Hi all

Just a quick question please, which shows up my lack of knowledge.

I've bought a BuffaloG54 pc card, to connect to my BT wireless router, which allows me to surf the net downstairs.

I'm soon going to stop in a hotel that says it is a WiFi zone. Will I be able to use my card to connect to the internet?

Sorry if that's too daft.

Toby

in short, yes.
you will probably have to change some settings to connect to the hotel's network but you will get details from the hotel I should hope!

I'd be tempted to buy another network card by another vender, maybe netgear of USR aswell, just in case. I do deal with buffallo kit but it's not as popular as netgear etc

Originally posted by RazorSHarp
I'd be tempted to buy another network card by another vender, maybe netgear of USR aswell, just in case. I do deal with buffallo kit but it's not as popular as netgear etc

but better. (says he who uses netgear all over)

i wouldnt have thought you'd have an issue.

your having him on, there are no compatability issues between different vendors for the IEEE standard 802.11g otherwise the manufacturer with the problem would never get certified and couldn't use the wifi logo or the 802.11g standard name.

Toby - what dafoot said, check about pricing though, hotels think they can charge a fortune, cheaper to head to starbucks or another public hotspot.

we are not having him on. different manufacturers can and do use different protocols. Also as newer standards are now available and he hasn;t said how long ago he bought the buffalo card, a newer more up to date card might be a worthwhile investment.

Been as I sell upwards of £20k of IT a day Cyclone I do think I have a slight edge on this type of stuff.

Originally posted by Cyclone
... cheaper to head to starbucks or another public hotspot.

Starbucks have free wifi ?

Does that include the one in Sheff ?

Be nice to know where all the free wi-fi hot spots in Sheff are :D

Originally posted by RazorSHarp
we are not having him on. different manufacturers can and do use different protocols. Also as newer standards are now available and he hasn;t said how long ago he bought the buffalo card, a newer more up to date card might be a worthwhile investment.

Been as I sell upwards of £20k of IT a day Cyclone I do think I have a slight edge on this type of stuff.

the standard is 802.11g, we know that it's a 11g card from the name.
In order to use the logo and the 802.11g certification they have to prove that it meets the minimum requirements of the specification.

You can get better performance by using the same kit throughout a network, but as even 11b is overkill for an internet connection that's completely irrelevant to this question.

Hands up anyone thats actually ever had a problem connecting that was resolved by changing manufacturer. I haven't and I have a network here consisting of no more than 1 piece of kit from any manufacturer. And i've never had a problem anywhere with the wifi built into my laptop.

Ermm, not sure on the starbucks front, there's a website that will list pay for and free hotspots in any given town or city.

Originally posted by Cyclone
[B
Hands up anyone thats actually ever had a problem connecting that was resolved by changing manufacturer. I haven't and I have a network here consisting of no more than 1 piece of kit from any manufacturer. And i've never had a problem anywhere with the wifi built into my laptop.
[/B]
Likewise never had problems with differant manufacturers. Sounds like you are making up 20k of trade yourself!

Originally posted by Jamie

Be nice to know where all the free wi-fi hot spots in Sheff are :D [/B]

Someone posted on this matter recently, Jamie. No one seemed to know. No replies to the post :(
http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?postid=519727#post519727

I'd be tempted to buy another network card by another vender, maybe netgear of USR aswell, just in case. I do deal with buffallo kit but it's not as popular as netgear etc

A totally ridiculous thing to say. Both for the aforementioned reasons and also because with the exception of Linksys, Netgear is quite probably the cheapest & most unreliable brand for wireless stuff. I'd take the Pepsi challenge with Buffalo stuff over Netgear any day of the week.

Been as I sell upwards of £20k of IT a day Cyclone I do think I have a slight edge on this type of stuff.

You obviously don't, as mentioned above they almost certainly have to conform to the IEEE 802.11* standards to be classed as wi-fi. Just about every manufacturer conforms to these standards. Unless the wireless access point is also made by Netgear (unlikely for any large roll out) recommending Netgear kit will make no difference at all.

Incidently, I've never been employed in sales, I have however been employed for several years as a network engineer, including a large scale wireless deployment. So I think... "I have a slight edge on this type of stuff"

OK so every one suggests Toby just goes away with the current card. Sounds like sound advice to me. A network engineer says it will be OK so there you go.

I was suggesting a bit of Insurance with a different card, as you would build redundancy into a server "just in case" I wasn't saying it wouldn't work. I always use a belkin card in my laptop but have found certain company vendor networks are sometimes a bit fragile and don't always show as available when my Belkin card is in, as I got a free WG511T with my netgear router for home I carry that around aswell and when my other card has failed that one hasn't.

For the sake of £35 to £45 it's a small layout just for if. Just like most of the guys in here carry a spare dummy for when they drop one out the pram .

Thanks for all your replies.

I'll take away what I've got, and if it doesn't work, I'll just try to remember that I am on holiday!


Ta

Toby