[ltp] Slightly OT: best router with 2915ABG?

[Tino Keitel]

On Sat, Jul 15, 2006 at 00:32:44 -0400, Jiang Qian wrote:
> Hi All:
> This is slightly OT but people are savvy here. I'm thinking about 
> getting a new wireless router. The wireless card is Intel 2915ABG on a 
> T43, running ubuntu with custom 2.6.15 kernel and driver version  1.1.2.  
> 
> Since this card doesn't support marketing stuns like Turbo G, RangeMax 
> etc. I guess I'll get a wireless G, to share internet connection between 
> desktop and T43.  I have the following concerns:
> 
> 1. Interference. I live in urban area with a jungle of AP around, and I 
> heard 802.11g is particularly prone to that. So the AP/router probably 
> want to have good tolerance of interference from nearby AP. Since my 
> apartment is not too big, range is not as important.
> 
> Of course the router should not drop connection on me. Sometimes I got 
> dhcp lease mysteriously dropped, any way to debug this?(iwconfig show 
> wireless signal is fine).
> 
> 2. Wireless speed. My current AP an old Netgear MR814v2, 802.11b, craps 
> out at 650KBps(with 128 bit WEP on). This is 5.2Mbps, that's less than 
> half of the design speed.  
> 
> I know I shouldn't have illusion about reaching full 54Mbps, but any 
> *actual* download/upload speed figure, *with encryption(WEP or WPA) on*, 
> is very welcome.
> 
> 3. Routing speed. I sometimes want to transfer files using Samba between 
> my wife's machine and T43. Hers is a thinkcentre with Gigabit connected 
> to router. I'm willing to connect my laptop to wired port of router for 
> transfer, but again the transfer speed craps out at 6.5MBps, which is 
> 52Mbps, only half of designed 100Mbps.

My Linksys WRT54GS with OpenWRT, plain 802.11g and WPA2 reaches 27
MBit/s for TCP through a solid wall, and iwlist ath0 scan shows 8
802.11b/g networks.

> 
> So any data on wired port routing is greatly appreciated, too.
> 
> BTW, since my laptop also have Gigabit ethernet, I'm tempted to buy an 
> router with Gigabit port built-in. This expensive toy, Dlink DGL-4300, 
> is the only one I found, is that worth the money(about USD 129 on 
> amazon).

I would go for a separate AP and switch. I also wouldn't recommend
anything from D-Link when it comes to wireless (bad personal
experience).

Regards,
Tino