Getting wireless through a wired LAN?

[Nausicaa]

Hi all. I have a wired LAN in my home, but I would like to buy an 802.11b wireless LAN card for my Pocket PC so I can browse the net anywhere in the house. I was just wondering if there is any peripheral that connects to my LAN router and sends out the wireless signals. This way I can connect to the internet without taking out all the wires. Does such a peripheral exist? Or do I just have to go all wireless? Thanks for your help!!

[smashcasi]

What you're looking for is a wireless access point. These work just like your average hub so all you should have to do is connect the uplink port to your router and you're set!

[jimski]

You can replace your wired router with a wireless router, which typically includes 4 wired ports. Assuming you do not have more than 4 wired connections, you would not have to change anything, but you would add wireless.

Or, you can add a wireless access point and plug it directly into your wired router. Both solutions would probably cost about the same.

If you settle for 802.11b, that might be $50-$70.

[Nausicaa]

Thanks for your help. I'll likely go with the access point.

[Nausicaa]

Hmm, do you guys have any recomendations as to a good access point I could buy?

[dhettel]

Try to get an access point with the same chip, as what you have. For an Hp that would be an Oronoco. In the long run it will make life easier. Also how you connect to the internet is important. No one I saw asked that. Access points work great with Cable or DSL, not so hot with dial-up. If you're still using a dial-up connection, you'll want an access point with a builtin modem.

David

[qmrq]

Hmm, do you guys have any recomendations as to a good access point I could buy?

linksys wag11

[Nausicaa]

I have a cable connection. What do you mean "has the same chip" dhettel? I have a Dell Axim PPC and I plan on getting the Turemobile Wi-Fi card from them.

[dhettel]

I have a cable connection. What do you mean "has the same chip" dhettel? I have a Dell Axim PPC and I plan on getting the Turemobile Wi-Fi card from them.

All Wi-Fi chips are not the same, if you keep your products in the same family you will have less problems as a new user. It's true that all Wi-Fi card should connect in 802.11b. But offten it is not easy to do this.

As an example you can have a password say MYdogsName123. In theory that password should work in all cards. In reality it does not. Do to the way different companies convert that Password you enter to the one the card uses. Chances are the Dell truemobile CF card you want and say the Linksys would need to take that password and convert it to a HEX number String which is numbers from 0 to 9 and letters A to F or in some cases a to f. So MydogsName123 can be come something like 6A 7B 44 2C AF CE D1 45 32 87 44 C4... That you need to enter.

If you stay with the same brand for access point and Wi-Fi Card you do not have this problem. My understanding is the truemobile card uses the same chip as the Orinoco, like the Hp iPAQ's with built in WLAN. It's not something you can not overcome, as I said you can enter the password as a Hex value. It comes down to cost in the end. For a first time user, staying with the same brand will make your life much simpler. Chips fall into 3 classes Prism chips, (Linksys, D-Link) Hermes chips (Orinoco, Compaq (some not all) Hp, Dell, and all others like Cisco, and Symbol.

David

[Pony99CA]

Access points work great with Cable or DSL, not so hot with dial-up. If you're still using a dial-up connection, you'll want an access point with a builtin modem.
I've never heard of a simple access point with a modem. I believe access points are just meant to add wireless capability to a wired LAN. If his LAN is already hooked to the Internet via dial-up, why wouldn't adding an access point work?

Combination router/access points, like my SMC 7004AWBR, will sometimes include modems, though.

Steve

[Nausicaa]

Hey, thanks a lot for all your help guys!

Do any of you know of a access point that is compatible with the Truemobile card that might be less than the Orinoco one? That thing costs $150.

Would this Netgear one be okay?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005B8HU/qid=1061242089/sr=1-8/ref=sr_1_8/103-8385481-7415023?v=glance&s=electronics