Wireless Router and Card Compatability

Thanks Short_Bus,

 

I was really hoping I was wrong.  How about if she exchanges the DW1500 card for a NETGEAR

Husky55,

 

 

Hey, if it works for you then it might work for her too!

 

Thanks for the caution as well.

 

 

newone2wireless

From the reading I have done on N, Pre is a lot better than Draft so until the standard is verified, I agree, stay away and stick with 802.11g

jmwills,

 

Thanks for the tip; however, the problem remains that she paid for an upgraded router and card and their standards do not match.  Right now, she has a super G router with a 1500 N card and since she paid extra for both, they should at least be able to work togehter at their optimum levels. So if she reverted to the free (included) card and reverted to the original 801.11g router, she would be no worse off and she would save a ton of money to boot!  I've provided her with the mismatch details and she is calling her Dell rep today, so we'll see what my friend decides to do after that call.  I'll report back when those details are available.

 

 

Thanks again,

 

newone2wireless

The only other thing I can think of is to make sure that Windows is controlling the conenction thru WZC and shut down the third party app.

jmwills,

 

As I have never installed a wireless home network, I can only "expect the worst and hope for the best."  And since the router and card are both backward compatible with 802.11g, I'm hoping they find a way to talk to each other.  If both products have an auto-install option (e.g., wizard), I will try to use them; however, if they don't work, I'll go into the manual mode and keep your suggestion in mind.

 

Thanks again,

 

newone2wireless

The final update,

 

Well, my friend tried to get the rep that sold her the system but for some strange reason she could only get through to people "that she could not understand" (sounds very familiar) and "who kept transferring her to places where the people could not help her... transfer again."  So after about two hours of trying, she gave up and called me (almost in tears).  I told her to foget trying to contact Dell and we'll make do with what was delivered.

 

However, it's a real shame that Dell charged her and extra $30.00 for the upgraded router and and extra $59.00 for the upgraded card and they will ultimately perform no better than a standard router and the free card that should have been provided.  And the topper is that this system is not even 21 days old, so it appears that Dell has increased the difficulty of trying to return systems and or parts during that grace period.

 

In summary, she is not a technically oriented customer and she relied on Dell to sell her the best product for her needs and Dell did not deliver.  Oh, but the good news is she bought the extended 4 year warranty.  Thanks Dell!

 

newone2wireless

jmwills,

 

Wow!  A wealth of information.... thank you so much!

 

It is so nice of you to take the time to help a newbie like myself!

 

I'll print it all out and combine the information with what I already have and I'll report back on Saturday afternoon; hopefully, with a success story!

 

 

Thanks again,

 

newone2wireless

Here are some links:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/maintain/troubleshoot.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/setup/default.mspx
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/howto/
http://www.theeldergeek.com/quick_guide_to_simple_file_sharing.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/default.mspx
http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html
http://joelshoemaker.com/computer/mac/wxpfs.html

You are welcome.  The second link listed is probably the best of the bunch.

With regards to the comment on speed, you are still no faster than your incoming DSL connection.  The speeds you see are for your internal Local Network only.

 

Your connection to the internet is still only 768kbps.  You might want to look at another ISP. 

Hello all,

 

Well, I finally got it working... but not without a fair amount of grief.

 

Comcast sent an outdated installation disk so their "wizard" kept failing and we had to call them to do a manual install from their end.  Next, the NetGear "wizard" left us hanging on "what to do next" after we sucessfully completed the inital hard-wired install.  And the fact that the router-wireless card mismatch left us unable to see the new wireless network (at least NetGear told us that would happen), left me sorta hangin' for ideas as my friend started to rant about how long it was taking me to do this.  Anyway, I took a shot at using the Dell wireless utility and it found the available connections and we were able to get a good connection from everywhere in the house (thank goodness for small favors).  However, my impatient friend (who is actually my sister-in-law) still thinks that everything is just "plug and play" and continued to ask "why and how come" as I happily ran for my car at 4pm.

 

In summary, I set up the network with minimal security (WEP64) and we tested the connection speed (using speakeasy.net) in every room of the house.  The bottom line is we securely connected at between 3.5 mbps and 5 mbps which is many times faster than 768k dsl.  Although, their is a slight delay when clicking between websites, I am optimistically attributing that slight delay to the security encryption (just a guess).  The one thing that really surprised me is that there were several other networks in wireless range and none of them had any form of security.  At least our new network showed a security icon, indicating (I guess) that we had enacted some level of protection.

 

In closing, thanks to all (esp. jmwills) for your comments and suggestions and if I am in error with any of my above assumptions, please advise me of same.

 

 

Thanks again,

 

newone2wireless

 

p.s. don't install your sister-in-law's wireless network.... tell her to get her husband to do it!

 

Hello jmwills,

 

I'm really confused by your response because of the following:

 

My friend subscribes to Comcast internet cable service; not DSL.

However, I do subscribe to Verizon DSL.

 

When she is wirelessly connected to the internet, a set of little green bars appear in her system tray.  If I mouseover those bars, it tells me her network name and shows she is connected at 54 mbps.

 

Now, if she connects wirelessly to her Comcast internet service and does a speed test @ speakeasy.net, her download speed varies between 3.5 and 5 mbps.  When I do the same test from my computer using my Verizon DSL "wired" service, my download speed averages about 757kbps.

 

Based on the above, my conclusion was that her Comcast wireless internet service is 5x to 7x faster than my Verizon DSL wired internet service.

 

If I am incorrect on any of the above, please explain and thanks for your help.

 

 

nweone2wireless

 

p.s. I reread my previous response and I think my terminology was inaccurate and misleading, so hopefully I was more accurate this time.  Sorry for the confusion