wireless and wired on same network?

[QCassidy352]

I have a PB with an airport extreme card. There are three other computers in my house - an imac, an emac, and a PC laptop. Mine is the only computer that has wireless capabilities. Currently, all computers are have internet access through a hub that is attached to our cable modem.

My question is this: is it possible to have a wireless router (airport extreme basestation or other) that simultaneously creates a wireless signal for my PB and also allows hardwire connections to the other computers? Can the same cable modem signal be split so that both a wireless and a wired network run off it seamlessly?

 

[revenuee]

I can't see this being more then a simple matter if connecting the Airport base station to the hub and then just having the Powerbook talk to it ...

 

[Zeke]

As far as I know, the cheapest solution is a Netgear MR814. 4 port ethernet router plus 802.11b wireless. Works very well.

 

[QCassidy352]

Originally posted by Zeke
As far as I know, the cheapest solution is a Netgear MR814. 4 port ethernet router plus 802.11b wireless. Works very well.

but because that is the 802.11b standard, the powerbook would be limited to 11 Mbps rather than 54, correct?

In fact, even with an airport extreme basestation or other 802.11g base, would I be able to use the full speed? Or, would the 10/100 base-T ethernet connections of the other computers slow the AE down (much as a computer with original airport on an AE network slows down the whole network)?

thanks for the help guys!

edit: hmm, seems like this should be in hardware, not software. I thought I put it there... well anyway, if it should be moved, please do so mods.

 

[Thom_Edwards]

Originally posted by QCassidy352
but because that is the 802.11b standard, the powerbook would be limited to 11 Mbps rather than 54, correct?

in fact, even with an airport extreme basestation or other 802.11g base, would I be able to use the full speed? Or, would the 10/100 base-T ethernet connections of the other computers slow the AE down (much as a computer with original airport on an AE network slows down the whole network)?

thanks for the help guys!

edit: hmm, seems like this should be in hardware, not software. I thought I put it there... well anyway, if it should be moved, please do so mods.

the ethernet, or cabled, part of the network will not affect the wireless part. the cabled part of the network will actually be faster than the wireless since it is running 100 Mbps that is the 100 in 10/100. (not many machines out there still using 10, but it usually strapped together since 10 and 100 use the same cable and connectors.) AE is 802.11g, which is at 54Mbps, which is the fastest that the wireless machine can talk to other computers on the network, but that only applies to file sharing.

the 802.11b router he spoke of would not be needed if you already have an airport basestation, as an airport basestation is a router.

 

[revenuee]

Originally posted by QCassidy352
but because that is the 802.11b standard, the powerbook would be limited to 11 Mbps rather than 54, correct?

in fact, even with an airport extreme basestation or other 802.11g base, would I be able to use the full speed? Or, would the 10/100 base-T ethernet connections of the other computers slow the AE down (much as a computer with original airport on an AE network slows down the whole network)?

thanks for the help guys!

edit: hmm, seems like this should be in hardware, not software. I thought I put it there... well anyway, if it should be moved, please do so mods.

ya the slower computers would slow it down anyway

if you want to run 54 Mbps you need to have all the computers running 54 Mbps or faster ... and then the 54 Mbps will be the speed (always adjust to the slowest)

this isn't really an issue if your just going to use if for the internet since i'm not mistaken the fastest cable models are like 1 Mbps anyway ... so if internet is the case then no problems as i see it to run the slower network

 

[QCassidy352]

Ok, just to clarify, I don't have an AE basestation. That would just be one of the wireless routers that I would consider buying.

revenuee, when you say,
"if you want to run 54 Mbps you need to have all the computers running 54 Mbps or faster ... and then the 54 Mbps will be the speed,"
do you mean that all of the *wireless* computers have to be running at 54 Mbps or faster? I ask because there will only be one wireless computer (my PB), and it is capable of running at 54 Mbps (provided that I have a WAP that supports 802.11g). Therefore, I don't have to worry about any other wireless computers slowing down my PB.

And since Thom explained how the wired computers are faster anyway, those won't slow down the PB either. That leaves me with two questions.
1) Will the wireless PB slow down the wired computers? (Because that wouldn't make my family too happy.)
2) What are my choices for base stations that support 802.11g? I know that the Airport Extreme Basestation is one... are there others? Maybe cheaper ones?

thanks for all the help, you guys are great.

 

[QCassidy352]

does anyone the answers to my final two questions? Will the powerbook slow down the wired computers? And are there other options for a 802.11g base besides the AE from apple?

 

[revenuee]

Originally posted by QCassidy352
does anyone the answers to my final two questions? Will the powerbook slow down the wired computers? And are there other options for a 802.11g base besides the AE from apple?

i don't know other options


but i know that if the powerbook is connected at 54Mbps, and the other computers are connected at 100 ... then the other computers will slow down to 54 Mbps

 

[Westside guy]

Originally posted by QCassidy352
does anyone the answers to my final two questions? Will the powerbook slow down the wired computers? And are there other options for a 802.11g base besides the AE from apple?

Yes, there are a lot of other options. Go check out http://www.dlink.com/ and look at some of their wireless + wired routers. I've got a DI-614+ which is the older 802.11b (11mbps) wireless plus a 4-port 100mbps wired switch.

The wireless network speed is independent of the wired router speed. On the wireless network itself, though, all computers will slow to the speed of the slowest computer - so if a friend brings over his/her 802.11b notebook then your Powerbook will get pulled down to that speed as well. It's a known issue with 802.11g; it's not a router/switch issue per se. However it's unlikely you'll notice except if/when you're doing large file transfers between computers within your local network, since your internet connection is probably much slower than even 802.11b.

 

[Zeke]

The wireless will not slow down the other computers on the network. There's also no reason to have a .11g at home because cable and dsl don't support it and the only difference you'll ever see is when you are file sharing between computers on the local network. If you have a dedicated T1 that has a higher bandwidth than 11Mbps then go with g but otherwise IMHO it's a waste of money.