Wi-Fi Complete Package

[Cyruz (Dotdash)]

Hi all, I'm setting up a wireless network to share by bb this month and wanted to buy a router/modem/firewall with two PCI cards and one lappy card. I though buying in a package would be a good idea because I had heard stories of laptop cards not connecting properly due to different manufacturers.. So I found a package from BT... (I'm always jubious with BT)

BT Voyager 2100 Business Network Solution Package
-BT Voyager 2100 Wireless ADSL Router
-One BT Voyager 1060 Wireless Laptop Card
-Two BT Voyager 1040 PCI Cards
-Three ADSL microfilters
-One ADSL line cord
-One Ethernet/Cat 5 cable

I have heard a couple of horror stories of people being less than 4ft from the router and still getting bad signal using a PC with a PCI card. I'm hoping these are one off's but if not does anyone know any other good Wi-Fi networking packages.

Thanks in advance

[Nick]

Hmmm... even though I'm on BT Broadband, I wouldn't touch BT branded stuff with a very long stick... whilst wearing a full lead lined enviromental protection suit.... and sitting in a big tank with a stick holding thingie on it....

I just find they tailor them to their own purposes so much that they're damn hard to use/configure... I was trying to sort a BT ADSL gateway two days ago and had to call up BT to beg them for the password so I could go into the gateway and turn its firewall off... nightmare.

I run a mix of components at home with no problems...

A Belkin Wireless BB router/modem (Jiff HATES these, I love it, had ZERO problems with it)
NIC on my main rig is onboard from my NF2 board
A bog standard Ebuyer wifi card for my lappy
A Linksys wifi card for the PC upstairs
A Dlink NIC 10/100 card for the other PC that will be going upstairs.

They all talk to each other with no problems.

Once you've got the gateway up and running, the rest is easy... locking the wifi down is simple too...

If I had ONE complaint, it'd be that the Ebuyer card in the lappy isn't supported by NetStumbler, so I can't go wardriving.. but it does come with its own site survey software that is perfectly fine for connecting to any open networks.

ps. With dual aerial routers, you tend to find the connection isn't 100% next to the router, I've been told these is the radio waves cancelling each other out where they overlap... Seems to be true as my lappy gets 75% here, but 100% in the kitchen (15ft away)

[Twigman]

dual ariels could cause interefence patterns

/a level physics

[Jonny M]

Actually the BT Voyager wireless routers made by 2Wire are pretty damn good.

[Nick]

Caged, dunno about specific makers for BT, but the two I've been dealing with were a nightmare... and having to ring up BT to get the password to access the 'advanced' set-up screens is a royal pain. That said, everyone's experience is different...