How good is wireless internet?

Tiewas

Tiewas

Joined
Jan 12, 2005
Messages
1,130
How good is wireless internet? Is it as reliable as cable/dsl? How is it for gaming? Is there anything I should be concerned about if I get it? I live in an area where I cant get cable or dsl so the only option left is wireless. So anything you can tell me about wireless would be welcome.

As far as I know there is only one company that offers wireless in my area. The company is Kingdom, I dont know if thats just a local company or a national thing. Input on that would be welcome as well.

Thanks for the replies.
 
wireless is pretty good. not the best for gaming but moderately good. i use it at home. but im not sure at your location cause im not living there.
 
wireless is the best ever.

it came with my ibook G4, which i got about 10 months ago. wireless has changed how i do work, how i use the internet, and widened my capabilities. it has also made my apartment prettier (less cables all over) and increased my connectivity to the internet (the world). many places, particularily in cities and college towns tout free internet access.

i've also found it useful that many motels/hotels also host free internet as well, which means when you're driving down the highway, you can often stop in a motel parking lot and check your email/etc.

as of yet, i've never experienced any negative repurcussions from the switch to wireless.

go wireless and never look back.
 
Tiewas, the quality of your wireless network depends on coverage and your provider. You really have to ask folks in your area about their experiences. Is that WiMax? When you scan for signal, is it coming strong?

As for the wireless coming in your laptop (to another poster) - the only thing that comes in your laptop is your wireless card. Your laptop does not replace your network provider. You may find excellent signal, you may find a lousy one. With the first you will be satisfied, with the second you will be misearable.
 
wireless can be a pain in the butt when you lose signal from interference or weather or that 13 year old next door hacking into your laptop(I KNOW CAUSE MY NEPHEW SHOWED ME ) and hacked my itunes folder while I was surfing the net. I do use wireless at friends places or on the road...but my bread and butter is always a lan cable.
 
=Voodoo= said:
wireless can be a pain in the butt when you lose signal from interference or weather or that 13 year old next door hacking into your laptop(I KNOW CAUSE MY NEPHEW SHOWED ME ) and hacked my itunes folder while I was surfing the net. I do use wireless at friends places or on the road...but my bread and butter is always a lan cable.
Click to expand...

wow...smart 13 year old. i cant even do that...what level of security did he bypass? WEP? WPA?
 
I think people may be talking about different things. There is wireless WAN and LAN. WAN will replace cable/dsl and the other is connected from your cable/dsl to your laptop. WAN in theory you take all over your town and have internet. LAN is basically in your yard.

Tiewas which are you asking about?
 
dont know for sure on my laptop, might not have bypassed any for all I know(I do have a firewall, av, and spyware doctor running)

I connected to one of those free wireless signals like Linksys.

He pulled up like 13 different peoples itunes folders in like 20 minutes and asked me if i wanted any of their music.

Then I had to go into "dad" mode and tell him not to be a dick or a thief...
 
I LOVE my Airport!! we have been using it for years!! there is nothing like being wireless! I love being able to sit out on the back deck and still be able to be online.
 
Tiewas what carrier are you talking about? do you have a link?

i know someone that was using a Sprint card for their laptop that they said was pretty good, i'd like to get something like that eventually for traveling, etc...

if you are talking satellite, like Direct TV or something, i don't know much about it, other than it's pretty pricey
 
Here is the link

http://www.ktis.net/broadtrackws/

Thanks Zjchaser, but thats not the right kingdom.

I guess its a WAN, there are 2 towers that provide wireless for a ten mile radiuse outside of mexico and fulton missouri. I dont know anyone who has used it yet, but I heard about it from a friend who did sign up for it only he hasn't gotten it all installed yet.

Thanks for the replies
 
we have/had a similar service available here in Norman, but i don't know anyone that actually had it. you had to be in line of sight of the towers to get a good connection if i remember right
 
Well, I cant afford the service at the moment anyway, so I guess I will wait till my friend gets his all set up, then ask him about his experiences with it.
 
just make sure that you either dont auto assign mac address or run Wireless Encryption Protocal (WEP). Neither one provides a great deal of security (a good "hacker" can break in even if you dont auto assign mac adresses, and there are free downloadable programs that can break WEP by either listening in on the packets that are sent or by sending bogus packes.

if you hafta ask, you prolly shouldnt be doin this or you should get someone else to help you


PS unless you have a 1acre+ house then there shoulde b no problem with connection strength. my wireless goes through a metal desk, a floor, another floor, and then into the computer and i get a "very good" connection
 
I live in the country where there is no DSL or cable. I make my living on the internet and would pay whatever is necessary to get fast access - even T1 if they would sell it to me. I have satellite service from Hughes. It is not as fast as DSL or cable but it sure faster than wireless or dial up. That's my suggestion for the time being.
 
spyder10 said:
just make sure that you either dont auto assign mac address or run Wireless Encryption Protocal (WEP). Neither one provides a great deal of security (a good "hacker" can break in even if you dont auto assign mac adresses, and there are free downloadable programs that can break WEP by either listening in on the packets that are sent or by sending bogus packes.

if you hafta ask, you prolly shouldnt be doin this or you should get someone else to help you


PS unless you have a 1acre+ house then there shoulde b no problem with connection strength. my wireless goes through a metal desk, a floor, another floor, and then into the computer and i get a "very good" connection
Click to expand...

He is asking about WAN, not LAN. And just to clerify. WEP Encryption is rather easily cracked on a well used wireless LAN. WPA (Wifi Protected Access) is recommended as minimum now for wireless security. There is no such thing as auto assigning MAC Addresses. Every device is given a MAC address by the manufacturer. What you can do is limit acces to your network to only allow specified MAC Addresses.
 
ZJChaser said:
What you can do is limit acces to your network to only allow specified MAC Addresses.
Click to expand...

I use WEP but know its not that good. I've hoped that assigning specific MAC addresses provide good security. Do you know if this is true?
 
Yes it does help significantly over just using a WEP. It isn't terribly hard though for someone that knows what they are doing to fake their MAC adress and fooling the router into letting them have acess anyway.
 
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