SOHOware. SOHOware's CableFREE II Wireless Hub AP, CableFree II PC Card, and CableFree II PCI card make wireless home networking as simple as possible. The detailed User's Guide steps you through the installation and configuration of all three devices and also covers some rudimentary networking concerns such as file-and-print sharing. The AP features built-in dipole antenna, and its metal case sets it apart from the rest of the equipment in the review. After I connected the AP's included power and Cat 5 Ethernet cables, and installed the PC Card and PCI card, the two-node wireless network was operable in about 10 minutes. The installation asked me to install the NetBlaster II utility, which let me monitor and configure the local wireless access device as well as the AP to which the node is wirelessly connected. SOHOware's Network Hopper 3 software, which lets you save profiles for different wireless networks you might travel between, installs with the utility. SOHOware directly targets the home and home office environment, and its products are well suited for installation by less-technical installers.
Operational Range
As the distance between communicating devices increases, the signal strength decreases. The 802.11b devices automatically trade link speed for reliability, unless you configure the devices to link at only a certain speed. In my testing, I used the default setting for all equipment, which specified that speed should be attenuated as signal strength decreased. For consistency, I installed devices of the same type in the same location for each vendor and noted signal strength and link speed. I then took the laptop equipped with the various PC Cards and walked around the perimeter of my yard to test for connection anomalies. All the devices I tested had a strong enough signal in their initial locations to establish an 11Mbps connection and maintained a full-speed connection within the bounds of my yard. I then walked along the sidewalk away from my house and monitored ping statistics to determine at what distance communication became too unreliable to use. As with an AM or FM radio, direction and positioning of the adapter's antenna make a difference in how well you receive the wireless signal. For all practical purposes, the non-line-of-sight range for most of the products was between 250' and 280'. NETGEAR's product stood out from the pack when I was evaluating signal strength, providing a usable connection for almost another 100' beyond the furthest distance for the other products.
Security and Encryption
Although you can communicate with your AP from up to a block away, so too can your neighbors unless you take the necessary precautions. Two wireless networking security measures designed to help are Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and media access control (MAC) address filtering.
WEP is a means of encrypting wireless traffic. When you use WEP, even if someone intercepted your wireless transmission, that user would need a special code to decrypt the information. If you encrypt your wireless traffic, you must configure the AP and each node with a matching encryption key. WEP uses 64-bit, 128-bit, or 256-bit encryption. Stronger encryption levels provide more protection from prying eyes, but they negatively affect network thoughput. Some vendors advertise encryption levels differently because 24 of the bits are factory set and the user creates some bits. For example, 40-bit encryption is the same as 64-bit encryption, but the vendor isn't accounting for the factory-provided bits. Another security measure is MAC address filtering, whereby you can specify the unique identity of the hardware devices that can communicate with your access point. Although either security method might be suitable for your home network, you might need to mix both if you're transmitting sensitive data over your WLAN. All the devices I reviewed provide WEP encryption, and most include some variation of MAC addressing. See the Web-exclusive sidebar "Vendor-Specific Security Settings" (http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 26410) for a description of the security and encryption features specific to each vendor's products.
Up to the Task
All the equipment I reviewed is suitable for creating a wireless network in your home. Unless you live in a mansion or have lead walls, one AP will likely provide enough range to give you access from any room in your house and probably your yard as well. None of the products were difficult to install, although some require knowledge of IP networking and addressing. SMC's, Linksys's, and D-Link's products get kudos for providing a broad spectrum of devices to accommodate a single-vendor wireless network solution encompassing a variety of clients. The Linksys and Efficient wireless networking products both have robust security features but need updated drivers and documentation for XP installations. The NETGEAR equipment fared the best on range testing, but ironically, NETGEAR's security functionality lagged behind all of the other products that I tested. SOHOware doesn't offer the selection of wireless adapters that the other products do, but the SOHOware products are easy to install and manage. For cross-vendor compatibility, Linksys and NETGEAR have the most Wi-Fi certified adapters, followed by D-Link and SMC. (For information about the Wi-Fi certification, see the Web-exclusive sidebar "What Is Wi-Fi Certified?," http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 26411.) If you've thought about installing or expanding a network in your home, the wireless capabilities of these products can simplify the job and will be well worth the expense.
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