I love wireless networking; I have done ever since TPC last year, when I got to do a lot of hacking over the wireless during the talks. Big fun.
So when I moved into my new house late last year, I decided I would have a wireless network. At the time, I had a Toshiba Tecra running Linux and Windows, and a desktop acting as the server. I bought a PCMCIA adapter for the desktop and slotted in a wireless card, and after a lot of hassle, got a peer-to-peer network together. There were a lot of problems with it, though, mainly (I thought) due to bugs in the Linux drivers for the two cards.
When I got my TiBook, I thought things would be a lot better, since Apple have been doing wireless for ages and can really get it right. Of course, there were still problems with the server machine, and in fact, the Linux drivers were crapping out so badly I had to remove the PC card and reinsert it every ten minutes or so. Urgh.
So I cracked, and bought an Airport Base Station, because then, everything would be fine, right? Apple talking to Apple, loads of range, wonderful.
Three meters. Three sodding meters. I could hardly get out of the room before it lost the signal. And to make it more embarrassing, it's the TiBook that's at fault - the old Toshiba running Windows can get to the other side of the house and more. I've fiddled with every setting known to man, located the Airport all over the house, taken the Tibook apart and checked the antenna connection, everything. I think I'm getting somewhere now; after taking the firmware on the TiBook client card down a version, I can hack from my bedroom once again.
But by now, the base station is connected to the hub in the office but is hanging from the wall in the living room, trailing an ethernet cable, and attached to the power socket on the other side of the living room. Not, unfortunately, a particularly wireless LAN.
I can understand your problem with wires though. I still haven't got round to mounting the antenna on the outside of the house. It works quite well inside, but It'd be better out (now if only I could work a way of running the wire outside the house)
