Wireless Trading

stevene9 · May 1, 2002

This summer I wish to take my laptop outside and do some trading from the backyard. I was thinking of getting an 802.11b (Wi-Fi) wireless setup to attach to my cable modem. Has anyone tried something like this? Is the connection a solid one without interference? Will the data stream be clean? Is this feasible for some trading. I know this setup allows internet surfing, but I don't know how good, or error free, the connection is. Thanks.

BullFighter · May 1, 2002

I've studied 802.11 in some depth. IT should be fine for what you are doing. Chances are that you won't get interference because of the spread spectrum technology. No guarantees. The trick is all in the AccessPoint power output, the antenna gain and antenna placement. Like anyhing else, you get what you pay for. Can't recommend a manufacturer. The stuff I was working with was Cisco for long distance applications. Dlink and other make cheaper stuff. Should work great. 10Mbs rate half duplex.

Mike

stevene9 · May 2, 2002

Most Wi-Fi transmitters say they operate at 11Mps. I don't know much about this. Is that as fast as my cable modem. Will it slow down my access rate from what it would be wired direct, or can it handle the speed? Thanks.

BullFighter · May 2, 2002

10Mbits/sec = ~1MByte/sec
Plenty of Bandwidth, even at half duplex, its still good.

You can also buy the 5GHz equipment. I don't know if it is available yet, but bandwidth is much greater, distance is less - like bluetooth.

Mike

edil · May 9, 2002

Your cable modem is definitely slower than 802.11 ethernet.

If your laptop is standalone (no other server/pc in your home is accessed by your laptop software) then you should not see any degradation in speed.

If you have servers in your network that is needed by your laptop, then overall speed may be affected (while you are accessing the server) if your local network is running 100 mbits/sec.

However even if you are accessing servers, but your local ethernet network is running 10 mbits/sec then again I would say you will notice no change in speed.

Hope this helps

ps but as BullFighter says when the 5ghZ becomes available, then this issue is moot.

Biomech · May 9, 2002

I personally would not do anything that I wanted to keep secure on a network that had wireless exposure. I happen to know that there are people that drive around downtown seattle with their laptops trying to get onto other people's wireless networks. With most of the current wireless stuff, there is nothing at all keeping someone else from getting onto your network. Once they are on the network, they can sniff packets looking for login information and try to hack into any other PCs on that network.

I would highly recommend you do some extensive research on security of and for wireless networks before you take the plunge.

Good luck and good trading.

Biomech · May 9, 2002

There are tons of links on the internet about the poor security of wireless. Here are a few to whet your appetite.

http://slashdot.org/articles/01/04/27/1847237.shtml

Love this next one. How to hack into a wireless network using a Pringles can.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1860000/1860241.stm

BullFighter · May 10, 2002

Originally posted by Biomech
I personally would not do anything that I wanted to keep secure on a network that had wireless exposure. I happen to know that there are people that drive around downtown seattle with their laptops trying to get onto other people's wireless networks. With most of the current wireless stuff, there is nothing at all keeping someone else from getting onto your network. Once they are on the network, they can sniff packets looking for login information and try to hack into any other PCs on that network.

I would highly recommend you do some extensive research on security of and for wireless networks before you take the plunge.

Good luck and good trading.
More...

This is true. However, the Cisco products that I was working with do both Authentication and Encryption. The Encryption protocol is called WEP (40 bit and 128 bit). The authentication is Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) or RADIUS.

I believe that most of the cheaper stuff does the WEP. You will have to research the authentication. The real problem lies when you do no authentication and no encryption.

If you do the WEP, without authentication, there may be a way to permanently seed the Access Point and client with the keys so that no authentication is needed. Check your manufacturers docs.

If you do WEP without authentication and without permanently seeding the keys, then it would be possible, but not easy for someone to decrypt your data. They would have to eaves drop on your initial session negioation and capture the keys. Then they could decrypt the data.

Cisco was the first to implement security in 802.11. I believe that the industry has since adopted EAP. Just make sure that you use encryption and that the keys are not sent in the clear. I know of no cases that a user has been hacked using these security measures.

Mike