- Newbie broadband query please?
- Posted by Peter P on June 27th, 2004
Any help appreciated on this. I have a laptop (Centrino) with
wireless B. My son visits with another laptop - wireless G card.
There will in a few months also be a desktop capable of getting
broadband (unlike this old thing).
What I want to achieve is a broadband connection (probably from Tesco,
which looks at present to be a clear 512 leader at just under £20 pm
with no monthly download limit) which can be used on all three
machines.
Is this possible please, can more than one PC be used at the same
time, and what do I need apart from the free modem which Tesco will
provide? Is wireless internet secure, and do I lose much speed if I
go wireless?
TIA
Peter
- Posted by King Queen on June 27th, 2004
On 27 Jun 2004 04:57:17 -0700, peterpurves@easy.com (Peter P) wrote:
You won't use the free modem. You need a wireless broadband router /
modem, perhaps by Netgear or by DLink, for example perhaps this one:
http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=108159 (by Belkin)
You will then need some method of connecting the PC to it. Ideally you
should have a wired connection, at least for configuring the router.
In which case, if your computer hasn't already got one you will need
to install a 10/100 Ethernet card. They are under £10
http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?...asource=108159
You can then connect both laptops wirelessly to the router, and the
desktop connected by a cable. The router then connects to the Internet
and voila, you have a little Intranet in your house and all computers
can see each other, share resources if you like, and share the
Internet connection - all at the same time if you want.
Also no computer has to be on for the others to get Internet access,
unlike what would happen if you had the Internet Connection Sharing
nasty hack. Also it is more than likely your existing computer can
successfully connect to broadband with this solution - don't forget
you won't need the Tesco broadband modem thingummy, which is what
generally needs a lot of system resources, unlike the ethernet card
which needs very few resources.
Wireless access can be made relatively secure relatively easily
(though nothing is perfect). Possibilities include: getting the router
not to advertise its SSID, using a non-default channel number, and
using WEP encryption or its successor. These will stop people getting
onto your network without a concerted attempt, and if you're not
running something major then they would have no reason to try anyway.
Speed wise: well, your Internet connection would be at 0.5 Mbps
whereas your B wireless link would be at 11 Mbps - 22 times as fast as
the internet connection - and your G link is even faster at 54Mbps. So
the wireless bit isn't going to be the limiter on how fast you can
download things, this will be your internet connection (also how many
computers on your network are trying to access it at once!)
Hope this helps
--
King Queen - Remove .lartsspammers to reply. http://www.kingqueen.org.uk
"Advertising is the rattling of a stick in a swill bucket" George Orwell
- Posted by Graham on June 27th, 2004
Joking aside,
What aspect of your old computer makes you feel that it is incompatible with
broadband:?
Graham.
--
%Profound_observation%
- Posted by Peter P on June 27th, 2004
"Graham" <me@you.com> wrote in message news:<2k7t1jF18nungU1@uni-berlin.de>...
Thanks to both posters so far - much appreciated. Pentium 2 233 96mb
RAM, 1997 vintage 6GB hard drive. Win 95 V1. Sad isn't it? Still
works perfectly well though, apart from the occasional crash.
- Posted by Peter P on June 27th, 2004
Yes it does, very much - thanks for taking the time to explain all
this. Much appreciated - Peter
- Posted by Bob Eager on June 27th, 2004
On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 18:41:00 UTC, peterpurves@easy.com (Peter P) wrote:
No problem. Get a cheap ADSL router and it'll be fine. My firewall is
just such a machine (OK, 128MB, with 4.3GB hard drive). No great power
is needed.
--
Bob Eager
begin a new life...dump Windows!
- Posted by Graham on June 27th, 2004
Cyrix 333Mhz, 96Mb RAM, 20Gb (wow) Harddrive, Windows 98SE.
Graham.
%Profound_observation%
- Posted by Peter Crosland on June 27th, 2004
Peter P wrote:
You might want to make sure that it has adeqaute security given that you
connection is always on. Alos you will not be able to use a USB modem. Give
serious thought to getting something more modern and running XP.
gee six jay en ess@spamcop.net
Replace the words with the numbers to email me
