Making Access Points reserch ...

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Paul,

I've heard some bad things about 3COM. For a decent AP, look Cisco
1200. It's fairly affordable (for an enterprise AP), easily maintained,
and is a workhorse.

Chris
http://www.nexauth.com
http://www.netsteady.cc

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Hello Jeff,

I have some experience in 802.11, but unfortuneatly I used to play with
cheap equipment like some Dlink. And now I can buy those 3com for about 100
EUR so I started to wondering .. where is the catch ?

Perhaps that Access Point has some defect or there are some different
problems. In that situation is always better to ask somone who has
experience with that particular Access Point ..

I could'nt find a TX power ... don't You think that's strange?


Does any one knows what is the transmit power of that AP ?

Thank You

Paul Malinowski



Uzytkownik "Jeff Liebermann" <jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us> napisal w
wiadomosci news:7i0ni1hiu3l7mngu0mcdluu3v9hoei8sol@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 21:43:36 +0200, "Paul Malinowski"
> <pmalinowski@cku.legnica.pl> wrote:
>
>>I'm looking for Access Point with RADIUS support (I have RADIUS server)
>>for
>>about 20 users (802.11g).
>
> Any wireless access point that has 802.1x authentication and/or
> WPA-RADIUS support will work. That's about 99% of the currently sold
> 802.11g access points. (Note: WPA support requires 802.1x so you get
> both with WPA).
>
>>I used to think about 3COM in good way so please tell me is 3COM
>>3CRGPOE10075 a good access point ?
>
> http://www.3com.com/products/en_US [...] RGPOE10075
>
> Well, I've never played with this one but the feature list is
> impressive. PoE makes it easy to deploy. VLAN support is nice for
> segmenting broadcast groups. Rogue AP detection is kinda nice for
> security. It's fairly univeral in that it can play bridge, client,
> AP, or repeater. Multiple SSID's with individual profiles are nice
> for seperating secure and public networks. It also plays WDS for
> easily expanding the network.
>
> However, I don't have any idea whether any of these unique features
> will be of any use to your 20 users. Without a clue as to the type of
> traffic you're going to be moving, the topology, the type of clients,
> and your expectations, there's no sane way to offer a specific
> recommendation or endorsement. For example, the rule of thumb for
> access point loading is:
> 100 typical users doing light web browsing and email.
> 10 business users doing whatever business users do.
> 1 file sharing user or heavy downloader.
>
> Anyway, if you're lost, try reading this document by Intel on how to
> setup a wireless LAN. It's getting a bit dated, but the important
> points, principles, and buzzwords are there.
>
> http://www.intel.com/business/bss/ [...] otspot.pdf
>
>
> --
> # Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
> # 831.336.2558 voice Skype: JeffLiebermann
> # http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS
> # http://802.11junk.com
> # jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> # jeffl@cruzio.com

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 10:53:27 +0200, "Paul Malinowski"
<pmalinowski@cku.legnica.pl> wrote:

>I have some experience in 802.11, but unfortuneatly I used to play with
>cheap equipment like some Dlink. And now I can buy those 3com for about 100
>EUR so I started to wondering .. where is the catch ?

No catch. Just a different market. As far as I can determine, the
differences in assorted access points at the radio level is fairly
nominal. They xmit, they receive, and they comply with FCC 15.247.
Some chipsets are better than others, but the basic functions are
fairly close to each other.

The big differences are in firmware and management. Once the box has
a microprocessor and sufficient memory to do useful things, all the
features that distinguish a generic D-Link from a fancy 3Com access
point are in the software. Once paid for (or licensed), the software
is essentially free. A good example of this is the Linksys WRT54G.
The stock firmware has quite a few nifty features, but the open source
versions have even more. Yet the open source firmware versions didn't
cost any more and are only limited by the available flash and RAM on
the board. Same with 3com. They have enough memory to do useful
things, but only really charge for the hardware. Their feature set it
apparently designed to integrate into a managed network and not
operate as a stand alone access point as in a home or small biz
wireless network.

>Perhaps that Access Point has some defect or there are some different
>problems. In that situation is always better to ask somone who has
>experience with that particular Access Point ..

Well, you might be right but I doubt it. I zero experience with 3com
wireless but quite a bit with 3com SuperStack LAN hardware and
ethernet cards. I have some nasty things to say about their idea of
what constitutes a warranty and support. Basic defects tend to be
permanent and are only fixed on the next model. Firmware updates are
few and seem to appear only after the replacement model is available.
Basically, if it doesn't work out of the box, it's not going to get
fixed in a reasonable amount of time. I have no clue if this also
applies to their wireless products.

>I could'nt find a TX power ... don't You think that's strange?

See:
http://www.3com.com/other/pdfs/pro [...] poe_ds.pdf
3com claims +18dBm tx power. Note the receiver sensitivities which is
what really determines the range.



--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558