Generally I like to recommend wireless when a) You can standardize on hardware. We've got an 802.11b network and half of the stuff works great and the other half is a big support issue - mainly because of adapter/firmware/driver problems. I don't like Linksys' wireless products drivers BTW.
b) You can get good support from your contractors. Cisco's access-point products have come a long way, and will efficiently support over 30 users. And with wireless, you DO get what you pay for. Airport 1.0's overheat and don't last more than 2 years unless they're kept in air-conditioned environments ... but then again they're really cheap and if you're moving that might be a cost-effective solution. (We had 40 of 100 go bad in the last 3 months) Bandwith is decent and cost is great. Now for the cons. As for security, 802.11b is a joke - so anyone can leach off your network with a laptop if they wanted. Anyone can leach off ours, but we're a college so we don't really care. If you've got a lot of old computers with mixed OS'es, hardware, I think the support is too much of an issue to go wireless. Old computers can really suck with wireless adapters and it's a big support issue. Can't really standardize on hardware when you don't want to go all USB - some internal PCI converters for laptop cards don't work on anything older than a PII, then you have to get ISA adapters. And if you DO go with USB you have to glue the damn things down so your students don't steal em. Also, for your classrooms (we have some too) there are some great software vendors out there that do classroom presentation software - except the things use multicasting and multicast packets tend to cause a huge amount of saturation on the wireless access points. We can use our presentation software (SynchronEyes) okay in the wireless labs but if they want to use it to do a web demonstration, you can't get the web page to load because of all the multicast packets. Think about this: You invest the money for capital in a) the wiring, but also b) the client hardware and software configuration. When you move are they going to stay wireless? If you go full dhcp then theoretically when you move it's a matter of plug-in and you're back up and running. I say: If it's a select group or lab for which you want an intermediate/special solution, go with wireless. If it's your entire organization, forget it - you probably don't have the staff to support it. Hope this helps. Alex -----Original Message----- From: King, John [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 8:36 AM To: NT 2000 Discussions Subject: RE: Wireless networks Security seems like a good concern..? I don't know what grade levels you deal with, but when I was working on a school network, the silly kids would try everything to break into the Novell servers. Unless you have some serious resources I would think that this might cause for trouble then it's worth, although it would be cool... -----Original Message----- From: Cornett, Keith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 9:53 AM To: NT 2000 Discussions Subject: Wireless networks Hello all, I'm looking for some resources to evaluate the pros and cons of a wireless network (PCs and phones) with internet access for a school. It would consist of around 125 total workstations, 50-75 for administrators and teachers and 2-3 computer labs with 20-30 workstations each. Currently the setup is individual workstations, a few of which have modems. Of course, the main items would be cost, security, bandwidth, stability, and time spent on administration. The school will be moving in 4-5 years, so we're looking at this as an option instead of investing thousands in wire. Thanks, Keith Cornett, MCSE System Administrator SBS, Inc. ------ You are subscribed as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe send a blank email to %%email.unsub%% ------ You are subscribed as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe send a blank email to %%email.unsub%% ------ You are subscribed as [email protected] Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
