BB,
If Belkin does the proprietary speed enhancement I mentioned in my last post then the PC you're buying the Belkin card for should talk nice and fast with your modem router.
The other connections will be at the nominal speed - the other PC (straight 11g) at 54Mbs and the lappy on 11b at 11Mbs.
802.11b (11Mbs) is heaps fast enough for Internet - it's faster than most broadband (eg, nearly 20 times faster than a common 512K ADSL connection), so it won't be the limiting factor at all in that regard - you'd know that from your hotel connections.
You only need the faster links if you'll regularly be moving large files around the network between computers. You'll have that ability between the PCs with their 11g links. It won't be as fast as a 10/100 ethernet, but fast enough unless your requirements are critical.
The lappy will be slower on file transfers, but perfect on the internet.
I reckon you'll be ok, you just have to get them all talking to each other, or rather, talking to the router.
Softop's idea is a good one - get the lappy talking to the router first, connect to the internet then walk around the house and see if there are any low signal issues. On my lappy XP reports signal strength (Excellent, very good, medium and poor, or words to those effects) and link speed (it varies with signal quality) when you hover on the icon in the system tray. If yours does too then you can get a rough idea of wireless link quality with that. Particularly test that signal path that passes at a low angle through the brick wall.
AA
Last edited by Ausatco; 21st September 2004 at 18:31.