The Basics
Planning is the name of the game. Spend quality time planning for the best performance of the wireless network you intend to setup in your home.
Since we are talking about linking two or more PCs wirelessly,you will need to first make the list of the Wi-fi equipment that you will be needing.
Wireless hardware available in the market usually comes with documentation that explains in detail how to get it up and run-ning. It will therefore help if certain issues are cleared beforehand.These issues will depend on what kind of systems you are going toconnect. Is it going to be two PCs, a Mac and a PC, or is there awireless printer involved as well?
What kind of speed you expect out of your wireless network?Are your data transfers going to involve accesses to files and fold-ers, or are you planning to stream movies and music stored on one machine to the other? The amount of data transfer will play an important role in deciding what type (a, b or g) of Wireless LAN you will need forseamless data transfer.
You will also need to take into consideration how you will connect to the Net. Is it going tobe a dial-up connection, a con-nection provided by the local cable wallah, or DSL? Also, how will you share the connection?
Finally, plan well for security, since a wireless network is an open network and if not secured, anyone with the right tools can easily get access to your content.
The Site Survey:
A site survey doesn’t mean you have to scan the entire neighbour-hood with expensive gadgets. What it means is, choose the right location for your Wi-Fi equipment such as the access point, and if possible your PCs, so that there is a minimum of hindrance to the flow of radio signals. There are a few factors that can affect the performance of the network such as a thick wall, electrical equip-ment in the vicinity, and so on.
Therefore, before starting to nail the access point into a wall,make sure the location is right. This involves a little implementation of the trial and error method, as you will need to place the access point at different locations to see what location gives the best data transfer results and seamless connectivity. To do this, it is advisable to rent a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop and check the signals trength at various locations in your home that you get from anaccess point placed at a certain location.
Change the location of the access point if you are not getting acceptable signal strength in almost every corner of your home. If you are living in a house that is something like aground plus one or two, than chances are that you will need more than one access point for continuous connectivity. You can also plan to place the accesspoint near the window, in order to do away with the second access point, but that will not help much—signal strength will drop once you move away from the window on another floor. This will also make your network more inviting to external entities .
The second access point will have to be configured in repeatermode, which means it will work as a range extender, and therefore will need connectivity with the main access point. Therefore, the placement of second access point will have to be such that it is with in the range of first access point.
Equipment Planning:
planning can be done only when you are clear as to how many PCs are going to be connected, and what your data through put requirements are. What kind of equipment is required will also need you to take into consideration the kind of hardware you will be connecting. For example, a PC will need a PCIWi-Fi card, whereas a laptop will need a PCMCIA-based Wi-fi card(if it is not already Wi-fi-enabled).
If you are going to use a dial-up connection to connect to the Internet, you will not need a wireless router, but if you are going to connect to the Internet using a cable connection or a DSL line,a wireless broadband router is your best option.
A router will let you plug the cable coming in from the service provider directly to it, bypassing the PC completely. This helps inplacement of both the PC and the broadband router,because you don’thave to run long cables coming all the way to the PC. This is especially true if you are staying in a ground plus one house or aduplex flat, where
you don’t just have to deal with distances, but also need to factorin floors. Routers also normally come with a 4-port switch, which can come in handy in the future.
If you are going to connect, say, two systems, of which one is a desktop and the other is a laptop, and you will connect to the Internet using a dial-up account, then you need
1. A PCI wireless card supporting 802.11b/g
2. A PCMCIA wireless card if the laptop is not Centrino-based,or not Wi-Fi-ready supporting 802.11b/g.
3. An Access Point supporting 802.11b/g
4. An RJ-45 network cable for connecting the access point tothe desktop PC. (This cable is bundled with most of access points available in the market.)
If you are going to use DSL or cable internet with one desktopand laptop connected wirelessly, and you want to share the Internet connection on both, then you will need
1. A PCI wireless card supporting 8022.11b/g
2. A PCMCIA wireless card if the laptop is not Centrino-based,or not Wi-Fi ready supporting 802.11b/g
3. A wireless router with either a cable modem or a DSLmodem inbuilt
If you are going to connect two systems that are not far awayfrom each other, like two desktop PCs with fixed locations, thenthe Ad-Hoc mode is a very cost-effective solution. For this, you willneed two wireless cards, and no access point or wireless router.
For any additional information you can write me at sam.samier@gmail.com
NETWORK ENGINEER.
