Wireless Network Setup

[morph]

If i have a netgear router plugged into an adsl line and then from one of the ethernet ports connect an access point - can i give that access point a differant ssid than the router - the reason is i want to be able to tell half the users to log onto one and the other half onto the other - is that possible?

[hbroomhall]

Yes you can do this. I would also suggest that they are on far distant channels, otherwise if they interfere with each other the speeds will be poor.

Harry.

[newkoba]

i'm guessing you are using 802.11b/g. if so set up on one 1, 6 or 11 and then the other on one of those other two. if you happen to have something like net stumbler installed you may want to do some sort of "site survey" just basically checking to see what you are picking up at your location and on what channels that way you can do your best to steer clear of those channels. oh and just for reference 1, 6, and 11 are optimal channels as they do not overlap, all other channels have overlap.

[r.h.lee]

Originally Posted by newkoba

i'm guessing you are using 802.11b/g. if so set up on one 1, 6 or 11 and then the other on one of those other two. if you happen to have something like net stumbler installed you may want to do some sort of "site survey" just basically checking to see what you are picking up at your location and on what channels that way you can do your best to steer clear of those channels. oh and just for reference 1, 6, and 11 are optimal channels as they do not overlap, all other channels have overlap.

newkoba,

If 802.11b is being used, then the rule of thumb is to use a second channel that is at least 5 channels different from the first channel. In this case, there will only be two APs so you don't need to use the three non-overlapping channels of 1, 6, and 11. You can use channel 1 and 6, 2 and 7, 3 and 8, and so on. Since 802.11g uses OFDM, each channel does not interfere with any of the other channels since none of the channels overlap. As an extension, 802.11a also uses OFDM so it too is not subject to channel interference.

[r.h.lee]

Originally Posted by morph

If i have a netgear router plugged into an adsl line and then from one of the ethernet ports connect an access point - can i give that access point a differant ssid than the router - the reason is i want to be able to tell half the users to log onto one and the other half onto the other - is that possible?

morph,

What make and model is the netgear router?

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by r.h.lee

Since 802.11g uses OFDM, each channel does not interfere with any of the other channels since none of the channels overlap.

That is incorrect. 802.11g is also subject to channel interference. In fact, it's worse than 802.11b interference: link

The channels used by 802.11g are the same channels used by 802.11b: link

[newkoba]

michael is correct, and as far as the 1, 6 , 11 channels i stated that to add the ability of expansion later in time. if you were to use 2 and 7 or 3 and 8 you would then have to reconfigure those APs if you ever chose to add tertiary access point.

also what r.h. might be thinking of is 802.11a where none of the channels have overlap so with the typical standard you can have up to 8 access points, one on each channel. aggregation is good

[morph]

hey guys - thanks for the replies - well the netgear router is a DG834GT - i havent been so convinced this was going to work for 20 or so corporate users - but i'm at the bottom of a pile of people and still learning - anyway - i got the two routers working of each other - the second one is essentially acting as a repeater in terms of signal strength -- seems to be ok at the moment!

I'm actually trying to insist we hard wire everyone but i think i'm on a loseing battle and they want wireless - so i've been popping on the cisco site - so i'm looking at wireless AP's the bottom of the cisco range and its brougth up this question for me - is there anywa i can use a cisco AP on my adsl line with the netgear router? or am i lookking at having to get a cisco switch and then plug that into the broadband ?

[hbroomhall]

Should be no problem mixing kit. Just don't expect some of the fancy Cisco extras to work! But it sounds as if you won't need much based on the level of expertese of your users!

Harry.