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Wireless Internet for laptop – query
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I get Broadband via NTL cable at home, and I am taking delivery of a new wireless enabled laptop. That’s as much as I know. Simple question – how do I change my NTL broadband into wireless so that I can get it on the laptop? Is it any good, or worth my while to try to set it up?
Any knowledge or experience with this greatly appreciated.
Ross
Ross first off is your Router wireless, if not I assume you will need it changed.
SodaWill the router be close to where you’ll be using the laptop ? i.e. is it likely to be 2 floors up with 3 walls in between ?
I have a wireless network at home back on Netgear equipment which works well and is worth it.
There are a couple of places in the house where the signal isn’t reliable due to the number of floors/walls the signal
must travel through.Mark
Sodafarl wrote:
Ross first off, is your Router wireless..
:lol:
I have the standard NTL cable modem. I have seen ‘thingys’ in PC World for wireless networking at home, but I have no idea if these work, or if they work with my cable modem. Basically I am a complete techno dumbass.
Mark – it will have a couple of walls to pass through, and on occasion one storey as well.
You will need to purchase a router that has wireless functionality. You’ll get one of these in PC World and such places…
brandyman wrote:
I have seen ‘thingys’ in PC World for wireless networking at home, but I have no idea if these work, or if they work with my cable modem
The ‘thingys’ may be wireless adapter/dongles – you don’t want one of these be careful, they are only for laptops etc that are NOT wireless enabled.
Any router that has wireless functionality will do the job… It will cover a few rooms and a storey or two.
Once you have the router, you will need to put the DSL line into it, set up your connection then enable wireless on the router. This can be a bit tricky but if/when you decide to go that route Im sure we can help ya out :)
A friend in work recently just got his broadband in with Eircom. His router is wireless enabled and he was asking how he goes about setting it up. There were a coulple of things I asked him:
1) Was his Computer Wireless enabled?
– He said no. I told him the easiest thing to do would be to get a usb wireless adapter for his desktop to allow it to receive wireless internet from his router.
2) As his desktop was not wireless enabled, how far away is the PC from the phone socket?
– The PC was on the next floor up, so I told him he would have to keep the router as close to the telephone socket as possible and bring the LAN/ethernet cable up to his PC if he didn’t want to go with the wireless option.
I also told him that unless he password protects his wireless signal, other users immidiately nearby, such as neighbours might be able to pick up his signal and use his bandwidth. With Eircom this can be an expensive thing to happen. If someone else was using his signal and using his exceeded his monthly download limit, he could get charged for it, sop make sure you protect your wireless signal if you can!
As far as I know, you can get adapters to plug into your router that will transmit your boadband wireless to your computer. I think Argos might even have them and they aren’t all that expensive. The only other option would be to get a wirless enabled router.
Hope I’ve been some help.
I have ntl cable broadband. They supplied a cable modem and I connected this to a Linksys wrt54g router (which I bought in Maplin). The router has ethernet ports on it and also is wireless enabled. I connected the modem to the router with a standard ethernet cat5 cable with rj45 terminations. It works well. My daughter’s pc connects by wireless and I sometimes connect a laptop witha usb dongle. I have no signal problems in a standard semi. I use wep encryption to help keep my network private. The router has a firewall. I downloaded a Linux based firmware and replaced the factory firmware with this.
If I buy a wireless router to replace my existing modem, does that mean my Desktop PC has to work wirelessly as well, or can it be connected by USB cable to the wireless router? Or am I making sense??
The wireless router doesn’t replace the modem, but gets gonnected to the modem (through the Ethernet port of the modem).
You will then need to take out the USB plg between the PC and the modem and connect the network port of the PC to the router (via a network cable).
In short, wall plug to NLT modem to Router to PC.
The laptop can then connect to the router wirelessly, the router dealing with the Internet access sharing.brandyman wrote:
If I buy a wireless router to replace my existing modem, does that mean my Desktop PC has to work wirelessly as well, or can it be connected by USB cable to the wireless router? Or am I making sense??
No it’s fine your pc will work with the new router. The router will have one or more LAN ports on it to enable you to connect the pc. Just double check that it does have a LAN port (rj45) though when you are buying it…
or actually yeah as you asked it will work with usb lol ;)
The simplest solution is a wireless access point (WAP) that is also a broadband modem. Problem I have had with them is that they fry out.
I’ve gone through 2 of them. I’m now using a dedicated router (xyxel) and a Linksys WAP. The router is configured for PPOE passthrough and the WAP initiates the DSL connection via the router. My wifi is configured on the WAP and I configure wifi settings on the laptop/PC’s (4 or so machines not including virtual machines) to connect to the WAP.
We have Eircom BB and we use it wirelessly through our laptops. Brilliant, just carry it anywhere. We haven’t checked out its limits by going to the end of the garden yet, might wait til smmer.
The only prob is it has messed up the cordless phones, as in they don’t work.
joe_elway wrote:
……..I’m now using a dedicated router (xyxel) and a Linksys WAP. The router is configured for PPOE passthrough and the WAP initiates the DSL connection via the router. My wifi is configured on the WAP and I configure wifi settings on the laptop/PC’s (4 or so machines not including virtual machines) to connect to the WAP.
iuwhrfijn’l fiujnb;vlkiajdfli o’lijtdpo8 lkn;slzifdjpoj ‘pojdfpo89 ; jn;osy98 ;NPOE8YP89C OIC8 u9r8v[485v904tojv9u9ut [984vn94nunujm c945nv9u49uv[4p9j
That’s what I thought you said…………. :lol: :lol:joolsveer wrote:
I have ntl cable broadband. They supplied a cable modem and I connected this to a Linksys wrt54g router (which I bought in Maplin). The router has ethernet ports on it and also is wireless enabled. I connected the modem to the router with a standard ethernet cat5 cable with rj45 terminations. It works well. My daughter’s pc connects by wireless and I sometimes connect a laptop witha usb dongle. I have no signal problems in a standard semi. I use wep encryption to help keep my network private. The router has a firewall. I downloaded a Linux based firmware and replaced the factory firmware with this.
To put it simply if this router works for me it will work for you too Brandyman. Cable broadband is not dsl supplied down a phone line. I have two pcs connected by cable to the router and as above I also at times have two connected wirelessly.
Here’s what it looks like. http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1149562300349&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper
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