Wireless lan, help.

[Kniwor]

I need to connect 3 computers by LAN, wireless,

I am in hostel, so if the connection works in range of 50 meters it will be fine, but there will be walls and other abstracles in between,

what is the cheapest method, and how will be the data transfer rates.

Dont suggest me telling why am i not connecting by wires etc....etc...

[digen]

Since it seems from your post that wireless is the option here.
But speculations is too hard mate,especially in the case of wireless where staying a feet away from the AP & not getting any signal is also possible.

For a start how much is your budget?I ask this because lets assume in case you land into trouble with the signal strength a additional range expander or something of that sort may help.

As far as the bandwidth is concerned that would depend,since wireless is a shared technology.Pre-N or Pre-MIMO products do exist in the market which give you 240Mbps !

Check the latest offering from Netgear to know better: http://netgear.com/products/details/WPNT834.php

[Kniwor]

not more than 3-4 thousand
well i have no idea how much these things cost....
so if no silution is less than 5000/- let me know.....
and i´ll stop thinking

[digen]

Well the last time I enquired the Linksys WRT54G was somewhere around 3k odd(dont count me on this cause my memory sucks lol)

That being said the computers you are using,do they have wireless onboard/PCI card or something ?
If they are lappy's then most newer ones have wireless these days.
This will add to the cost if the computers dont have wireless.
I'm not aware of the Netgear Pre-N router cost,but it should cost a a arm & a leg I believe.

Now lets assume to go for Linksys WRT54G,its a 802.11g wireless router so effectively providing you with 54 Mbps shared between 3 nodes.What sort of applications & usage are you looking from it?

[Kniwor]

basically playing age of empires 2. that is it and that is all. leave aside everything else. but i think this will require some data transfer be done.

[siriusb]

AOE won't use more than 30kbps. But wireless lans will allow multiplayer lan matches easier than a wired lan.

[digen]

Ahh should we take it right from a gamer's mouth?

@Kniwor
Mate you seem good to go,get a wireless router.Preferably the Linksys WRT54G cause of its open source firmware nature with which you can loads of additional features plus it fits the bill.

Mind you though you void warranty by flashing it with any other firmware except the vanilla/update linksys firmwares.

Oh btw make sure you secure it to atleast a basic level.By basic I mean a minimum WEP [I know WEP can be broken within minutes but hey it isnt easy as it seems plus encryption is good than no encryption at all]

I've seen many complain of the speeds after securing the communication with WEP/WPA.I myself use WPA & faced didnt find any difference,but I dont run any bandwidth hungry applications on the wireless channel either.

Good luck !

[Kniwor]

thanks for the inputs, now let me see if i can get this thing in kolkata and the reciever etc...