Joseph Moran

Model: WPN824Price: $139.99 (MSRP)Pros: Excellent range and throughput, pretty lights.Cons: No WPA2 support. There are times when a standard 802.11g wireless network may not reach into every area of your home or office, and this is especially true if you’re trying to cover a large area, or one with an unusual layout — or if […]

Model: WRT54GXPrice: $179 (MSRP)Pros: Supports all major security protocols and encryption typesCons: Inflexible logging; limited performance improvement After setting up a wireless network, you may sometimes find that your WLAN may not extend quite as far as you expected. Even if that’s not the case, it’s not unusual to experience dead spots or areas where […]

Price: $29 per year (provides one secure access point and five user accounts) Pros: Inexpensive; adds user authentication to WLAN without additional hardware or software Cons: Service may not work with some access points It’s common knowledge that when it comes to securing a wireless network, WEP, while still better than nothing, is only slightly […]

Price: $99 (Router model WR1500); $79 (Cardbus or USB adapter) Pros: Range claims to be met. Cons: 802.11b only, no support for WPA encryption When shopping for WLAN equipment for a home or office, buyers are often fixated on a product’s throughput claims. However, equally important to many purchasers (either from the start or once […]

Model: F5D8230-4 Price: $159.99 (MSRP) Pros: Improved throughput and range, compatible with older 802.11g and b products Cons: Pricey, upgrade path unknown. In late 2001 and early 2002, during the roughly six months preceding the final ratification of the 802.11g wireless networking specification, many companies, not satisfied to wait for the formal standard, flooded the […]

Price: $699.99 Pros: 200mW 802.11g AP, bandwidth control Cons: only WEP encryption, confusing interface and documentation Many small businesses—particularly service and retail outlets—are looking to increase revenue and/or customer traffic by providing wireless Internet hotspots in their locations. But when setting up a hotspot somewhere that a business network is already in place, it’s important […]

Internet-based telephony is a technology that’s been available and evolving for years now, and you may be familiar with Skype , one of the numerous applications that provide you the ability to make no- or low-cost phone calls from a PC via the Net. The newest version of this application— Skype for Pocket PC Version […]

Model: G-220 Price: $98 MSRP Have you ever been with a group of notebook-equipped people (say, co-workers perhaps) and found yourselves fighting over who was going to get the only available LAN port? As common as wireless networks are today, they’re still far from ubiquitous, and it’s entirely likely that say, in a conference room […]

Price: $19.95 antenna alone, $49.95 kit includes pigtail and tripod mount Pros: Simple and inexpensive Cons: Requires tweaking to ensure widest possible coverage; not available for 802.11a networks What do potato chips and wireless networking have in common? Strictly speaking, nothing at all, but folks well-acquainted with wireless networking lore will be familiar with the […]

Model: WHR3-G54 Price: $99 It should come as a surprise to no one that the number of WLANs has exploded over the past several years, and wireless networks continue to spread thanks to inexpensive and ubiquitous equipment. However, people setting up these networks very often get the equipment functional and then call it quits. As […]

Model: GWA502 Price: $89.95 Pros: Provides both omni-directional and directional antennas Cons: Omni antenna can’t be turned off, leading to signal leakage When setting up a wireless network for home or office, it’s not unusual to have so-called dead spots where the radio signal doesn’t reach. Conversely, chances are that your WLAN signal will likely […]

Price: $595 Pros: reasonable cost, centralized control of multiple APs Cons: control software only runs on Linux, only 30 days of free support When you hear the name Sputnik, you probably think of the world’s first artificial satellite, launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union. Times change. It also happens to be the name of […]