mj

could someone please point me in the right direction for a wireless modem/router. I have just ordered the ADSL service from Eclipse, but with no hardware.

I want to put the router upstairs with my main pc, but i would like a wireless card I can stick in my laptop so as I can surf and watch telly ( less grief from her indoors ).

thanks,

mike.

[Edited by mj - 5/26/2003 6:47:23 PM]

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Try This Lot

mj

Cheers, £135 fgor the router and a pc card seems ok, will give it a coat of looking at.

Father Jack Hackett

MJ - take a look at this thread

Chris L

Buffalo do a similar bundle - cable / dsl router with cardbus PCMCIA bundle for around £140. I'm using it as I type this. Cable modem and Buffalo router are downstairs, I'm sitting in the lounge using my laptop with a wireless PCMCIA card. Good range and speed (the Buffalo router is a 54Mbit 2.4 ghz router)

Chris

BigGT3Fan

If you don't need the speed of 802.11G, you should be able to do it cheaper. For example, if your wireless is mainly for broadband, and you're limited to 512K anyway, or you have 10Mbit network hardware, you might as well go 802.11B. Sure if you need 54MBit, go for the G standard, but it's at a premium at the moment.

Don't know which is cheapest/best, but the LinkSys wireless router is £64 and the wireless cards are about 40-45 quid.


Alex

RoadrunnerV2

mj - as you have adsl don't buy an cable/dsl router unless you know its works perfectly with ethernet adsl modems.

11Mbps wireless is ideal for users looking to just access their broadband wirelessly. If you decide to go for this then what I suggest is for you to consider an Wireless ADSL router.

54Mbps wireless is ideal for users looking to do more local activities between computers i.e. transfer large files etc. If you decide to go for this then I suggest you go with either with an ADSL router with 54G Wireless Access Point or an 54G wireless cable/dsl router and Ethernet ADSL modem

mj

Ok,

If I tell you what i have at work, and tell you what I want at home it may help, as I am getting somewhat confused .

At work I have an Alcatel Speedtouch 510 - this has 4 ports (ethernet ?), we have two machines connected into these ports ( mine & my Old fells ). there is alo a line in which goes to mthe BT socket / microfilter jobbie.

I have managed to get both the machines to talk to each other and this is good as me & the old man can acces each others work files.


Now then, at home I want to do the following:

Get a similar device to the 510 (ie, modem/router ) and plug it into the BT line upstairs, and connect it to my upstairs PC via Cat 5 network cable.

I would then like to get a PC card I can stick in my laptop, so I can surf in front of the telly, I assume this PC card will have to be part of the router and not neccessarily tied in to my PC, or in other words, I do not want to have to turn the PC on upstairs in order to surf with the laptop, I realise though that if I want to transfer files between my two machines they will both have to be running.


Will this do what I want, is it a modem aswell as a router, and how will I connect my main PC to it - does that need to be wireless aswell?

Thanks chaps,

mike.

BigGT3Fan

That looks like a good deal as you get the PC card for your laptop included. Connect your main PC to the router via cable if convenient 'cos you'll get faster connection if you've a 100Mbit network, if you've got 10Mbit, it makes no diff. (In fact WLAN is 11Mbit so might be quicker!). But, you will have to buy a wireless card for the PC, so I'd go for the cable!

Something else you'll be able to do from the laptop, which I do, is to use Terminal Services to remotely use the other machine from the laptop...

mj

so I can sit in the back garden with the lappy - and download all manner of godies straight to the hard drive of my main machine upstairs?

that should impress the neighbours

Out of interest, if someone nearby had a wireless PC/PCI card, what would stop em from surfing the net via my router - ( I am thinking of setting up a wireless LAN for the street ) - for a small fee of course

BigGT3Fan

With 802.11b (The standard for the WLAN you are thinking of buying), there are 3 ways I can suggest you can secure your WLAN. 802.11b CANNOT be secured 'properly', i.e. 100%, but it can be made a lot safer.

All of these can be subverted by a real determined hacker, but it will stop the geek next door using your Broadband (which you're probably not bothered about), or accessing your machines hard drives (which you might be ).

1. - Change the SSID - Each wireless LAN can be run in ad-hoc mode, allowing all devices to talk to one another in peer-to-peer mode, or in Infrastructure mode, allowing only devices with the same SSID to communicate. So, change your SSID in the wireless config (varies according to your kit) to something only you know, it's probably defaulted to 'WLAN', or something!

2. - Turn on WEP - This is encryption for WLAN, and I personally don't bother with it, but if you want to, you can turn it on.

3. - Turn on MAC address authentication, and specify the MAC addresses of the PC network cards for the laptop and any other PCs you want to use the WLAN. This will only allow those devices to use the WLAN, and no others.

Personally, I use 1&3, and don't bother with 2, as causes a slow down and my MP3 streamer doesn't seem to like it. I also figure that 1 & 3 are enough to stop someone next door, and 2 isn't necessary. After all, the range of 802.11 isn't massive!

Hope this helps,



Alex

mj

cheers,

thats a shame, I was hoping to offer my neighbours broadband at a tenner a month ( per houshold )plus installation

would it help if I mounted the router in my loft ?

Thanks for all the help, I will order the router as above.


on a serious note, how esy would it be to get a wireless router with a decent range and start selling broadband to plonkers that don't know any better ( a bit like me )? or are there laws against transmitting things like that - just curious??

BigGT3Fan

The range of 802.11b is fairly standard. 802.11g (the new one that's just coming out) is allegedly greater, as is 802.11a, which is older, more expensive and rarer.

However, your B'band supplier probably has a clause in the small print to stop you doing that (Most do). OK so you have to get caught, but if you are, they'll cut you off. I would suggest it's not worth it...

mj

they would never know, could get a bit tricky when they view the logs though - especially if your neighbour is a closet perv.

BigGT3Fan

Sure, I realise they can't tell 'from a distance'. But as you point out, if your neighbour likes dodgy sites, as far as the ISP is concerned, it's you

Also, it only needs one of your neighbours to inform the ISP...

More likely though, you wouldn't have good enough signal to supply much more than a direct neighbour. My WLAN signal only just covers my own property - might just pick it up next door, but certainly not the whole street



Alex

RoadrunnerV2

mj

IMO - the D-Link DSL-604+ is the best all round ADSL wireless router because it provides good security (due to be upgraded with the new WPA Wireless Protected Access Encryption, wireless range is good, has decent wireless performance and is easy to configure/manage

mj

its being ordered now.

thanks for the info,

mike.

mj

Update,

the ADSL is activated,the rourter works, I am writing this on my lappie while sat on the bog

S.B.

Always useful....

Dyney

Usefull thread though
I'm looking at doing the same mj, want to watch TV with the misses while I surf SN
Less ear ache