wireless network configuration

Question

I am preparing to set up a wireless network in my home.  I've purchased a D-Link 54 Mbps 802.11g router (DI-524) and a pair of PCI adapters (DWL-G510).  I also got a cardbus adapter (DWL-630) for my notebook.  All computers (three desktops and the notebook) to be networked are running Windows XP (either Home or Pro) with SP2.  The installation guides supplied with the cards and the router make the setup process sound pretty straightforward, but I have a few questions that I'd be interested in hearing advice/opinions on:   1) What are the relative merits of using the network configuration utlity that D-Link supplies vs letting Windows configure the network?   2) Should I expect interference between the wireless router and my wireless telephone (both are 2.4 GHz)?  If so, is moving the telephone base station to another room enough to prevent this?   3) Should I expect conflicts between the wired and wirless ethernet adapters?  Will I need to uninstall or disable the wired ethernet connections, or will Windows be able to auto-detect the connections that are active?   Thanks, Michael

inSOMNiak · Answer

1) Since it sounds like all of the computers you are networking are using D-Link components, you would probably be better off with the D-Link utilities.  Most of the time, they will give more options for configuring the router than the built-in Windows utilities.  But, the D-Link utilities may use up more RAM, so the Windows utility may be a better choice if you do not have much RAM installed.   2) There could be interference.  Currently, I am running a home network with 54g, but i am also using 2.4Ghz phones - no interference.  But, I have heard of people who have had interference issues.  Relocating the router/phone might reduce interference if it arises.   3) As long as everything is set up and installed correctly, you shouldn't have any problems.  If issues do arise with file/printer sharing, try disabling firewalls temporarily to make sure that they are not blocking the sharing.

volcano11 · Answer

With regards to using 2.4 Ghz phones, much of the possible interfrence can be elinmated by setting the router to use the extreme channels (either 1 or 11). Steve

Gretschluvr · Answer

The Dlink network configuration allows you to set the WPA-PSK which is the highest security. You get a graphic display of your connection speed etc.

mac_1103 · Answer

Thanks for all the tips.  I set up the my network last night, and it basically worked right out of the box.  There are a few confusing things going on though.  For one, the icons in my systray don't seem to agree with each other.  If I mouse over the D-link icon, it generally says my signal strength is good to very good.  However, there's also a windows network icon that tells me my signal strength is poor and my speed is not anything close to 54 Mbps.  Sometimes, it even says that I have no connection while I'm surfing the web with no trouble at all.  I suspect that this is largely due to the location of my router relative to the networked PCs, and I'm not worried about the speed for now, since even at its slowest its faster than the DSL.  I suppose I can upgrade the antennas at some point in the future if there's a good enough reason.   On the other hand, I can only get wireless connectivity when I set authentication to 'open system.'  I guess I'm going to need to read up on WPA-PSK to figure out what other settings I might need to change to get it to work.  I also can't seem to change the admin login name, which is not a big deal, but seems a bit silly.  All in all though, I'm pretty pleased so far.   Thanks again, Michael

Gretschluvr · Answer

Michael, I found my router being too close to the monitor etc was effecting the wireless transmissions. I moved it and it helped. Also, if there is a cast iron pipe in the wall it will effect it. I had the sewer pipe vent stack right behind the router before.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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