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Can it be? Microsoft gear that's pain-free? We're gaga over wireless hardware.
Posted by: bpburnwal on Sep 29, 2003 - 05:01 PM
Microsoft
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Microsoft products traditionally haven't been synonymous with elegance and ease of use, so its newest wireless-networking equipment is a pleasant surprise.
I used the hardware to set up a wireless home network linking three computers, including a Macintosh, and I marveled at how quickly I accomplished this.
I wasn't required to use a Windows PC for the initial network -configuration, an un-ex-pected benefit from a company with mono-p--olist tendencies.
Best of all, the Microsoft gizmos are affordable, more so than the Apple equivalents I'd normally consider using, and comparable to those from other vendors.
Microsoft sent me a standalone device called a Wireless Base Station that physically connects to the cable modem in my home, thereby allowing any wireless-equipped com--puter within range to access the Internet and other computers on the network.
I also received a Wireless Notebook Adapter card that slips into a Windows laptop's PCMCIA slot so the portable machine can talk to the base station.
(Gear I didn't test includes a Wireless-PCI Adapter that installs inside a desktop PC, and an Xbox adapter for adding the Microsoft video-game console to a wireless network for online gaming.)
Both of my loaner gadgets have been updated from earlier versions to transmit wireless data back and forth at much faster speeds. In technical terms, the older 802.11b or "Wi-Fi" equipment with a top speed of about 11 megabits per second has been upgraded to the newer 802.11g with a top speed of 54 megabits per second.
This was almost meaningless to me because I used the computers on my network mainly for Internet-related tasks, and my cable-modem connection tops out at 1.5 megabits per second. I appreciated the faster speeds only on the rare occasions when I needed to move large files from one computer on the network to another.
While the gear's beefier wireless-networking specs didn't wow me, its consumer-friendliness did. In fact, to set up a basic network, I did nothing more than plug the base station into a power outlet and connect it to my cable modem.
My nearby Apple iMac, which is equipped with an internal 802.11b-networking card, was then able to get online in a flash. Ditto for two borrowed Windows laptops with Intel Centrino innards, which include Wi-Fi-networking capabilities.
That isn't the end of the story, of course. I needed to dig into my base station's settings to make sure my network was "secure" -- that is, reasonably protected from computer hackers, script kiddies, bandwidth thieves and the like.
To access those settings, I installed Microsoft's Broadband Networking software on a Windows laptop and then used the PC with Microsoft's Wireless Notebook Adapter card to communicate with the base station.
I could also physically connect my iMac to the base station via an Ethernet cable, and then access the settings via the Mac's Web browser.
Microsoft, notorious for security holes in its software, seem to have redeemed itself security- wise with its wireless gear. The base station is a physical firewall, for starters. The device has other critical ways to safeguard a network, and these controls are easy to tweak. So are other settings, such as Internet-provider specs and parental controls.
Once the base station was running, it provided reliable access to the cable modem, either via a physical link (I kept the iMac plugged into one of the base station's ports because the Apple machine sat beside the Microsoft device) or wireless ones.
I tried the Wireless Notebook Adapter with two Tablet PCs, one from -Gateway and the other from Fujitsu , and both communicated properly with the base station even when separated by walls. This made the tablets dandy portable surfing stations, with the happily blinking Microsoft card providing a bit of visual pizzazz.
I'm so delighted with the Microsoft's wireless-networking gear that I'm considering buying a Wireless Base Station of my own.
I'm big on aesthetics, which is why I love Apple's gleaming UFO-like AirPort Extreme Base Station. But that 802.11g device costs at least $200, while the Microsoft base station runs about $100 -- and it's a sharp-looking gizmo, too.
Best of all, the Microsoft device plays nicely with my Macintosh, while providing maximum compatibility with the loaner Windows computers that continually rotate through my residence. That way, I get the best of both worlds.
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