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802.11g Hardware Arrives
DBordello writes "There's been quite a scramble as networking companies the world over rush to be the first to bring their 802.11g wireless gear to market. Linksys missed their early December launch date, and a company named Buffalo Technology has risen to steal their thunder. The company today issued a press release announcing their AirStation G54 broadband router access point and wireless CardBus adapter, the first 802.11g draft standard hardware to hit the market. More information can be found at the company's website." Update: 12/31 21:35 GMT by M : The story submitter apparently found this blurb on broadbandreports.com. Hey people, give credit where it's due. Update: 12/31 22:50 GMT by T : Karen Sohl of Linksys writes to say that despite the slip in dates, "Linksys
is shipping our line of Wireless-G products. We have been shipping since
last week. Honestly not large volume by any means-- but by the end of this
week we'll have shipped over 10,000 units to distribution -- Ingram Micro
and Tech Data." That's where even large retailers (think Amazon) buy their stock.
http://www.linksys.com/splash/wap54g_splash.asp
Check the facts before you post.
FYI, 802.11g is the spec for wireless networks that provides data rates of up to 54Mbps (54 Megabits per second.)
-Berj
We have had great success in buildings with thick walls.
We use directional antennas such as these and these to get very high signal strengths and low noise.
We use this antenna to go between buildings. These also work great for long distances.
With two of those antennas, we have spanned 2400 feet (and we are planning a similar setup to span a distance of 5 miles).
Don't give up -- there are easy solutions to thick walls.
Free book: Science Toys You Can Make
http://www2.warehouse.com/product.asp?pf%5Fid=DEB3 743&cat=pc&blind=
E C5 356&cat=pc&blind=
only $130 for the access point
The client card is $50
http://www2.warehouse.com/product.asp?pf%5Fid=D
Not bad.
btw, for those who haven't heard of 802.11g - it's a new standard for higher-speed transmission in the same 2.4GHz band. it promises 20+ Mbps (maybe even up to ~54Mbps), in contrast to the 11 Mbps of 802.11b.
:)
it's interesting, though, that the standard is still in the draft stage, scheduled for ratification in mid-2003, and hardware manufacturers are already rolling out implementations. not surprising, given market conditions, but let's hope that any changes will be minor, and fixable in firmware.
see the P802.11 status report at IEEE for more details...
My other car is a cons.
For the price, I'll stick with my D-Link, thanks
AFAIK, 802.11g is the spec that allows up to 54Mbps at 2.4GHz, as opposed to 802.11a, which is 54Mbps at 5GHz.
802.11g is not a standard. The standard is not yet written. It is in a draft form. At the most recent 802.11 meeting it was in comment resolution and the text was being changed in significant ways.
Claiming compliance to 802.11g at this date is to lie.
PBCC or OFDM phy based equipment at 2.4Ghz is not at this time 802.11 anything. It is proprietary. Buy it and you are buying proprietary, non interoperal stuff. Kids, just say 'no'.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
http://www.irit.fr/~Ralph.Sobek/wifi/802_11g_white paper.pdf
::sigh::
Well let's see if I reply that the guy doesn't know what he is talking about then he will flame me. If I get mad, then we start a flame war.
Ohh well, anyway the truth (from the horses mouth so too speak) is that Linksys is shipping them as of yesterday. People purchase it (and if they didn't then what the hell is that box sitting on my computer for?).
And if you start flame war? Well then do it by yourself cause I am over and out.
...although the manuals are VERY badly translated from Chinese. Had no trouble with a Buffalo AP with various Windows flavors, Mac OS 9 and X, and Linux/BSD releases...but their Windows config program for their 802.11b Card was very icky (it was much easier to get working under Linux, IIRC it was a standard Lucent chipset :-)
Anyway, 2 years ago their gear was the cheapest 802.11b I found, and worked fine (Windows users deserve their pain, no?)
TGi deals with security. So that would be 802.11i.
In the interim there is WPA. WPA is not an 802.11 thing, it is a WECA spec. It is poor mans security, better than WEP but worse than 802.11i.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
The problem is that most people just take the stuff out of the box and plug it in, leaving themselves open. This article describes the problem.
We can set this up easily enough, but for most people, if it isn't configured by the manufacturer, it will never happen. Even some of my more technically capable friends never upgrade firmware (or manage to destroy their equipment when they try).
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.
Does this mean my 4Mb token ring is obsolete?
Your post was funny. I know that. I'm bored and I want to write a speech on why Token Ring is a bitch to upgrade.
Most token ring hubs are 4/16 selectable, but every card needs to be 16 or 4. If even one card is a different speed, your ring comes to a crash. 16Mb token ring hardware is expensive, as is 100Mbit token ring (yes, they make 100Mbit token ring, I have a small test ring set up with it).
Why not ethernet? Well, in a lot of cases, Token Ring installations were wired with a 4 conductor 14 gauge cable with really odd looking hermaphroditic connectors on them. To move to ethernet requires either an investment in recabling or the purchase of an impedence matching convertor, which I really don't recommend. They will bring your ethernet segment to a crash if you're not careful.
If you're running 4 MB token ring, you're probably fux0red unless you have a lot of money to burn.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
Hope this helps.
802.11b is what most equipment uses now... it uses the 2.4ghz spectrum and maxes at 11mb/s
802.11a uses 5.8ghz spectrum (less range but not as much interference) and runs at 22mb/s or 54mb/s depending on manufacturer.
802.11g is an "upgrade" to 802.11b that is backwards compatible in the 2.4ghz spectrum but also runs speed up to 22mb/s or 54mb/s
802.11g is still a working draft (not a standard) however enough of the standard has been fleshed out that flash upgrades for devices should bring them easily into compliance when/if any changes are announced to the end standard. This is also getting so much press because since it is 100% backwards compatible with 802.11b you only change your access point and you can start attaching higher speed devices. 802.11a you have to change all your clients or have 2 access points going (or linksys's dual 802.11a/802.11b access point)
802.11a is largely being ignored because so far few manufacturers have outdoor/longhaul equipment for it. Most emphasis on this standard has been on access points for internal networks. Until companies put out equipment that can take better antennas the range is stodgy (and in 5.8ghz the range is still less even with those antennas)
Telcos have alot of dark fibre in the States. Most people assume that's optical fibre...but it's actually moral fibre.
They [e,f,g,h,i] will all get rolled up into one big honking spec called 802.11-200[3|4|5|6] or whenever. The mismatches between the text of the individual specs get cleaned up at this point. That will be the spec.
The last big honking rolled up spec was 1999. That incorporated 802.11b for 11mbps at 2.4Ghz
The approved individual drafts will get approved by the working group, then approved at sponsor ballot and then they will sit around waiting to be incorporated into a unified spec. The approved drafts that have been through sponsor ballot are OK to implement to, in that they will not change.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
802.11b and 802.11g operate in the 2.4 Ghz band. The 2.4 range offers three non-overlapping channels. 2.4 Ghz is the natural resonance frequency of water (i.e. microwave ovens).
802.11a operates on the 5.3 Ghz range. It offers eight non-overlapping channels.
You don't hear much about 802.11a because it is newer and has less market penetration than 802.11b. It hasn't had time to come into its own yet.
You should probably expect to hear more about it as the 2.4 range gets really saturated.
But 802.11g is also backwards compatible with 802.11b (11Mbps at 2.4GHz) and 802.11a (54Mbps at 5GHz.)
Read up on all the specs for the different 802.11 standards at ZDnet.
-Berj
Weak keys were addressed by 'WEP+', an 802.11b firmware upgrade which negates the weak inititialization vector attack. WEP+ is now available from most vendors.
Many 802.11b APs also allow separate xmit and recv keys, making WEP attacks much more difficult.
Then disable SSID broadcasts (making your 802.11b wireless network invisible to tools like netstumbler).
WEP certainly has its weaknesses (especially when 802.11b was first released), but is arguably 'reasonably secure' today. It's far from perfect, but is not nearly as bad as people make it out to be.
>It's far from perfect, but is not nearly as bad as people make it out to be.
Oh yes it is.
WEP+ is not a standard. Different vendors have different means of avoiding (or not) weak keys.
Problem 1: Weak key avoidance just makes the IV space get exhausted quicker.
Problem 2: There are likely to be new classes of weak keys discovered that invalidate the weak key skipping mechanisms and further shink the IV space.
Problem 3: If you have no weak keys, then IV space exhaustion gets you in the end.
Problem 4: To solve IV space exhaustion within the current WEP structure, you need rapid rekeying. There is no rapid rekeying spec. 802.1X is used be vendors in the wild, but only in proprietary ways, since as a standard it doesn't work over a non secured channel like 802.11.
Problem 5: 802.1X has some fundamental layer violation problems with networks that don't have an ethertype (like 802.11). Ethernet is fine. It has an ethertype.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Hareware isn't a profitable business unless you are Cisco, 3Com, HP, Sun, or Compaq.
You may be wrong. I spoke with Linksys engineer resently, and he told me that they are doing rather well, revenues are up and they don't lay people off. (Linksys is a private company, so their complete financials are not available). They target consumer market and thus have not been hit by downturn.
Walls, schmalls, you may have issues if it's in the same room and you have 802.11b clients. It looks like most of the bandwidth gains go away if you have an active 802.11b client in the area. BuffaloTech review
NOTE TO OUR CUSTOMERS: As you may know, IEEE802.11g is slated to be certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance in mid 2003. We understand this could affect current 802.11g technology. We are dedicated to ensuring that our customers have the most current and reliable products available on the market today. If the certification materially changes the principal operating features of our pre-standard 802.11g products, we will replace or upgrade any of those products at no charge and provide toll-free technical support. We thank you for your loyalty and confidence in our products.
So in case anything changes they're guaranteeing you'll have what works. That's pretty cool if you ask me. I've worked with these guys before and have purchased a number of AP's and cards and they work well. People are nice to work with too.