USB 1.1..

As long as you have a PCI slot, it is not difficult at all to install the card.

I personally would just go with a G modem. G is pretty fast with a cable internet connection..

DJNafey · 09-07-2005, 12:21 AM

802.11b is rated at a maximum of 11Mbps. If it doesn't have a strong signal, it will drop to about half that. And then about half that again if the signal still isn't strong enough. You would expect to have a strong signal if the PCs are in the same room, maybe less if there's several walls between them. Even with a reduced signal, the network card would still be faster than most people's internet connection speed (currently most people in the UK are on 512Kbps to 2Mbps).

Having said that, I'd weigh it up against the fairly minor extra cost of going to 802.11g, which is up to 54Mbps, and probably opt for that as it will last you further into the future as your Internet connection gets faster with improved ISP / telephone provider technologies.

For a fuller description, here's a link to a really useful web article:

http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/w...11standard.htm