Which Wireless Base to Buy?
Thursday, June 13th, 2002Getting a wireless network card for your laptop is easy. But what about the other end of the connection? The proliferation of models, features, and intractable product names (other than “AirPort”) puts off home networkers trying to buy their first base. Total strangers at Office Depot ask me which one they should get.
Rather than trust my own limited experience, I asked two real experts, Cliff Skolnick and Matt Peterson from the Bay Area Wireless Users Group, which models they would recommend (or not) for home use. Cliff and Matt helped me write up Wired’s Wi-Fi base Test.
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I use a Linksys myself at home. Specifically, it’s model
BEFW11S4, the EtherFastÆ Wireless AP + Cable/DSL Router w/4-Port Switch.
Like the new Apple Airport 2.0, it serves as a combination firewall and DHCP server for all wireless and wired computers in the house, running them all off my one DSL address. It’s hasn’t got the design panache of the AirPort, and I can never remember its name or model number, but it reaches all corners of our loft at much higher bandwidth.
Request to Steve Jobs: Can we get some Apple-designed antennas to extend the range of the AirPort and Titanium PowerBook?
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I got the following email from Glenn Fleishman, who edits the highly recommended 802.11b Networking News…
From: Glenn Fleishman
To: Paul Boutin
Per your latest Wired Wi-Fi comparison thing (in the Nvidia cover issue): the AirPort Base Station is totally overpriced period, but it’s a godsend if you’re a dial-up Mac user, especially using AOL. There’s no other system that integrates the way that AirPort does for that combination.
Also, the AirPort is one of about four gateways (Asante, Proxim, Orinoco are the other brands) that routes AppleTalk over Ethernet and wireless.
The second runner up is the Orinoco RG-1100: essentially identical to the AirPort, but about half the price. It doesn’t do AOL, but that’s okay for most people.
When I was most recently helping a friend set up his mixed PC/Mac environment, we bought a $160 SMC Networks AP with a built-in Ethernet hub and print spooler (parallel port). Between him and me, because of the Web-based administrative front-end, scanty documentation, and the several different machines needed on the network, we probably spent several extra hours configuring it than if we had bought an AirPort and a separate wireless print spooler (about $150). But we would have spent $450 vs. $160, and my friend is currently enjoying a sabbatical, so his time does not equal money!
Glenn Fleishman, Unsolicited Pundit
