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So, what is this new IEEE 802.11b standard?
The wireless router supports the IEEE 802.11b, which is a newly ratified standard for 11 Mbps High Rate Wireless LANs (WLAN). It operates at a 2.4 GHz radio frequency band using Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) and delivers up to 11 Mbps wireless performance. This is comparable to wired Ethernet.
To put it down in layman’s term, you can think of the SMC Wireless router as the “base station” for your cordless phone system and the PCMCIA card analogous to a cordless handset. Communication is achieved between the “base” station and the PCMCIA card via radio waves.
The IEEE 802.11b is an upgrade to the previous IEEE802.11 that only supports up to 2 Mbps. By using the 2.4 GHz band, wireless users are way above the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz band reserved mainly for GSM/GSM1800 signals. Also, due to the different signaling mechanisms, such as DSSS or Bluetooth’s Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS), IEEE 802.11b WLAN products will not interfere with one another even though they are all operating in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band.
Taking a closer look, the SMC Wireless Router is compliant with Wi-Fi™, a protocol necessary to handshake with other manufacture’s products that also uses the IEEE 802.11b DSSS.
Test-Bench Setup
Before embarking on the tests per se, here's my test-bench setup for reference:-
”Base Station” should refer to the system where the SMC Router was connected to.
01 x PIII700 at 933MHz (7 x 133MHz)
1 x 128 MB PC133 SDRAM
1 x MSI 6337 i815 motherboard
01 x MSI 816 GeForce 2 GTS video card; Official Nvidia 6.31 Win2K drivers
Attached to RAID ATA-100 IDE slots (IDE 2/3): 02 x 30.5GB IBM 75GXP ATA-100 drives; AMI HyperDisk 100 v2.4.1024.0 drivers;
Attached to standard ATA-100 IDE slots (IDE 0/1): 01 x 30.5GB Maxtor Diamond Max 45 ATA-100 drive (Primary Master) + 01 x 28.5GB Seagate Barracuda II ATA-66 drive (Primary Slave); Intel Ultra-ATA Storage 6.1.8 drivers
01 x 19” Sony G400 monitor
01 x 10/100 INTEL Pro Express NIC (connected to Cable Modem)
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional w/ Service Pack 1
Laptop specifications are as follow:
- Acer TravelMate 340
- Pentium® III 500MHz
- 128MB memory
- 12 GB HDD
- Integrated 10/100 Ethernet RJ45 connection
- 128-bit AGP graphics accelerator with 2.5MB SGRAM video memory
- One CardBus PC Card slot (Type II), ZV supported
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional w/ Service Pack 1
The SMC Wireless Router was connected to the SCV Cable modem.
Installation and setting up
Having experienced firsthand the configuration of the SMC Barricade Cable/DSL router in my previous review, setting up the SMC Wireless Router proved to be quick and easy. Similar to the Cable/DSL router, the SMC Wireless Router does not come with a manual. However, a thin “Quick Start” booklet accompanies the package and further details can be obtained from the PDF/WinWord DOC files provided with the CD.
The SMC Barricade Wireless Router with its antennas sticking up.
Below is a graphical view of the router’s front panel. Just like the SMC Cable/DSL router, I find the activity LEDs too small to be useful. I would have preferred the LEDs to be larger and more prominent.
Graphical view of the router front panel.
A feature that I find useful is the ability to restore all the settings via the RESET button found in the front panel. By using a sharp tipped instrument, you can depress the RESET button for about 5 seconds while you power up the router. This can be handy if you have accidentally forgotten your administrator password but need to regain access to the router.
Frontal shot of the SMC lights.
Rear view of the wireless router.
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