Wireless network question

I'm relatively new to wireless networking at home and would like to get some information before I spend the money to set up a network at home.

I'm thinking about adding a wireless router (11g or 11N) at home. The plan is to add the wireless router to my DSL connection and one PC connected via ethernet cable. The other PC would have a wireless (11g or

11N) card in it to access the DSL connection wirelessly, as well as a printer connected to the hardwired PC.

The question is based on our use of a 2.4Ghz cordless telephone. It is my understanding that the wireless routers use the 2.4 Ghz spectrum. However, when we run our microwave oven, our 2.4Ghz telephone is rendered almost useless until the microwave is done. Would the wireless router be affected the same way as the cordless phone? Would the router and remote PC re-establish the connection automatically if the microwave interferes?

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

Bob

I have two 2.4 Ghz phones and a microwave in addition to my 11b router. I get very little interference in either phone, and after choosing the best channel for my house, my network doesn't seem to notice when any of the other devices are in use. But, YMMV, depending on details of your setup. Make sure you get a good return policy, and give it a try.

-=[ snippety snip ]=-

There is something very wrong with your microwave if it is eminating enough signal to interfere with a cordless phone. Microwave ovens in operation are not supposed to "leak" a signal. If they do, that's a potential safety issue too. There are special testers that appliance servicemen can use to check for microwave signal leakage.

You need to get that unit checked out immediately!! How old is it and is it still under warranty?

You are correct that the wireless network and the cordless phone will have to coexist on the 2.4GHz band. You will have to experiment on which channel works best for you.

One last item, I recall seeing an ad recently for a WiFi "friendly" cordless phone. It apparently adjusts it frequency around to minimize interference with WiFi networks.

Two other options are 802.11a which uses 5GHz or replace your 2.4GHz phone with a 5GHz phone.

John

I had a new MW that interfered with AM radio; took it back and got a Sears Kenmore. NO interference and better oven.

LB

I recently went through the same setup as you did. My DSL is hooked into a Lynksys 54G wireless router. My work laptop has a built in A/B/G wireless adapter and my son's desktop machine has a 54G pci card. I have a Sony

2.4Ghz phone system that has a base and 3 handsets.

Every thing worked great except for using the phone system when one of the wireless units is being used. If someone is on one of the phone units it would break the connection from the router to the wireless unit. I tried configuring the router using all the channels between 1 and 11 and the best I could get was channel 1 which gives me 5 to 10 minutes of use before the connection is broken. I turned the phone off one day and had 20 hours of connectivity between both wireless units without interruption.

In retrospect I would have paid more for a 'A' router and card for the PC as the 5Ghz band it uses would have eliminated the problem.

In my case however, the phone system is a few years old now and I've never been in love with it so I'm going to replace it with a 5Ghz model.

Jon

Most likely a bad switch-mode power supply in the MW. They can produce harmonics into AM (0.5-1.6 MHz). The magnetron emits nice round waves at 2.45 GHz -- far too high to interfere with anything but the latest and greatest wireless toys.

A bit off topic, but what was wrong with 900MHz cordless phones? Then to

2.4Ghz, then to 5GHz. Unless it is just that higher numbers sound more "with it" from a marketing perspective?

This is the problem of limited spectrum. With more and more people wanting to be connected at the same time, we need more spectrum. There is more available at the higher frequency ranges.