Wireless networks offer the Small Office, Home Office user real convenience in installing networks in offices or at home where it is hard to run cable or there are multiple living space stories in the office or home.  Wireless connections are also very useful in the instance where an additional node or nodes are needed and the real estate to install network components is limited.  The wireless connection in an existing network or as a stand-alone network offers great flexibility in where work or play on the computer is done.  For example, in my home office, in an upstairs room, I have my network of computers conveniently located to one another, with the printers, and scanner tied in a shared.  My Internet connection is located in this room. 

This office network arrangement works very well for the most part.  Everything is located in this given area.  The problem comes when I want to work in another part of the house. The limitation before wireless concerned the network which would be very hard to expand to other parts of the house.  It would mean running the Category 5 Ethernet cable through the second story flooring spaces to other parts of the house.  This is both expensive and hard to do.  Not being able to work in the kitchen or family room seemed to be a real limitation to my home office. 

During the research phase of my January 2000 Comm Corner, I uncovered the wireless technology for expanding and making networks flexible.   A deeper look convinced me that wireless may almost be as good as sliced bread.  An access connection to my existing network and a wireless network interface card in my laptop would provide me with my desired flexibility in my work place. 

Some definitions are in order before we go any further.  Notice that I referred to an access connection.  The proper term is access point, which means a device plugged into the existing network hub that translates, receives and transmits the network data in the radio frequencies.  Access point components usually are devices that look like hubs or external modems and have sockets for the receive/transmit card and an Ethernet RJ45 cable plug.  The receive/transmit card is usually a PC Card and fits into a Type II slot.  The PC Card usually has a plug for an external antenna.  There is a electrical connection for power finishes out the physical description.  Most access point components have LED light indicators to show power on, receive and transmit.  Some access point devices have built-in 56K analog modems as well as the Ethernet connection.  This allows a home office to be able to use the wireless network for Internet connectivity as a stand-alone device. 

PC Card NICs are Type II laptop devices and meet the PCMCIA standards for those laptop devices.  Most vendors make ISA and PCI adapters to fit the PC Cards to desktop machines.  These adapter cards have Type II slots for inserting the wireless PC Card.  Then the setup is the same as setting up the laptop. 

Wireless equipment that is IEEE 802.11b series standard compliant ensures that all products are able to function together.  This equipment is based on direct-sequence spread-spectrum technology and operates in the unlicenced 2.4GHz radio band.  The 802.22b standard provides for communication between a wireless client NIC and an access point that connects to a wired network.  The standard specifies data transfer rates of up to 11 Mbps.  There are fallback rates of 5.5 Mbps, 2 Mbps, and 1 Mbps.  These fallback rates are based on the distance of the client computer from the access point and falls completely off somewhere at about 150 to 175 feet from the access point.  Other factors can interfere with the signal, such as walls, trees, metal, and other restrictions.  My downstairs workstation is approximately 25 to 30 feet from the access point.  There are some locations that greatly cut down my transmission throughput.  More on these later. 

This specification operates in the MAC (Medium Access Control) and Physical layers of the OSI model.  The MAC layer provides services such as Authentication, Deauthentication, Privacy, MSDU delivery, Association, Disassociation, Distribution, Integration, and Reassociation.  Stations can operate in two configurations; 

1. as independent configurations, and 
2. as infra-structure configurations. 

This technology as really come down in price.  Two years ago, the price for an access point and one wireless NIC was approximately $5,000.00.  A typical industrial strength setup, i.e., Lucent, 3Com, Cisco, or Proxim is now approximately $1,100,00 for 11 Mbps systems. Additional PC Cards can be obtained for approximately $180.00.  The price range of these systems is a major key to their use.  Wireless does cost more than a cabled network, but the trade-off to work space convenience more than makes up for the heavier up-front cost. 

Lucent Connection Review 
I have been looking at two versions of a wireless network connection from Lucent Technologies.  One of the local Lucent Business Partner’s, San Antonio Telephone Company, loaned me one 2 MHz wireless access starter system for testing and have agreed to loan it to Alamo PC for further testing and use.  This unit was installed on my Toshiba 2100 laptop for the review period.  I now am using the 11 MHz version.  Lucent Technologies is probably the leader in this technology and have been a leader in establishing the IEEE 802.11 series of standards. 

Lucent has recently renamed their wireless system.  The name was WaveLan, and is now called ORiNOCO. The Lucent wireless system components come in two flavors.  Both are IEEE 802.11 High Rate compliant, which means that the system will work with all other 802.11 compliant wireless networking systems including the Apple AirPort.  Both work at the 11 Mbps Ethernet network speeds. 

One flavor is slated for home use and is identified as the ORiNOCO Home Networking System.  The other is the ORiNOCO Enterprise solution.  The main difference is in the access point equipment.  The Home Networking solution is designated as the RG-100 Residential Gateway and contains one PCMCIA Type II PC Card slot, a 56K analog modem, and an Ethernet RJ 45 connection plus the power connection.  The Enterprise solution access point is designated as the ORiNOCO WavePOINT-II Access Point.  It contains two PCMCIA Type II slots and does not have the analog modem connection, but does have the Ethernet RJ 45 connection.  The two PC Card slots allow the access point to operate on two separate radio frequencies for a doubling of network wireless capacity.  The access point equipment comes with an optional range extender antenna, a good thing to have. 
 

The reminder of the wireless components required are the ORiNOCO PC Card and the optional ISA/PCI adapter card.  There are differences in the PC Cards in addition to the 2 MHz vs 11 MHz capability.  The 2 MHz system is straight forward in its installation and operation.  Both PC Cards are compatible with one another as well as with other Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance products. 

The 11 MHz system has two levels of security available for use.  The 11 MHz PC Card can be obtained either as a 64 bit key security card (Silver) or as a 128 bit key security card (Gold).  Security could be a factor in both the home or small business environment since the transmit/receive frequency these cards operate on is the same unlicenced frequency as the garage door opener frequency range.  The security feature will keep the twelve year old down the street from listening to your data transmissions with his garage door opener.  The ISA/PCI adapter is used when the wireless machine is a desktop and accepts the PC Card.  (NOTE) The 128 bit key security card may be restricted as to where in the world it is taken. 

The 11 MHz PC Cards offer four speed options (11 Mbit/s, 5.5 Mbit/s, 2 Mbit/s, and 1 Mbit/s).  The Lucent claim is to provide the ideal combination of throughput and range.  The real use of this set of speed features is related to the distance and number of obstacles between your client laptop and the access point.  The maximum unobstructed range is approximately 150 to 170 feet.  Walls, floors, trees, and other barriers to a clean radio signal greatly cut into the distance and speed flexibility one is able to use the wireless connection. 

Installation 
The WaveLan (ORiNOCO) PC Card installed in my Toshiba 2100 CDT PCMCIA slot #0 with no problems.  There is a CD-ROM disk with the setup routine on it.  Simply follow the Install Wizard.  My standard network TCP/IP setup took care of the network side of the computer setup.  The WaveLan PC Card is Plug and Play and is supported in MS-Windows 95/98 and Windows 2000 Pro.  The Toshiba recognized the WaveLan adapter as soon as the system was turned on, the CD-ROM was in the player and started as soon as the Win 98 operating system (OS) asked for it.  Again, follow the Install Wizard.  

The WaveLan Quick Installation Guide(QIG) is clearly written even though it is not very thick.  The majority of the Users Manual is on the CD-ROM.  The QIG covers each step in the Wizard process.  Take note of the procedure to remove the adapter from the laptop.  There are hot remove steps to follow.  The adapter will have to be removed when the laptop is bagged for travel as it protrudes about 1 1/4 inch during operations.  I have had no problem removing the adapter and reinserting it.  Set the Windows Network Properties as you would in any network install. 

I am using the WaveLan/IEEE Turbo 11 MB Silver PC Card at this time.  I have not opened the 40 bit security setup in it yet. 

This is only half of the setup as the WavePOINT access point equipment must be set up as well.  Lucent provides a software utility that lets one engage the access point to determine how the connection is functioning.  The WavePOINT access point needs two connections to make it operational.  The power and the LAN connection.