Thanks all - and, Timothy, regarding 'grumpy' - no probs - I've got one of those
I am really only tinkering at the edges on wifi, and hence the reluctance to spend more. AOL came about because it gives w/wide access at reasonable cost, so it was 'logical' to step to AOL b/band at the time when b/b became available in my part of the world, which gives me a 12 month 'lock-in'. Next part of jigsaw - I am now close to going to GPRS phone/bluetooth to PDA for the times I need travelling access, and 'old father time' beckons with a reduced travelling accesss requirement. For the stress relief of all, I am fully aware of most of the inherent problems with AOL, I have had a huge ding-dong with them over 2 years regarding my
accusation that they are 'selling' email addresses ( I have actually reported them to the authorities). I WILL be dropping AOL and have ALWAYS planned to. The added carrot here was the thought of a cheap wifi set-up at home regardless, the wifi router on offer was under £30, so hopefully the attraction is obvious.
I do not have an ethernet card. I visited my web-engineer son in Cambridge yesterday and was chided by him for the same! I have a cheapo AOL provided BT Voyager USB modem, and I am really looking for the original 'idiot's guide' to wifi if anyone can recommend a link?