Best wireless access point for 2373-CWU ?

[MarcW]

Sorry if this is a little off topic. My wife is getting a 2373-CWU with Atheros a/b/g. At home we have a small wired network using a dedicated Linux firewall that handles DHCP etc. for three machines connected via a hub to the firewall. I'm new to all this wireless stuff and would like some advice on what wireless access point would be best for the CWU. I don't think I need a access point/router combo since my Linux firewall is doing all the NAT and stuff already. I've read that mixing different chipsets between clients and access point can cause problems. Which brands tend to use the Atheros chipset ? Should I be concerned about wireless phone and microwave interference on b and g ? In short this is what I'm looking for:

- access point with Atheros chipset
- a/b/g capable
- WPA capable BOTH AES and TKIP
- MAC address restriction
- able to disable SSID
- 'easy' administration via browser

If anyone can recommend a particular product or can give me some pointers for reviews of products that have the above mentioned capabilities I'd appreciate it.

-Marc

[Flightvector]

It shouldn't be a common occurence that differing chipset manufacturers in the laptop and access point would result in incompatibility. Some proprietary hardware/software is bound to exist, but we are still dealing with a standard.

What you say does have validity however; asking around may also help if you are checking for compatibility. I have heard elsewhere in this forum that the recent netgear wireless-G router is a chipset manufactured by Atheros. This is the WGT624, which is quite fast, and other Thinkpad users have cited compatibility, but this will not give you 802.11a. Netgear has an a/b/g wireless router, but this is expensive since it has VPN capability.

Interference with b and g is spotty, and only a test can reveal interference. Some do not work at all, some home phones work fine, and some work with issues (I have experienced all three ). Most of the time I hear of people having compromised range due to interference regardless of channel switching. I have not experienced microwave interference, but haven't tested for full range in this condition either.

a-band is good if you are concerned about interference, though not a whole lot of benefit comes out here except if you will file-share. so a dual band seems a like good choice.

I'm not sure if IBMs are only Cisco-certified with a Cisco mini-PCI, but Linksys makes a cost-effective dual band model as an access point, the WAP55AG, and runs on a Cisco chipset.

I hope some of this helps, excet for the Atheros and a/b/g capability, most of your other criteria are met even by most good b/g wireless access points, so they should not pose a big issue. I haven't looked into these chipsets or products in a real technical brief, but at least this is what I have observed.

[Peters]

My choice: (no dualband)

1. WGT624 (WGT634)
2. D-Link 624 (WITHOUT +)

BUT both AP w wan interface, firewall, 4 port switch ......!
Doesn't matter cz you don't need to setup the wan interface!

--

Accesspoints: (no dualband)

D-Link DWL-2100/2000 AP (WITHOUT +)

both stable running the "XtremeG (D-Link) and SuperG (Netgear) 108Mbit Atheros 802.11g mode!

http://dlink.com/products/108mbps_xtremeg.asp

http://netgear.com/products/wireless/10 ... hp?view=hm

not quite sure about the AES mode ... d-link products should have it..

All devices have full compatibility with b/g, have dynamic and static 108 Mbit Atheros mode.

why do you want the a mode?

i have got the dualband accesspoint wab102 for quite a long time...and switched now to the WGT624.

a mode pros:

+ real good overall performance
40 Mbit send; 35 Mbit recieve speed
quite good latency <1ms; my WGT624 appr. 2ms
no interferences
less popular (no haxx0rs)


cons:

- best performance only within 20 feet
very short range
less popular (pricing/centrino)

There are some Triband Routers:

1. FWAG 114
2. DWL-7100AP

Both Tri-Mode Dualband 802.11a/b/g (2.4/5GHz) Wireless 108Mbps Access Points / Routers

don't take a closer look at the price


btw: later this week i will recieve my new a/b/g minipic IBM card and can figure out, if my WGT624 works with a atheros driver based thinkpad in SuperG mode!

[ian]

For what it's worth, I use a D-Link 624+ with my 2373-CWU and it's fine - I get 54Mbps no sweat - this said, I'm not down by the lake (like some of us...) but in a smallish appartment.

I'v a D-Link 2000AP (with the +) at work - never had any hassle (except when I forgot the WEP key!) with that either.