Another email from Chester. He is facing Internet communication problem with his latest Linksys wireless network adapter.

When I disable my Internet connection for a period of time and try to activate it again, I find that no data is transmitted. I have tried scanning with Ad-ware, AVG Free AntiVirus, Spybot S&D and AntiVir PE. I have tried release and renew IP address with ipconfig, but the IP address is 0.0.0.0.
My system details: P4 2.8Ghz, 512MB RAM, on Windows XP Professional SP2 and a Linksys WUSB54G wireless network adapter.

Having done a thorough check for virus or other kinds of malicious software, the issue is most likely the hardware, your WUSB54G, or the software associated with it. Check on the Linksys support website to verify you’re using latest firmware & software.

A quick check on Linksys’s Easy Answer technical sites reveals a similar issue, what they refer to as Getting Association (signal strength), but no Internet Access. (Click on the link to open for solution)

This article will guide you on setting up a fixed IP address and directly inputting the DNS settings. This ensures that your wireless adapter does not have to renew or refresh setting when it re-establishes the signal to the wireless access point.

Small and medium sized businesses that want to set up Personal Area Networks with their Bluetooth devices can consider the new enhanced data rate wireless bluetooth USB adapter.

The Enhanced Data Rate transfer means that content like audio, video and digital photographs can be transferred and shared more quickly. The adapter is Bluetooth v2.0 compliant and has a high 3Mb bandwidth for multi-tasking and rapid connections, operating up to 300 feet.

via Product Page of SMC.com

If you are a mobile warrior thirsting for bandwidth but unable to find a wirelss hotspot, consider the Option GlobeTrotter 3G QUAD.

This handy PC datacard utilizes both 3G UTMS and GRRS technologies, allowing you to connect to the Internet from any country covered by a 3G or GSM network.
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Looking for a way to access the Internet on your notebook without having to find a wireless hotspot?

Then check out the Huawei E6000 Datacard.

Card access to the Internet

It is a PCMCIA datacard that supports both 3G and GPRS connections through a SIM card for Internet access. As the card is larger than usual PCMCIA card size, it sticks out the slot by about 2.5cm, which a flip-up antenna at the end for improved signal reception.

There was one little problem with the datacard’s software. It can only be installed and run when the notebook’s display is set to 96-DPI. Use any other DPI setting and the software will refuse to load. This problem will fixed in the next version of the software driver, according to the distributor.

Apart from the little glitch, the software worked pretty well. It lets you use your notebook to do all the things a phone can do, for example make, receive and manages call, send and receive SMS texts and manages contacts.

All the functions are straightforward and easily done with the software. Contacts are easily imported and exported between the SIM card and the notebook. In fact, SMS message can also be imported from the SIM card as well.

Getting on the Internet is also straightforward. Once your phone provider’s network settings have been configured, Internet access is just a mouse click away.
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NETGEAR’S RangeMax 240 Wireless Router has nearly twice the short-range speed of our previous performance champs, thanks to Airgo Networks’ True Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) Gen 3 chip. The device didn’t fulfill one of MIMO’s core benefits, however, fast performance at long range.

Three Flexible Antenna

Along the back of the router are three flexible antenna you can bend at 90-degree angles. You can also rotate the outer two antennae 180 degrees each and the middle one 360 degrees, orienting them in ways to maximize coverage.We wish the company included brackets for mounting the router high on a wall for an unobstructed signal, though.

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Network Topology

A wireless LAN is a group of computers, each equipped with one wireless adapter. Computers in a wireless LAN must be configured to share the same radio channel.

The wireless adapters provide access to a wired LAN for wireless workstations. An integrated wireless and wired LAN is called an infrastructure configuration. A group of wireless adapter users and a Wireless-G Broadband Router compose a Basic Service Set (BSS). Each wireless adapter PC in a BSS can talk to any computer in a wired LAN infrastructure via the Wireless-G Broadband Router.

An infrastructure configuration extends the accessibility of a wireless adapter PC to a wired LAN, and doubles the effective wireless transmission range for two wireless adapter PCs. Since the Wireless-G Broadband Router is able to forward data within its BSS, the effective transmission range in an infrastructure LAN is doubled.

Infrastructure mode is wireless network that is bridged to a wired network via an access point.

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The haphazard development of a home networking system can be as chaotic as a poorly planned road system. It is often the result of adding on new components to your home PCs without looking at the bigger picture.

If you have more than one PC at home sharing a common printer, or other peripherals, you are already at the beginning of Phrase 3 of Home Networking, according to author, Dr Larry Long.

Phase 1 and 2 involve introducing the first, then the second (or third) PC to your home, he says. By Phase 3, you start to share files, storage, printer and Internet resources and at Phase 4, you are on your way to creating an electronic home. Here is when you integrate the digital home entertainment with the home office and a cyberworld for the gamers in the family.
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