Making Access Points reserch ...

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

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Reply to
NetSteady
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Hello all.

I'm looking for Access Point with RADIUS support (I have RADIUS server) for about 20 users (802.11g).

I used to think about 3COM in good way so please tell me is 3COM

3CRGPOE10075 a good access point ?

Kind Regards Paul Malinowski

Reply to
Paul Malinowski

Ok, "A 3CRGPOE1007 is a good access point"

Did that make it a good access point for you?

:)

Hey, even a crappy Dlink/Linksys whatever will offer RADIUS support.

David.

Reply to
David Taylor

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).

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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.

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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

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.

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.

See:

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claims +18dBm tx power. Note the receiver sensitivities which is what really determines the range.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

"Paul Malinowski" top-posted:

Yeah, DuhLink is pretty awful, I've given them the last dollar of mine they'll ever see.

There may not be a catch, newer generations of equipment always have more functionality, greater speed, and lower prices.

Not really, propagation isn't all about transmit power. In free space, a higher power AP will have a longer range than a lower power AP, but one concrete wall and neither of them is getting through.

Reply to
William P. N. Smith

Hello David,

I used to use Dlink DWL2000AP, but as You said already .. it's crappy. Sometimes hangup, can't chose right speed and other problems with that kind of AP ..

That's why I'm trying to find something better .. but not increadible expensive.

Paul Malinowski

U¿ytkownik "David Taylor" napisa³ w wiadomo¶ci news: snipped-for-privacy@news.cable.ntlworld.com...

Reply to
Paul Malinowski

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" napisal w wiadomosci news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

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Reply to
Paul Malinowski

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