2 quick networking questions

[Celegorm]

some of these my be stupid questions and i'm sorry, but i'm not that great of a networker.

first i'll ask my question:
besides freeing up a pci slot, is there any thing good about going from connecting from a wireless card to just strait to a wireless acsess point? and is this easy to do when a network is already in place?

then i have a friends question which is probally easier than mine:
when he had his house built he had a network patch pannel put in. now taht he's getting road runner he wants to network. besides a router is there anything else he needs to connect to his patch pannel? I've heard you need switches but i belive most routers come with them now, am i correct?

 

[DJ-CHRIS1]

some of these my be stupid questions and i'm sorry, but i'm not that great of a networker.

first i'll ask my question:
besides freeing up a pci slot, is there any thing good about going from connecting from a wireless card to just strait to a wireless acsess point? and is this easy to do when a network is already in place?

then i have a friends question which is probally easier than mine:
when he had his house built he had a network patch pannel put in. now taht he's getting road runner he wants to network. besides a router is there anything else he needs to connect to his patch pannel? I've heard you need switches but i belive most routers come with them now, am i correct?

I do not entirely get your first question :S

For your friends question, most home / small office routers usually come with a 4 port switch built in. With this built in switch, you can connect 4 computers (or other network devices like printers) to your network. If you want more than 4 devices on your network, than you would need to purchase another switch.

 

[Celegorm]

wow... i really messed up the words on the first one. sorry about that. i'll try it again.
if i hard-wire my computer to a wireless acesspoint, do i get the same speed as just having a wireless card in my computer? (so 54MB/s) and is it easy to add a acesspoint to an existing wireless network?

then for my second question, does he even need the router/switch before going to the patch pannel?

 

[DJ-CHRIS1]

wow... i really messed up the words on the first one. sorry about that. i'll try it again.
if i hard-wire my computer to a wireless acesspoint, do i get the same speed as just having a wireless card in my computer? (so 54MB/s) and is it easy to add a acesspoint to an existing wireless network?

then for my second question, does he even need the router/switch before going to the patch pannel?

A standard wired connection is 100Mbps
Wireless is 25-30Mbps for 802.11G

To add an access point to an existing network you just need to plug it into the wired backbone of the network. Very simple. I dont exactly see how you would "hardwire" an access point to a computer however.

And even if you have a patch panel, you still need switches / hubs / routers. Patch panels are nothing but where cables get terminated into.

 

[Celegorm]

thanks for the help on my second question. i've done some more looking and it seems like what i want to do is more or less bridging. (sorry to keep asking, but is that hard?

 

[LambOfGod]

thanks for the help on my second question. i've done some more looking and it seems like what i want to do is more or less bridging. (sorry to keep asking, but is that hard?

Bridging...

you dont need to bridge anything bro,

Its kinda been hard to understand your first question but i thought DJ-CHRIS answered it fine?

what do you still have a question about

 

[Captain Pooka]

hmm, I dont know if this is what your taking about, but if it is
no bridging is not hard, highlight your connections and click bridge connections?

I hope this is what your talking about

-Q

 

[root]

I don't understand what's hard to understand...
he has a wireless access point.

he currently connectes wirelessly.

on the wireless access point there are lan sckets.

what are the benefits of goign wired rather than wireless...

pros include.
faster network speed.
less dropped packets.
less intefeerence.

cons include
having a cable

 

[spywarebanisher]

what root said... a lot of ppl make things sound so complicated... and wirelessis my prefernece becuz of wireless n... or well the prototype. more range and more speed- up to 300 mbps