How many of you actually use WiFi?

[Guest ThunderRiver]

I personally enjoy the convenience with WiFi connection I find around this campus. I can pretty much get online anywhere I like as long as I am within th range of access point. I would have wished they put up more access point though Currently they only support 802.11b, which is good enough for me.What do you guys use? Do you really think 802.11g has a lot of potentials? or it was just turned hype because of Apple's decision? 802.11a is obviously out of the question. Although it theoretically has a lot more performance than 802.11b, it is still not widely used as many expected.

[Grasshopper]

Actually I use both.When we moved into our house my town began Road Runner service. We had two computers. Mine upstairs and my wife's laptop downstairs. I spent 6 hours running CAT5 from the switch by my computer downstairs (novice cabler ). We soon gained a couple more computers and I decided that since prices were coming down I'd go for a WiFi setup. A wifi NIC for my wife's PC downstairs and then one for the old laptop that my wife uses for school. The rest (my two PC's and my daughter's) are wired. I also have a Dell Axim PDA that I have a CF wifi card for.

[Guest LilBambi]

Not using wireless at our place yet, but we have set up many networks making use of both wireless and wired setups.Wired networks are the best, but you really can't beat the convenience of wireless, particularly with a notebook that can be taken anywhere in the house or at an airport, hotel, campus (like Thunder was saying) or anywhere else where there is a access.We are wanting to get it at our place soon too, for the convenience of not adding a wire to certain parts of the house where it is difficult to snake a cable.I am really looking forward to using it for ourselves ... our clients love it!

[Freddy]

I went wireless at home mostly for the conveniece and timing. Wife inheriteted PC that I replaced with a laptop. After getting cable broadband, the Linksys was a no-brainer to integrate it all. Even the printer went wireless - why not?I've since moved and am back on dial-up for the time being. I still use the linksys, but only for printing.I shutter at the thought of wireless in the office. Not in its current state - but then again, the layout of our offices and closets makes wiring pretty routine, but is terrible for wifi. At home in the stix, I don't think too many people will be stiffing, but the office is surrounded by apartments and other buildings - too vulnerable.

[littlebone]

I've been using an SMC wireless AP and an SMC PC card in my laptop for about a year and a half now. The AP is connected to a Linksys router along with two other hard-wired nodes and a Linksys printer server (also hard wired). I use the laptop as my primary machine and love being able to take it anywhere in the house or out on the deck (in the summer).The one downside: the card continually loses sight of the AP and starts blinking. I have tried positioning the two better, but I never get 100% up-time without having to manually re-scan. I will be in the market for 802.11g equipment and will be checking this board and elsewhere for more reliable antennas for the AP and card.

[Martini Lover]

I have Office in basement with desktop,(if monitor sits under desk and viewed through window, is it still a desktop?) and I am usually sitting in my recliner at night with laptop, wireless cable hookup, and love it. Just a few years ago we had to cut a trench through the parking lot just to get a small out office conected, who would have ever thought! Shortly all machines will come with built in wi-fi. New laptops already have it. Come on progress.

[Scot]

My network comprises both extensive wired infrastructure (almost every room in my house has an ethernet jack) and wireless. I strongly recommend that a wired router and a switch are the way to go, with access points where you can't easily wire or for outside access.-- Scot

[ctsolutions]

My laptops both have 802.11b built in and I just love the convenience, but I do work on a leash sometimes when I need to transfer a lot of data or connect to a client's by dial-up. I'm about to setup wireless at a client's office and have been doing lots of research on security. At home I just use association control by MAC address, 128 bit WEP and have the SSID broadcast disabled. For my client, I'm going with D-Link which offers 256 bit encryption and 22mbps (even though it's 802.11b.) I've also been reading some info on XP's web folders - if you use them with EFS, the decryption happens on the client side so the data that's airborne is still encrypted. When you use EFS with normal shares the decryption happens on the server...sounds like a promising direction.

[SonicDragon]

I only have one pc here on the 'net so i'm wired, but if i ever get a laptop, i'd definately go wireless

[nlinecomputers]

MISSING OPTION on the poll. I use what ever Wi/Fi I can find when I'm wardriving!

[Marsden11]

Wireless has its uses... I personally have not invested in it because of all the various protocols a, b, and g. "G" finally got ratified last week. I would not purchase any WiFi device unless it could handle all 3 specs.A TON of money has been poured into building out "hotspots" but consumers are not flocking to them in droves. Many are saying it is turning into a huge waste of money. I would tend to agree with that asessment. A hotspot is just a spot! Leave the limited range of the spot and your bytes are dead in the air... Not all spots are free. You may pay to use a Starbucks spot but that account does no good at a different coffee joint. To be truely covered would require many paid accounts. My T-Mobile costs just $10 per month and is good in any populated area in the US and Europe (dual band GSM). I prefer my T-Mobile Pocket PC where I can connect from just about anywhere there is cell coverage. Sure it is painfully slow as **** but I'll take slow and a connection any day over fast and a spot here and there. I can Telnet in to any of my servers from just about anywhere.How many of you can do that with WiFi from anywhere?