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Home / Other I-Appliances / 3Com Audrey Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA?

Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 0 times) Daghis Profile | Email I just ordered an Audrey and its USB Ethernet adapter from TigerDirect yesterday and see that they're on their way to me from Illinois. I'm going to be using it in our kitchen where we do not currently have any sort of network access. From what I've seen, I have two options: I can purchase a pair of NetGear PE102's (Ethernet to Phone Line Bridge) and use my home's phone wiring to be the network transport up to my upstairs office's network hub. Or, I could pick up a Linksys WAP11 (Wireless Network Access Point) and use my home's existing 802.11b network. The brand-spankin' new firmware for the WAP11 allows it to be a wireless bridge and act as a client to another access point which would work great in this particular case. Given the distance and angle between the kitchen and the Apple Airport upstairs, I suspect that I wouldn't get full bandwidth out of a wireless connection, so going with the HomePNA technology might be a better choice. Unfortunately for me, I have to decide fast since the PE102's are on sale at CompUSA for $50 off only through tomorrow (they're only $100 apiece now). For comparison, the WAP11 is $250 (with a $15 mail-in rebate). Hmmm... I guess I've answered my own question in terms of lower cost and probably better performance. What do you all think? --Marc 09-07-2001 08:19:34

RE:Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 0 times) TheBigD Profile wireless access is obviouly "sexier" so it comes down to your budget really... I'm not interested in any discussions about wireless access for the audrey until some kind of rechargeable alternative (reasonably priced) power source is discovered first... but i guess if my whole house wasn't wired then id be in the same boat as you are. 09-07-2001 09:26:41

RE:Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 1 times) mr23 Profile Discussion of wireless access is interesting to at least some of the group. Even those with most/whole house internet wiring have AC grid outlets in more locations than they have internet 'outlets'. Costs are coming down on wireless, and will continue to do so. I'd appreciate it if those who forge the wireless path continue to document it here. 09-10-2001 13:44:10

RE:Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 0 times) Chiliblue Profile late to comment I guess, But it I think distance is not really a concern, the usb ethernet on the audrey is going to be the bottle neck more than likely. I run a 2mbit wireless network along side a 100mbit network, but that is sharing a 144/144 IDSL line, so you can see where the bottle neck is here, the 100mbit is probably better for playing mp3's over a network but in practice I think that audreys cpu and memory would let you down on that score way before the network speed did. jmpw Chiliblue 09-10-2001 21:31:50

RE:Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 0 times) Creech Profile Two weekends ago I ran six ethernet connections in my home. It took about an hour per run. I had the CAT5 so it cost me about $120 to do. It is pretty easy to accomplish and then you have a full 10/100 to play with. Dropped one in the kitchen where our Audrey will live as a glorified cookbook. Just my $0.02 worth, Creech. 09-10-2001 22:15:36

RE:Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 0 times) keith721 Profile creech: you were lucky. i live in an older house, plaster over wood lath, ridiculously small crawl space beneath, and cross members in all the walls, preventing drops from the spacious attic. currently, i have one dropped inside a bedroom closet for the wife, then run along the baseboard. wireless is starting to look *very* good to me. keith721 09-11-2001 06:59:08

RE:Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 0 times) Daghis Profile | Email In case anyone is curious, I picked up two of the NetGear PE102 bridges and hooked them up with my new Audrey last night. They're working like a charm! --Marc 09-13-2001 08:09:15

RE:Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 0 times) chaz_ Profile | Email I have a question about the PE102 bridges. Does it interfere with dsl activity on the phone line, or x10 activity? Thanks. - chaz http://www.photo-chaz.net/ 11-09-2001 10:27:11

RE:Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 0 times) caderoux Profile | Email The PE102s are over $100 each at the cheapest place I could find at shopper.com. You'd need one to bridge each Audrey and one to bridge your network backbone. Pretty expensive compared to the cost of running CAT5. For that cost, I think I could get the equipment to do cabling, jacks and a structure cabling cabinet and modules from Home Depot. It depends on your house, but even wireless is going to be a lot more expensive than running cabling for a device which will alway be tethered to power supply. Cade Roux 11-09-2001 11:38:38

RE:Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 0 times) briker206 Profile Home Depot is WAAAY over priced on the network supplies. Only things like those flexible shaft drill bits are easier to get their. Everything else you can order much cheaper online. I would still like the option of wireless for those places I couldn't justify running cable even though when I remodeled my house I put conduit everywhere for electrical and A/V/Data. Of course 34 plugins for appliances in the kitchen might be a little overkill..... 11-09-2001 12:20:03

RE:Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 0 times) caderoux Profile | Email I found Home Depot to have much better prices on CAT 5 patch cables than Office Depot or CompUSA - but the Internet is always cheaper if you can afford to wait for shipping. Wireless is definitely a good idea, but it breaks down on price right now (for six Audreys). I paid $169 for one Symbol CompactFlash Wireless Networker 802.11b - almost the price of two Audreys. And I cannot get it to work reliably in my iPaq with my other Netgear equipment at all. Works for a few minutes immediately after the WAP is power-cycled, but then fails. Sometimes brings the WAP down completely. And Windows 2000 is not recognizing it for regular PC use, so I can't tell if it is just the PocketPC drivers... Cade Roux 11-11-2001 08:21:24

RE:Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 0 times) markc2it Profile Marc, I'm trying to do the same thing with a phone line in the kitchen. I don't want to shell out $200+ for a pair of HomePNA bridges yet. Someone mentioned that the NetGear PA101 (USB to PNA) adapter ($32) uses the same Kawasaki LSI chip that the EA101 uses. Maybe someone more technically astute than myself has figured out a way to make this adapter work with Audrey and avoid using Ethernet altogether. Plus, one of the advantages of HomePNA vs. wireless is that you don't need a hub unless you need to connect to an Ethernet router, etc. 02-04-2002 21:15:02

RE:Remote network access in kitchen -- 802.11b or PNA? (modified 0 times) poppagene Profile An alternate solution for those already running a phoneline network is a 2wire homeportal. I use the 1500 model which is a combination dsl modem, hpna2.0 bridge, usb bridge, and 10MB ethernet bridge. Audrey uses a 3com 3c460 10mbps USB adapter that plugs into the homeportal ethernet out port. The other computers in my home share the dsl connection using phoneline network adapters. The 2wire is fast and easy to configure. 02-05-2002 18:38:54

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