On Tue, 28 Jun 2005, CHRIS KOTTING wrote:
> 1) Interference. Since you're talking about radio frequency transmissions,
> you are talking about the likelihood of interference. Interference will drop
> your transmission speeds. A completely wireless set-up will have lower
> throughput than a wired set-up.
I'm not going to turn this into a wire debate, and if you guys like
drilling holes in your walls, far be it from me to stop you ;) I can
max-out my cable modem bandwidth from any of the wireless computers in my
house. Like Mark noted, for most usage, the speed advantage of wired is
theoretical.
> 2) Security. The default set-up on most wireless access points / routers is
> designed to allow easy set-up. The device literally broadcasts all the
> information needed to connect to it, and the default passwords are commonly
> known. There are about half a dozen settings you will want to change in a
> wireless router so that someone (anyone) else isn't piggybacking on your
> service and/or using your wireless connection to steal information from/about
> you. (If you think it doesn't happen, google "warchalking", "warwalking"
> and/or "wardriving".) At the very least, use a wireless router that requires
> a wired connection to configure it.
My WAP has a range in the low hundreds of feet. At any given time,
there are maybe a dozen people within that, who could be hacking into my
network. And I know them all, except for that shady-looking guy parked in
front of my house, personally. Even without any passwords ( not that I
run it that way ) that'd be safer than the billion people attached to the
other end, some thousands of whom are known to be malicious hackers.
Most people on this list seem to have enough property that someone
would have to be trespassing in their front yard before they even picked
up a signal, anyway.
> 3) Spotty connection. This is really a function of the interference problem,
> but you can have a situation where you can connect from your back yard, but
> not from the next room. Or you can only connect from certain rooms when the
> refrigerator or A/C isn't running.
This is probably the only reason to run wires now, unless you do need
large bandwidth between your local machines. Obviously, YMMV.
--
David Hillman
#28/29 B Stock
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