Don't Need no Stinking Wires (The monolithic wireless networking review)
Written: Apr 22 '03 (Updated Aug 16 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Unnaturally, suspiciously cheap. Take it apart and you can upgrade the antenna.
Cons: Has "Compaq" written on it.
The Bottom Line: The only thing that lets it down is the lack of DHCP control and the less-than-stellar docs.
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| zero_'s Full Review: Compaq iPAQ Connection Point CP-2W |
Just when you thought you had networking nailed down they up and come out with this whole wireless thing, which is another can of buzzwords and confusion for you to unravel. That's how I think of it, anyway.
Wireless networking, like so many other technologies, has recently gotten to the point that you don't have to be Bill Gates or have his budget to find the gear you need and set it up. Regular wired Ethernet used to be a toy just for corporations and the fabulously rich, too - Now just about every J. Random Compaq Owner has Ethernet gear built into his PC and is probably using it, too. hWireless used to be a pipe dream just like Ethernet was, but now here we are.
The technology itself has matured to the point that it usually works and it's beginning to find useful niches outside of situations where whatever computers you're trying to network are close enough that you may as well run a wire.
This doesn't make it any less confusing to the uninitiated, of course. A little stroll down the wireless networking aisle of your local Computers 'R Us will turn up Bluetooth gear, Wi-Fi/802.11b gear, 802.11g gear, 54g equipment, and Apple AirPort hardware besides.
The skinny is basically as follows: Bluetooth is not a wireless networking standard. People bludgeon it into networking roles, but that's not what it's for. Bluetooth is designed to be a sort of a wireless USB, providing short range medium bandwidth connections to various pieces of (often portable) gear like headsets and cell phones and so on. There are pieces of software that let you throw together a bluetooth network of sorts but the people that shelf this stuff next to the rest of the networking hardware in the computer store need to be beaten profusely. Bluetooth hasn't got a whole lot of range or bandwidth and isn't useful for much of anything except lobbing files over a cubicle wall or two.
Wi-Fi or Ethernet 802.11b (they're the same thing, and are also, insofar as I know, the same as Apple's AirPort) is a proper wireless networking standard and is also the system the Compaq CP-2W uses. I'll get to that in a moment. Wi-Fi has decent range (500 feet is usually quoted), structured network support, provides for encryption and some passing attempt at security, and real scalability.
802.11g is very similar to Wi-Fi but has more range. 802.11g equipment is a little more expensive but almost always backwards compatible with Wi-Fi stuff. It's not to be confused with 54g, which is 54 megabit 802.11g. Wi-Fi and 802.11g are 11 megabit per second systems.
Now that the thoroughly confused have left the room I can get on with the review.
I don't normally like Compaq gear. Compaq's had a very bad hardware and software track record with me and a great many people I know. A favorite saying of mine has a little to do with Compaq being the first to copy IBM's PC computer and a lot to do with them doing the very worst job of it to this very day. Unfortunately, they've got a big fat market share and now that they've merged with HP it doesn't look like things will be letting up soon.
Thus, I was a little skeptical taking the Compaq CP-2W out of the box. Its price also places it firmly at the bottom of the list in the current retail market - I wasn't expecting anything too spectacular from something so suspiciously cheap. If you don't mind me spoiling the surprise, though, it turns out that the CP-2W isn't too shoddy a piece of gear.
Compaq calls the CP-2W a "wireless access point". It may also be called, depending on who you ask, a "wireless router", or a wireless internet sharing box. The CP-2W aims to be all things to a great many people, but weather or not it succeeds depends on what you're trying to do with it.
The main function of the CP-2W is sharing a broadband internet connection. It functions as a NAT server (Network Address Translation, a term that you will never see on the box or in Windows. It basically means something that shares an internet connection meant for one computer with many computers.) over an 802.11/Wi-Fi and/or a regular old wired Ethernet network. You plug your DSL or cable modem into the box and lots of computers can use it. Simple enough.
The CP-2W will also function as an Ethernet hub, with or without an internet connection attached, a wireless access point for connecting wireless devices to each other and/or the rest of your wired network, a DHCP server for handing out IP addresses to other computers on the network, and a rudimentary firewall. All this for 70 bucks, no less.
Down to the nuts and bolts.
The CP-2W is a flat, nondescript black box with some ports on the back and an antenna sticking out of it. Compaq is finally steering their hardware design away from the needlessly cookie-cutter, at long last, and the CP-2W isn’t too large, doesn’t have any superfluous transparent or curvy bits, and is stackable. You can leave it on top of your monitor, under the desk, down in the basement, underneath your existing hub, whatever. It has Compaq’s “Ipaq” moniker slapped across its front for some reason. I don’t know why Compaq insists on branding everything they make “Ipaq”. First it was their laptops, then their handhelds, then their networking gear, now just about everything they make. I guess they’re trying to make themselves sound as trendy as Apple with thei’r Imacs. Maybe they’re trying to go the way of the Chain Store Formerly Known as K Mart (but now known as “Big K”). In any event, it’s equipped with four Ethernet ports, one additional port for your internet connection, and a titchy little rubberized antenna. In the box you get a wall wart power pack, a five foot Ethernet cable, a driver CD (which you don’t actually need except for troubleshooting), a dinky quickstart guide, and, be still my beating heart, an actual manual.
The quickstart guide is a nice serving suggestion, but I don’t recommend following it to the letter. The guide wants you to install all sorts of unnecessary software and meddle with things that don’t need to be meddled with. The setup of the CP-2W is, as a matter of fact, refreshingly plug-and-go. Provided your cable modem itself works all you have to do is plug the modem into the CP-2W, plug your wired stuff (other computers or even hubs and switches) into the ports on the back, and plug the thing into the wall.
By default the CP-2W will function as a DHCP server in the 192.168.1.x range (the same as Windows 9x’s default, as it happens) and will server out IP addresses and the internet connection to any computer that you plug into it that’s got the TCP/IP protocol installed. It also broadcasts via Wi-Fi/802.11b with no encryption, and no other twiddly bits enabled.
This means that just about any computer that you plug in or bring within range (that is set up properly, at least) will work. What is also means is your new out-of-the-box network has no internal security whatsoever and any fool with a Wi-Fi connection can waltz right in an use your ‘net connection, browse your internal network, and muck with things.
Things can be tightened up a bit. The CP-2W can be configured by any computer plugged into it (or Wi-Fi’ed to it) by going to http://cp.home in your web browser. You are presented with a prompt to enter your administrator name and password (“admin” and a blank password, by default) and with that out of the way a reasonably well designed browser based configuration utility is yours to play with.
The CP-2W supports WEP (Wired Equivalency Protection or Wireless Encryption Protocol, depending on who you ask) to prevent the riff-raff from sticking an antenna into your wireless domain and accessing your network without permission. You can set a manual WEP encryption key or set things up to work through a global password. You can use 64 or 128 bit encryption. The administrator password can be also changed (or in this case, set), which I is something I strongly suggest.
By default the CP-2W will attempt to obtain an IP through your cable/DSL modem through DHCP. If your internet service doesn’t support this and requires user authentication, PPPoE, static IP settings, or anything of the like you can set things up through the browser setup. There are also additional advanced settings: You can define a DMZ, change the router’s IP address, set the router up to work with an existing server, reserve IP’s, and so on. You can also supposedly change the IP (DHCP) scheme that the CP-2W uses, but the only option you’re actually presented with is what range of digits to use for the last digit in your IP addresses. Your IP addresses will always be stuck in the standard 192.168.1.x scheme using this router and there’s nothing you can do about it. You can, of course, set the router to an IP outside this range – This will prevent it from working with your network. Hurrah.
Basic system functions are also handled through the browser. The router can be rebooted via software so you don’t have to untangle it from wherever you set it up and poke its hardware reset button. You can also update the firmware through the network, which is something I suggest you hold off on doing until you’re absolutely sure the network is error-free. Hosing the firmware with a corrupted image would be the death of this router and that’s that. The firmware chip in the router is not removable to swap it with a known good one.
That’s all well and good, you say, but how well’s it work?
Surprisingly well, as a matter of fact.
The CP-2W picks up on computers entering the network and assigns an IP to them right quick. No waiting around for five minutes like some other routers I could mention. It passes data through to the cable modem quite quickly, too, leaving no impact on download speeds and a very minimal impact on ping times. This is for wired Ethernet, anyway – Wireless networks invariably have lousy ping times. The CP-2W connected to my ISP through the cable modem with no trouble at all. I can’t vouch for those of you that have to muck with a PPPoE DSL connection, but the rest of the thing works as advertised so I don’t foresee much of a problem there.
The wireless aspect of things also works well. 802.11b isn’t terribly fast by any stretch of the imagination. It’s only an 11 megabit per second standard, marginally faster than 10 base Ethernet and only then if you have a perfect connection. 11 megabits a second is more than your broadband internet connection will ever see, though, so beyond shunting massive files around the network via Wi-Fi the speed of the thing shouldn’t be an issue.
Range is acceptable. I have my CP-2W set up in the basement and I can get a 70-80 percent strength connection from the top floor of the other corner of the house. I can get steady access from just about anywhere in the house, most of the yard, and part of my neighbor's yard. Compaq quotes a 300 foot maximum range. It seems reasonable enough.
That’s none too shabby anyway, mind you, because Wi-Fi runs on a bad frequency. Wi-Fi operates on the 2.4 ghz radio frequency, which has the distinct disadvantage of being very close to the output of microwaves, cordless phones, and a host of other junk. It’s also not too hot for obstacle penetration, all things considering. 2.4 ghz is readily absorbed by water, for a start (which is, if you’ll recall, how and why microwave ovens work). There’s water in the air and there’s lots of water in human bodies. If you need a demonstration, just wrap your hand all the way around the CP-2W’s antenna and watch the entire wireless portion of your network crash and burn until you unhand the antenna. 2.4 ghz doesn’t do so well with metal, either, though metal obstacles are far less of a problem than wet ones. 2.4 ghz radio doesn’t have the same resonance issues as some other commonly used frequencies (like those used by cell phones, which is why your phone never works right inside a warehouse), so using Wi-Fi in a steel framed building shouldn’t be a problem.
All of that’s par for the course as far as any Wi-Fi gear goes, though. I can say that the CP-2W isn’t so lousy that it frequently develops connection problems without outside help. This is a Good Thing.
When something does go wrong there is a paper manual to fall back on and some online documentation on the included CDROM. Neither of the above are terribly useful, in my opinion. Both manuals are a lot of defining words with words and vague descriptions of things that don’t help the inexperienced a bit. If the manual does correctly define a term it invariably neglects to tell you what said term or option does. Your best bet for duking it out with the router’s problems is to ask someone who knows what they’re talking about. Support forums, ahoy.
Setting up the CP-2W shouldn’t be too tricky for a novice but if something does get tangled in the installation a more comprehensive set of documentation would certainly help. A crappy quickstart card for a USB mouse or a joystick or something is one thing. Bad documentation for a complex internet router is another.
Since everything works as far as I can expect it to I suppose Compaq snuck a good product in on me. I don’t know if the thing will suddenly go tits-up in a week or catch fire if I move too much data though it or something, but from what I’ve seen this is a good piece of gear. Recommended.
Update: Taken the thing apart, I have. Inside I found a less than exciting system board, some jacks and LED's, and a Delta labeled PCMCIA Wi-Fi card. Yeah, what the hell?
The card's held in with a little nylon widget that you need to unhook from the other side of the system board (relative to the side you're looking at if you've taken the cover off of the router). Once you detangle it you can stick it in your laptop if you like - Reference drivers are kicking around on the web. Apparently the router uses some variant of embedded Linux (as I hear these NAT boxes commonly do) and in an effort to keep costs down, keep the design useful for updating (Possible expansion to 54g and similar beefier standards? We can dream...), or maybe just flat out laziness Compaq just stuck an existing piece of Wi-Fi hardware in there and left it at that.
The card in my unit, at least, has two Lucent/LCN style minature connectors for antennae, one of which is plugged right into the router's own 4 inch rubber ducky antenna. This leaves the router open to expansion, though the feature isn't documented anywhere. With the proper "pigtail" adapter (which'll run you about 15 bucks, maybe less if you shop around), a drill, some coaxial cable and possibly an N connector or two, and you can affix a secondary and more powerful antenna to the CP-2W. Maybe a high gain omni or one of those homebrew Pringles can directional antennae you see floating around on the web. You can leave the stock antenna in there for short range use, if you like, or disconnect the thing entirely and connect not one but two aftermarket antennae to the thing.
If your unit comes with a card that's only got one connector on it, of course, you're left in the lurch. Don't come crying to me about it, at any rate.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
zero_
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Member: Robert "Zero" Drendall
Location: Claymont, DE, United States
Reviews written: 102
Trusted by: 19 members
About Me:
Providing your semi-regular dose of extreme verbosity since somewhere around the turn of the century.
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