known gotchas for wireless install

a_ominous

Hi
I have a broadband connection at the mo. Running a business from home and have bought some 2 new computers, one laptop with WiFi and a desktop. I have ye olde Zyxel 630 USB modem from UTV. I'll be moving broadband provider soon and Smart's modem doesn't look like it will do the job for me. I've seen a fair few positive reviews of Linksys combined modem and router; sounds like that might be what I need. Moving to reduce costs from about 100 per month to expected 60-70, so modem/router will pat for itself in 3-4 months.

I've had a brief look around to find some information on siting a home wifi network. I was wondering what experience ppl here have had. Office is upstairs in box room of standard semi-d house. Wired LAN will be here. Laptop use elsewhere in the house. Walls are a combination of block and stud partitions. Anyone had any problems in a similar setup? Is the attenuation through block walls, wooden floors significant? I've used wireless in office situations with antennas on each floor, so this has not been an issue I've had to consider.

On a separate note, I can see wireless networks when laptop at front of house, nothing at the rear (no signal, no houses). The owner of the network seems to set up basic security at least, so I can't figure out how far the signal goes, but it is a weak signal.

TIA
-ao-

Gone West

Well, Im not sure what exactly your question is.
But, yes this proposed setup should work very well. This is exactly what home 802.11x gear was made for. Some microwaves at around 2.4~gHz will be absorbed by the walls, but you will still (well, should) have signal cover for your entire house and your garden.

Ive set up 30+ networks similar to this and have never had any significant problems.
Perhaps you could use a different channel to your neighbours network, although this is probably being overenthusiastic.

Once you get it set up, you will forget that its there. These networks, if configured correctly rarely show problems, and simply work.

On another note, Its unadvisable to be 'poking around' a neighbours wireless network.
Even if its secured, and you have not connected, its still considered bad etiquette among the WiFi communtiy to even log a neighbours wifi details.

a_ominous

Thanks for the reponse Fuzzy. Got a Belkin F5D7230uk4 instead. Had looked at a few modem reviews and prices. Went to PC World to check out some of them in the flesh and saw the 7630 for 99 yoyos. Which was a reasonable price and meant I could get set up today. Danm thing runs very hot. Got it turned upside down so heat can dissipate from metal plate underneath. Have a 36Mbps connection downstairs where I am most likely to use the laptop, so that's fine. This was one of my concerns.

Regarding etiquette of wireless networks, I didn't go looking for the neighbours net: it made itself known to me. I've taken the same precautions and secured my network.

Got the 2 new PCs connected up fine: the new desktop and the laptop I'm working on at the moment. But the old PC doesn't connect to the device. I bought a 3com NIC a while ago but hadn't used it much until now. I gone through setting IP addresses and using DHCP (which works for other computers) but still no joy. Removed USB ADSL software in case there was a conflict, but that's not it. Will have to look into this a bit more tomorrow. Any suggestions?

Gone West

No idea what could be the specific issue with your old PC connecting. Youre using the ethernet, right? Disable DHCP (basically automatic ip-assignments) and set individual IP's on each machine. Some wifi routers have crappy DHCP servers.

Also, 99 isnt exactly cheap for a wireless router.
I picked up a whole bunch(10) of these for 10 dollars each a few weeks back in a computer store in the USA.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5785973954&category=51164