Hi, can I please check out if I'm understanding how to get started.

I have a desktop PC and a laptop, and an occasionally visiting extra desktop
(daughter in and out of uni.)

Currently all connect to the net via the same dial-up ISP.

What I picture is setting up an all-in-one wi-fi router/modem/access point.

I think this will plug into the phone line in some central position in the
home via an adaptor.

I think I can then install wi-fi cards into each PC/laptop, and they can
then connect to/share a broadband connection.

Is this right, or does any of this need a wired link?

Cheers

"Me" Me@graceland.co.uk wrote in message
news:1096231419.9553.0@nnrp-t71-02.news.clara.net
Yes.

It's handy to a wired link connection for initial setup / wifi config etc.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Me <Me@graceland.co.uk> wrote:

Essentially what you suggest is right. However, I would strongly advise
having a normal ethernet network card in one PC so that you can use a wired
link to configure the router. Whilst, in theory, you *can* do it from a
wireless link, it's all too easy to get the config wrong when setting the
security parameters - with the result that you can no longer talk to the
router via a wireless link. You're then stuffed because you can't correct
the config error!

If you want, the PC which you use for config purposes can also have a
wireless card - as long as you don't try to enable wired and wireless
interfaces at the same time! You can thus run an entirely wireless network
once it is all set up.
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 21:43:31 +0100, "Me" <Me@graceland.co.uk> wrote:

This will work, but it is much better if you *can* connect at least
one with a wired connection.

Once you have it all set up and running, you should be able to use
them all wirelessly, but during the setup process, you may get
something wrong, that would prevent any of the wireless devices from
seeing the router.

There is also the question of how big your house is, and how solid the
internal walls are.

With my wireless router in the study (upstairs, with only one room to
the "right"), I can't get a connection in the two leftmost downstairs
rooms, but they are a good 15 metres away, with a thick stone wall in
between (my house used to be a pub, and is rather large for a private
dwelling).

--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
The best defense against logic is stupidity.

To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom

Thanks for the comments folks

"Tiscali Tim" <tele@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:2rosaaF1cekf8U1@uni-berlin.de...
I have seen this suggested elsewhere. But you have the same problem with an
Ethernet adapter. It still has to be configured correctly for the connection to
work. I somehow expect routers to have serial ports. Mind they did have a few
extra noughts on the price.

Michael Chare

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Michael Chare <Michael_Chare@deletethis.btinternet.com> wrote:

No, it's not the same problem! You're unlikely to do anything to the router
which renders it incapable of being accessed from a *wired* connection.
True, the ethernet card must be properly configured - but you do that from
the PC.
--
Cheers,
Tim
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Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 21:25:43 +0100, "Michael Chare"
<Michael_Chare@deletethis.btinternet.com> wrote:

<snip>
That just isn't true. If you have the right IP address, you WILL be
able to access it via your ethernet connection, unless you have really
worked hard at buggering it up.

With wireless, and the different varieties of encryption, it is too
easy to get it wrong on the router, and be totally unable to access it
from any wireless PC because you don't know what is wrong.
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
It's easy to be brave from a safe distance.

To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom