[buug] Regarding wireless access points

[Claude Rubinson]

I'm wanting to add a wireless access point to our office and I want to
make sure that my understanding is correct (I'm realizing that my
understanding of networking is pretty much negligible -- enough to get
a small home network set up, nothing more).

Here's the deal: my university provides DHCP access to the network,
authenticated by MAC address.  You register your machine with IT and
then you can plug in anywhere on campus.  I assume that this is a
fairly common setup.

My cohort all share a single office (there are ten of us but it's a
big office -- used to be a classroom -- so it's not bad) with a single
ethernet jack.  Can I simply plug a wireless hub into the ethernet
jack and bring wireless access to the entire office (and, hopefully,
the department)?  Or is it more complicated than that?

And, assuming that I can simply connect a wireless hub to the ethernet
jack, I'm thinking that I don't need to worry about security since the
campus network will still be authenticating the individual clients by
MAC address.  That is, I wouldn't be opening any security holes in the
campus network.  Correct?  Or no?

Finally, assuming that all of the above is correct, can someone
recommend a wireless access point (802.11b or g).  Cheaper is better
as I'm living on a student's stipend once again.

Or if I'm completely off the mark, can someone recommend some decent
reference material so that I can bring myself up to speed?

Thanks,

Claude