At work I need to travel about the building/grounds and it would be very handy to have mobile email. Its also handy for home when I'm in car, bath etc.

I'm thinking of 802.11b after I discovered BlueTooth would not do the job.

HOME

I have a cable modem connected to a Netgear RP114 router . 4 PCs are accessing the Internet through this:

1. Desktop
2. Notebook
3. CNC PC in cellar
4. PC in garage

WORK

I have just a cable modem connected directly to my PC


So... if I get a CF 802.11 card with a PCMCIA adapter I can use this in my laptop or a Pocket PC as required. I'm ok with this part.

So now I just need to know whether to get an access point like this , or one of the USB ones like this


I'm not clued up on these at all - I'd like to use the same unit at home and work when required to save me buying 2. Can I still use the access point withoutn a router? And if I did, would I then need ANOTHER card for the work desktop anyway?

If I were to go for the USB one, can I use the USB card on a PC even if its connected to a router via ethernet, and get internet and email this way? Or will there be all sorts of network conflicts?

Thanks in advance!

Do you already have your current computers hooked up to the router via copper cabling? If so, you just need to get the former device (or something quite like it). It will hook up to your current router and allow wireless devices to use it as a bridge to the network you've already got.

The latter device is the exact same thing as the CF or PCMCIA device you talk about except it attaches to the computer via USB. This is not what you want, unless you have a computer that you want to be wireless that has only USB ports for expansion.

Basically, you'd have everything set up as you have it now except the access point would be attached to the router instead of the laptop. The laptop would then be wirelessly attached to the access point. Think of it like a wireless extension cable. If you get more wireless devices, they'll all be able to use the same access point, too.