wireless networking, please help..

Hello, i need to link three PCs in a wireless networkc and get the whole network connected through ADSL to the internet, it should be something like this: modem-router-3 PCs, i need help with choosing a router and some other things, well 1st of all i need to ask you this: will i feel the speed change between 54MB/s and 108 MB/s on: Emule, online games,file transferr between the the comps? and which router and wireless LAN cards should i get? oh and one more thing... i need a router WITHOUT internal firewall because i know cases in which this internal firewall cannot be disabled and blocks Emule and makes it connect in "low id" and blocks other stuff like messenger and online games like Warcraft III
thanks in advance.

 

You have your connection idea correct. As far as speed, yes you should feel a slowdown across the lan for file transfers. The wireless should be slower by about half and maybe even somewhat more.

However, any lan you mention will outrun your internet connected by a bunch so that's not an issue. That includes wireless. Lan speeds are expressed with a number beginning with M (millions) and internet up/download speeds are expressed by a number beginning with a k - thousands. (bits or bytes per second.)

I can't suggest a type or brand of equipment for you but I can leave you with this. It's pretty well known that different manufacturers of wireless gear use proprietary software/firmware to speed up the wireless connection, and they actually work somewhat. Different brands will work together fine, just not with the speed enhancement as long as the standards are the same, ie b or g work together but at b speed, and Wep or Wpa won't mix.

It looks to me as if there is another forum on this site for gamers. Maybe someone reading this will know about your gaming compatibility issues, or you could try that other group. I think this might be the link:

http://forum.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16

 

thanks for the information il keep looking for a router.

 

hello again, i looked a bit more and i want to ask: what does 802.11g or 802.11b etc. mean?
about the games and compatibility issues, its sometimes hard to find te ports these use and even harder to make an internal firewall to unblock them.
so id rather look for a router without internal firewall.. or an internal firewall that is easily disabled.
EDIT: by "internal firewall" i mean natural firewall or NAT

 

g is newer and faster, but is backward compatible with b. However, if anything on the wireless lan is b, everything will synchronize at the b speed. I forget the exact numbers - you could google. I have a tendency to round things off in my mind to remember principles rather than exact numbers, but g might be about 4 times faster than b, and g might be around 50Mbps under ideal conditions and with proprietary "speed enhancing" maker's software, or about 1/2 wired 10/100 running at 100.

The terms come from the IEEE (something like international assoc. of electronics and electrical engineers) who test and certify and apply a standard number such as these.

Again, you're on your own and should visit the gamers' forum on this site, do a search and if nothing is there, ask. They should know. I haven't heard of that problem with games. See my next remarks.

ALL routers have internal firewalls as job 1. They operate on what is properly called the "outbound rule." That means that unless there is an outbound - from the lan - request for data, it doesn't come in. A router is a smart computer. I gets the IP from the ISP and does all of the communicating on the internet for the lan. The whole internet including the ISP thinks there is just that one computer, the router. The router assigns hidden IPs to other nics on the lan.

So, if you clicked on a link to request the data for a web page, you sent an outbound request. The router knows who you are even if there is more than one computer on the lan, remembers the request and who requested it. When the data comes back, it will allow it in and route it to only the computer that requested it. If your AV program wants an automatic update at 2:00 am, it initiates the outbound request, and the router will allow the update file, or the message that there are no updates, back through to your computer.

Even your email client has to initiate a send/receive request to the email server to allow email back in to you.

Hackers like script kiddies with port scanners think the router is "your" computer and spin their wheels. They can't even see your real computers. @#$&#@ good firewall.

All ports in a router, to oversimplify, are blocked by default, and the outbound rule opens them upon request from the lan.

Remember, ports, in this context are purely software. This has nothing to do with hardware ports like the ethernet cable connections, or on your computer the i/o ports on the back for keyboard, mouse, etc.

Well, read above remarks. A router wouldn't work without NAT (network address translation.) That's how it routes to the internet. Oversimplified, the lan speaks a different language than the internet and uses IP addresses that aren't internet routable. The router translates all that to TCP/IP and to it's own mac address and ISP assigned internet IP address and does all of the communicating on the internet for every machine on the lan that uses the internet.

I'm all done. Please ask some gamers to explain if and why the games won't work with certain routers. I have no idea, unless you need a router that you can log in to and can open a port or ports that you need for that game so that the person at the other end can initiate the communication. I'm an old guy - ask the kids.

 

thanks a lot! this info is very helpful and thanks to your 1st comment i found a way to open ports on routers. the problems i know with games are on games where you can "host" a game. Warcraft III Gunz online etc etc...
you can join a game normaly but no one can join you and i found out on the games forum that it happens because closed ports. now i can just choose a router and i have an idea about which. il post it a bit later.
thanks again.

EDIT: here are the router and the card please tell me your opinion.
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=12 the card
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=292 the router

 

OK, that makes sense and you're welcome. Earlier I said "I have no idea, unless you need a router that you can log in to and can open a port or ports that you need for that game so that the person at the other end can initiate the communication."

See, with normal lan/router/internet use, you don't need to open ports. The router does it via the Outbound Rule.

However, when you have a server, including a web server etc, you do have to open the proper port(s) for the protocol that is used so that people on the internet can initiate the request and get in to access say, a web page.

In this case, you will be the server (Host,) and the others will the clients. Now it makes sense why you need to open ports, and you do that by logging in to the router's management console. Some routers will allow port opening and some won't.

Just remember that any time you leave a port open, you are vulnerable. That's why systems engineers and administrors "never" put a web server or email server on the lan. They put it outside of the lan, often in what is called a demilitarized zone or DMZ. (google it.)

See? Now I learned something about gaming. Thanks.