Will a WAP work?

Hello. My wired network consists of a Speedstream 5660 dsl modem in bridged mode attached to a 4 port switch. Three computers are connected to the switch. If only one computer is connected to the internet, ppoe is used. Multiple computer internet access is through ICS. Is it possible to connect a wap to the remaining switch port and access the internet through a laptop? I am trying to avoid using a router because of past negative experiences. The last wired router I hooked up worked fine unless one was accessing a secure site. Then the connection timed out or was 10 times slower than normal. Thanks in advance for any assistance. Chuck

Yes. A wireless access point is a bridge that encapsulates ethernet

802.3 packets. Anything you can do by plugging in an ethernet cable directly into your switch, can be done with wireless. The catch is that almost all client radios will only bridge one MAC address. No problem for your laptop, or multiple laptops, each with their own client radios. However, don't try to plug a switch into the client radio, and expect it to bridge more than one MAC address. That doesn't work with an ordinary access point and generic client radios.

Well, you either got a lemon or you did something wrong. Most of the users in this newsgroup have hardware routers, and use them without incident or difficulties. It's the prefered solution as ICS and some proxy server software solutions are, well...ugly. May I humbly suggest you try again with a hardware router.

Thanks. Time for rant. One of the problems with the current state of license free wireless is that few of the manufacturers seem to find any value in explaining how things actually work. The color glossy advertising literature has less and less information. The web sites are seriously devoid of technical detail. Access to internal wireless settings and tweaks is decreasing. Hardware is becoming "self configuring". Life is allegedly simpler.

This is not necessarily a bad thing as most of the buying public will successfully plug and play without difficulties or incident. As long as the boxes are cheap enough, the success rate is high, and the products keep selling, there will be little incentive to supply technical details and controls.

What gets lost in the shuffle is how the various protocols work. The docs are there for your reading. A few hundred applicable RFC's for the wired part of the LAN and IP services. 600 pages of 802.11 documentation from the IEEE.

of it is hard to get and expensive such as ISO docs some IEEE docs. My guess is that it would take someone about 5 years of constant experience to be able to understand wireless and the underlying protocols. Add another few years for understanding RF (microwave, propogation, radiation, antennas, etc). Your average salesman isn't going to come close.

There's another reason that pre-sales and support are so dismally informed. They tend to have little hands on experience, or as like to call it "getting dirty" with the hardware. There's really no way to for someone that sits in a phone support dungeon to obtain the necessary experience. For example, how will such a person be able to give advice on how well 2.4GHz propogates through walls, forests, and urban canyons? They cannot without having hands on experience.

I have more experience than typical, but still am unable to answer all the weird things that can happen with wireless and RF. Some of it borders on magic. I'm always amazed at what people do with 802.11 as conventional theory suggests that it should not work. Even the experts are baffled, sometimes.

Anyway, do some online reading and tinker with the hardware. But don't be suprised if you soon know more about the products than support or sales.

Thanks Jeff. Your advice was spot on. Everything works perfectly. The information I got from my local computer emporium was the opposite of what you said ; it's a shame they don't hire people with your kind of expertise. Chuck