Wireless question

[Roidelstein]

Sorry if this has been covered before, I did try a search but couldn't find what I needed.

I have broadband at home (Wanadoo using a Speedtouch modem that plugs into the USB port) and a pretty new Centrino equipped laptop.

How is it possible to connect to the internet wirelessly? At the moment if I want to use it in a different room I have to unplug the modem and plug it into a different socket.

Also, what about using wifi hotspots in places such as coffeeshops? I think my laptop has the technology, what's the best (ie cheapest) provider in the UK that you've found reasonable??

Thanks alot.

[miss_heard]

In order to surf wirelessly with your laptop, I think you will need to purchase an ADSL wireless router with built-in modem (about £100 from companies such as Linksys, Belkin, etc).

http://www.linksys.com/international...oid=6&ipid=371

The modem part of this device plugs directly into your phone socket. You then have to enter your broadband dialup details and also setup the 'wireless router' bit of this device using the manufacturer's supplied software (to do this bit you will temporarily have to physically connect it to your laptop or another PC in the house using an ethernet cable). Once its setup, you can then disconnect it from your laptop and you should in theory have an 'always-on' broadband service that you can access wirelessly. Please don't under estimate how difficult it can be getting a wireless network to work in the home though! An alternative solution is to buy a very long telephone extension cable

[HughMartin]

I have just finished setting up a wireless network and the result is great.

My laptop came already wireless enabled, ie it had the wireless adaptor fitted internally. I wanted the ability to use my laptop anywhere in the house for internet use, access my PC for file sharing and use my printer remotely (still have to put the paper in manually and retrieve the printed paper!)

I bought a Belkin wireless router-modem (£70 from Simply Computers - www.simply.co.uk) but you also see packages which include a "free" wireless adaptor card for a laptop. The Ozenda 11g also comes highly recommended (www.ozenda.com).



Make sure you get one which meets the "802.11g" standard which is much faster than the older 802.11b standard. Most router modems have hardware firewall fitted which, I am told, is better than a software firewall on you computer. I nearly bought a wireless router which did not have the modem bit in it so take care.

Setting up the modem part was quite straightforward. It is linked to my PC with an ordinary network cable. The wireless bit was also quite straightforward. I agree with miss_heard that you might have to connect with a cable first to set it up. Unless you also have a PC which is going to stay cable-connected to your modem, get your laptop wireless side set up and running first and then power up the modem-router. Then get your laptop to search for any available wireless networks. With a bit of luck, it may pick up your router straight away. On my system, I access the router configuration pages by browsing to http://192.168.2.1 on internet explorer. Each computer on your network is allocated an ip address and http://192.168.2.1 is the ip address of my router.

Good luck

I had a fair bit of difficulty getting my laptop and PC to "see" each other on the network so that I could share files and the printer. You have to remember to switch off any firewalls on the computers.

I found an article on home wireless networking in a recent issue of Computer Active magazine (issue 171) extremely useful.

Good luck

[Background Noise]

It sounds like he wants to wirelessly connect to the internet, not to another PC or PC based network. Me too. I just have a laptop which I'd like to use anywhere in the house, no PC to network through. What router/ADSL modem do I need (plus pcmcia card)? Can I just get a router and use my current usb adsl modem?

[BOAC]

Guys/girls? - the info is ALL on this forum if you search for it!!
Words such as 'wireless network' and/or 'router' etc will produce a wealth of info.

EVO - how 'bout anuvver FAQ in the sticky??

[miss_heard]

Background Noise -

I'm afraid you'll have to ditch your USB adsl modem and buy a wireless adsl modem/router. Your USB modem cannot be connected directly to a router (wireless or otherwise) to share an adsl connection. As you have already noted, if your laptop doesn't have built-in wireless capabilities, you'll also have to buy a wireless PMCIA adapter or USB adaptor/dongle for your laptop.

for example, see http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pr=DSL-904

Also, if you have two PCs in your house (i.e. a main PC and your laptop) a slightly cheaper alternative solution would be to buy two USB wireless adaptors (one for each machine) and setup an 'Ad Hoc' wireless connection between both PCs (do a search in google if you don't know what the difference between 'Ad hoc' and 'Infrastructure' is!). Then connect the USB adsl modem directly to your main PC and use the Windows 'Internet Connection Sharing' wizard to allow the laptop to share the Main PC's internet connection. The downside of this method though is that your main PC would have to be switched on and connected whenever you want to surf wirelessly using your laptop. There's a very good guide here how to do this:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...02april08.mspx

hope that helps

[BOAC]

Roidel - a PCWorld 'wireless' catalogue has dropped through my letterbox and seems to answer a lot of your questions if you cannot find them on this forum. Nip in and ask for a copy?

[BahrainLad]

I've just signed up for ADSL from Wanadoo and went out to buy some new equipment as my old pad had cable internet (the modem of which plugged straight into a router.)

I went for the D-Link G604T which is a combo adsl modem, router and Wireless-g access point. I got it for £99 from Micro Anvika and it came with a free PC Card (surplus to requirements as my Powerbook has built in Airport Extreme, but it'll come in handy for visitors!)

Setup was a little tricky....using Apple Safari to select settings on the control panel wouldn't work very well, but after switching to Internet Explorer for a (mercifully) brief time, I got it working.

I can now do everything wirelessly around the flat, and I've got my eye on a Airport Express to plug into the hi-fi.

[mikedurward]

Hiya

The easiest combined router,adsl modem, wireless. is the netgear dg834g. superb piece of kit. As for the 11Mb or 54Mb argument. Tell me why do you need a 54MB network when you can only access the internet at 0.5MB ? ! ! ! !

All answers on a postcard !!!!!!!!!!!!!


Mike

[Evo]

As for the 11Mb or 54Mb argument. Tell me why do you need a 54MB network

Well, I frequently copy large files around my home LAN. At 11g speeds they take around a minute, at 11b speeds they take 5 times as long!

BOAC, wilco.

[Roidelstein]

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

BOAC, as I said, I did try a search and not being a PC expert, terms like wireless 11g LAN ADSL router PCMCIA networks don't mean too much to me.

It's all a lot clearer now, thanks for your help people