Can I mix wireless equipment from different vendors?

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Answer:

Because most wireless networking hardware vendors support the 802.11 standard they can inter operate. However, we recommend verification as the standard is a fairly recent one, and does specify two different methods for wireless communications; Frequency Hopping (FH) and Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), which are not interoperable.

When purchasing wireless networking hardware from separate vendors be sure to obtain guarantees from the vendors that the hardware will interoperate and follows the standards.

Within a short time we expect all wireless cards, like ethernet cards, to become inexpensive, ubiquitous and totally interoperable.

Also of note is that the latest version of the standard (still in draft at time of this writing) defines 11mbps and 5.5mbps networking, with support for the older standard 1mbps and 2mbps speeds. This provides some compatibility with different or older equipment.

Software access points such as the Internet Gateway and SoftRouter Plus which use the wireless interface of the host computer should have no compatibility issues with third party wireless hardware, as long as standards are followed. Typically wireless hardware is identified to the software as a network interface, and therefore can be used in the same way as any other network card.