Airport Card vs. my USB Wireless Adapter

[OnTrack Studios]

On my iMac G4 17" 800mhz I currently have a USB adapter for connecting to my wifi network. It works fine but it would be nice to have the extra USB port for my iSub, the other is connected to a printer. The USB adapter is 54mb/sec but the port is USB 1.0 so it's only 12mb/sec anyway. I know the airport cards are 802.11b but I'm guessing the speed would be the same, or pretty similar. Just seeing what you guys thought. Also, everytime I restart, I have to disconnect from my neighbor's router and connect to mine. Not that big of a deal but I might as well minimize any inconveniences. Should I stick with what I have, or shell out the $35 for an airport card from ebay. Thanks!

 

[Mac SK]

You could use a usb powered hub for the printer and other stuff.

 

[175170]

If you need it, then don't hesitate.
Just make sure you have the "right" AirPort Card.

 

[MacTech68]

If you're not having driver issues, and don't mind the clutter of a USB hub, go with that.

With respect to connecting to the other network, try opening System Preferences --> Network --> Show "Airport", then under the "Airport" tab, select 'By Default, Join:' "Preferred Networks".

Now, click and drag the name of YOUR network to the top of the list and click in "Apply Now"

The above works for me under 10.4.11.

You can delete any networks you don't need from the list by selecting the network's name and clicking on the "-" (minus) button.

BTW, one assumes your neighbor's network doesn't have a password or that they've given it to you. If the former, you might like to tell them that their network isn't secure.

Likewise, I trust your network at least has a password to join.

 

[OnTrack Studios]

If you're not having driver issues, and don't mind the clutter of a USB hub, go with that.

With respect to connecting to the other network, try opening System Preferences --> Network --> Show "Airport", then under the "Airport" tab, select 'By Default, Join:' "Preferred Networks".

Now, click and drag the name of YOUR network to the top of the list and click in "Apply Now"

The above works for me under 10.4.11.

You can delete any networks you don't need from the list by selecting the network's name and clicking on the "-" (minus) button.

BTW, one assumes your neighbor's network doesn't have a password or that they've given it to you. If the former, you might like to tell them that their network isn't secure.

Likewise, I trust your network at least has a password to join.

Alright, I'll try that out. The USB adapter uses it's own network interface though, so hopefully it'll apply to that as well. And yea, I have a password on mine. The issue at first was that my neighbor and I had the exact same router with the same name and no passwords so my computers were automatically connecting to their router for some reason so I went and changed my routers and name and set up a password for it.

 

[MacTech68]

Alright, I'll try that out. The USB adapter uses it's own network interface though, so hopefully it'll apply to that as well....

Ahhh.... I hadn't thought of that. Hopefully the third party config of the driver has a similar feature.

Also, the Apple driver does allow you to not join open networks. Maybe the third party driver has that feature.

 

[OnTrack Studios]

Ahhh.... I hadn't thought of that. Hopefully the third party config of the driver has a similar feature.

Also, the Apple driver does allow you to not join open networks. Maybe the third party driver has that feature.

It looks like I may have figured it out. You can setup a profile with a preffered network so I'm guessing it will automatically connect to that each time now. I havn't restarted yet but it should work. Thanks for the help! Also, do you know how to make an external USB hard drive shareable? It's hooked up to my MacBook Pro and I'm trying to access it on my powerbook and imac.

 

[MacTech68]

It looks like I may have figured it out. You can setup a profile with a preffered network so I'm guessing it will automatically connect to that each time now. I havn't restarted yet but it should work. Thanks for the help! Also, do you know how to make an external USB hard drive shareable? It's hooked up to my MacBook Pro and I'm trying to access it on my powerbook and imac.

Cool, hopefully that works.. As a side note, can you tell us what make of USB dongle it is and what driver it uses (and possibly where it was purchased?).

With respect to the sharing, a simple way would be (on the MacBook Pro) to tick the "ignore permissions on this volume" in a "get info" window on the drive, and turn on "Personal File Sharing" in the "Sharing" system prefs panel. (Note that you may need to stop and re-start personal file sharing to see the change reflected).

Then, login from using your login name and password for the MacBook Pro and you should see the USB drive's name listed for selection after entering your username and password.