Re: A quick Ethernet/Wireless straw poll please

["Patrick Lidstone" <patrick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, ian.bird@c... wrote:
> Hi everyone
>
> I am building an HA touch screen controller for wall mounting which
will
> have an Ethernet interface for communication to the rest of the world.
> This will run a menu system which will send text based messages over
> Ethernet e.g. xAP, xPL, home-brew etc. + a lot more functionality.
> Currently this has a simple 10Mbit CAT5 interface.
>
> Now, my questions are........
> 1) If you were going to use one of these systems how highly would
you rate
> a wireless 802.11b interface?
> 2) Since the hardware to make this a reality costs money what would
you
> think is a reasonable extra amount to pay for wireless? A finger in
the
> wind guess would be about 80 pounds extra (on top of the original
units
> estimated price) for the wireless versions. If I do fit wireless I
would
> not produce a non wireless version as supporting two interfaces
would be
> too expensive and complicated.
>
> If I did go wireless my units would have a 10/100 wired CAT5
interface OR
> wireless 802.11b (but not both at the same time). This would be
software
> configurable somehow.
>
> Opinions or thoughts folks?
>

Wireless would be great for retrofit.

80 quid probably isn't viable - you can get a bridgeable access point
for no more than 60 quid, and these will probably continue to drop.
Granted, it's not as neat as an all-in-one solution.

Aerial/RF performance could also be an issue if it is all concealed in
a wall box?

Patrick