3Com AirConnect

Ratified in 1999, the latest IEEE 802.11b High Rate specification aims to drag the wireless LAN out of the Dark Ages. The wireless LAN (WLAN) now benefits from maximum speeds of 1, 2, 5.5 and 11Mbits/sec.

3Com's AirConnect is one of the first high-speed WLAN products to market and the starter pack combines three PC Card network interface cards and a base station. Build quality and design aren't overly impressive as the base station aerial is linked to the main unit by two small wires at the rear, which are directly in front of the Ethernet and serial ports and have to be moved aside for access. The AirConnect cards don't inspire confidence either as the aerial assembly isn't securely fixed to the card body. Another criticism levelled at the base station is that the Ethernet port is only 10BaseT, so the maximum potential of a WLAN connection can't be realised. Our performance tests, on the other hand, revealed that this wasn't going to bottleneck any potential. Operating ranges vary and depend on the connection speed. The outdoor range is still 1,000ft but, in the office, 11Mbits/sec only stretches to 80ft, while 5.5Mbits/sec increases this to 120ft.

Installing an AirConnect PC Card in a Toshiba PortÚgÚ 650CT laptop running Windows 98 SE was simple. A Launcher background task can be accessed from the System Tray and provides a wealth of troubleshooting utilities and tools. A small window shows connection status along with general settings and power modes. The card detects whether the laptop is on mains or battery power and chooses either a CAM (continuous access mode) or PSP (power save poll) mode. Signal strength can be viewed in graphical format, and link performance can be tested using PING (packet Internet groper).

Normal LAN access will require the AirConnect Access Point, which we found easy to install. Initial contact will be via the serial port using a HyperTerminal session. You can manage the Access Point from here but we found it easier to assign it an IP address and move to Web browser access. Configuration is a cinch, there are plenty of statistics to hand and you can see who's logged onto the Access Point. 3Com also provides a PowerBase-T adaptor which uses a standard eight-wire CAT5 cable to consolidate power and network connection.

For performance testing, the Access Point was connected to an Intel 510T dual-speed switch. Copying 121Mb of Windows CAB files from the laptop to a workstation took 290 seconds for an average of only 3.3Mbits/sec. A 120Mb AVI file copied to the laptop also delivered the same transfer rates. With the laptop logged into a NetWare 5 server, we ran Novell's PERFORM3 utility, which reported a best effort of 3.5Mbits/sec. With 2Mbits/sec wireless products, best efforts were 1Mbit/sec.

With the complete starter kit costing £1,136 and a street price bringing this as low as £955, 3Com's AirConnect compares well with the previous generation of wireless products. The AirConnect package may offer good management tools but real-world tests showed it comes up short in the performance stakes.

Author: Dave Mitchell