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heh, i know how hard it can be to try and piece things together from thousands of posts and make any sense of them.
perhaps i'll write up a wireless guide tomorrow, or at least try and find someone elses to submit here. anyway, this is just a reminder for myself, move on!
To best help you go wireless, it would require some thoughts and ideas you have on how you would like to use your Ax wirelessly, and also what your current internet/network situation is.
But here is a quick run down of some WiFi information.
Home Use
In order to use your Axim wireless, a CompactFlash Wireless card is needed for the PDA and a Wireless Access Point (WAP) is needed for the PDA to access the internet. There are 2 ways for your Ax to connect to a WAP.
1. Infrastructure Mode
Internet -> WAP -> Wireless Devices
Essentially, the internet connects to an Access Point (AP) which transmits the connection to multiple devices. AP's can come in either router/WAP config or act as a stand-alone WAP.
This is best for people with multiple wireless devices or a home network containing several computers. Also, the AP is seperate device, so it can on seperately than other devices (this will be important in comparing to the other mode).
2. Ad-hoc Mode
internet -> wireless device -> wireless device.
In this setup, the internet is connected to a device, usually the PC, which shares its internet connectiong with another device. So the PC and the PDA would connect directly to each other and the PC would act as a host for the PDA to connect to the internet. For dial-up users this is probably the only choice. WAP's are setup for sharing broadband connetions, not dial-up. Also because it is only device to device, multiple devices cannont share the internet at once. So using 2 PDA's at the same time is out of the question, as the PC can only handle 1 connection. But, the PC must be turned on and connected to the internet in order to share it to the PDA.
So...to answer a few of your questions.
Going WiFi at home only costs as much as the Hardware costs and the energy needed to run it. No monthly fees aside from your (I assume) already existing internet connection.
If your hoping to go wireless outside of home, I ask that you provide some details on where you would like to do so.
Some options include:
- Using hotspots (wireless spots, often supplied by businesses as a pay-for service, or for free)
- Using your cellphone as a modem for the PDA
- Using a GSM/GPRS CF card to connect to Cellular Networks
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