Computer type techy query.
 

I'm about to move house and i'm looking into ways of connecting new house to internet/phone etc and I have a couple of questions for you techy types if I may please ?
Firstly can't transfer my telewest/ntl account as they don't serve the house i'm moving to so recco's for providers would be nice.
Secondly, we have 3 computers here and i'm buying a wireless laptop. As far as I know 2 of the 3 puters are ordianry cable/lan ? connections. My own puter is set up for both cable and wireless as far as i'm aware and the laptop will be too.
My question is - how do I get both connections, eg wireless and cable off the one incoming cable modem ? Can I get that ?
I don't want to go for a wireless installation from the provider as I believe that means I will need to update the kids computers to wireless connections - am I right ?
Or would it be easier and cheaper to just upgrade their pc's to wireless and be done with it ? Thing is one of them I don't think would cope hence the need for a further pc.

Does any of that make sense ???

Go the wireless route - a lot less hassle and probably cheaper too.

You just need a USB Wireless dongle for each pc. One of these will be fine:
http://www.savastore.com/productinfo...=0&rstrat=7833

I bought one to go with my laptop as it was less than a tenner on special, and it works a treat. I can even use it when I take the laptop round to my old man's, and connect to his Wanadoo Wireless broadband that he signed up to, as this included the wireless modem as part of the package.

You can connect as many wireless computers to it as you want, and a computer via an ethernet cable too.

He finds the Wanadoo service fine, and it was cheap when you include the price of the wireless modem.

As long as all of your PCs have a USB connection, you should be fine.

Are you allowed to mention Wanadoo?
;)

Wireless is all very well if you know how to secure it properly. My neighbours don't and leave theirs wide open to the extent that it's possible to browse their pc's. I went round to a mate's house recently cos he was having some wireless issues - turned out his neighbours networks were causing probs cos they were all on the same channel and unsecured.

I prefer wired. It's more secure, faster and more reliable.

2 cylinders are all you need but, 3 is a fine compromise
www.twpd.co.uk
www.twpdracing.com

I prefer wireless. It's fast enough, much more convenient and very reliable. Then I leave the security (still using WEP128 though...) to my operating system, Linux.

I'm Linux too - Ubuntu and fedora 4...but...that ain't relevant to the thread ;)

What you need is (depending upon your connection) a cable or ADSL modem connected by cat5e ethernet cable to a wireless/wired router (Linksys is decent kit). They connect to the WAN port. Most wireless routers also have a number of ethernet ports (4 normally) for wired connections to them. This gives you the option of connecting each pc to the router by wireless or ethernet cable.

An ADSL modem uses normal telephone lines for the connection to the internerd. Cable as you know uses fibre optics. ADSL performance is limited by the distance between yourself and the local exchange.

Then for each pc you need a pci wireless network card (forget the USB wireless dongles cos USB uses loads of resources and isn't fast enough unless you have USB2 ports on your pc). A typical pci wireless network card costs about £20-25.

As long as the pc is reasonably modern and running Win2k or Xp then it will cope well enough with a wireless card - if it's old and running Win98 then stick with a normal wired network card which can be connected to the router by ethernet cable.

Install each network card in each pc. Do the usual installation of drivers and configure each wireless nic (network interface card) for DHCP in its network properties.

Configure the wireless router as a DHCP server so that it hands out i/p addresses to each pc.

Specify the MAC addresses of each pc to be connected in the relevant router setup - this will ensure no outsider can use your connection.

Bish bosh - sorted.

One thing you should do for best performance is ensure that the wireless network cards or adaptors are of the same make and model range as the router. i.e use Linksys cards with a Linksys router or Belkin with Belkin as there can be interoperability issues with a mix and match approach.

I'm sure others can fill in the details to make this outline more comprehensive.

2 cylinders are all you need but, 3 is a fine compromise
www.twpd.co.uk
www.twpdracing.com

Man of good taste :) But you're right, I was right off the thread.

[btw I love the sig in the post mate, you using a bookmarklet or anything to make it easier? You're giving me ideas ;) ]

Wanadoo have their modem/routers setup with WEP 128bit as default, so thats is plenty to keep others from eavesdropping.

Just looking through wanadoo's stuff now.
Anyone any opinions on if it's better than BT ?

You have to remember that all ADSL (broadband) over a phoneline goes through BT anyway - it is your ISP that differs.

They're all pretty much the same, and the price difference usually means a difference in the features you get - capped (limited amount of download), no newsgroups, free modem, etc

Start with a price and see what is available at that price. Look at what they offer at that price and compare. Pick one will get the most out of for the price you pay.

My old man went with Wanadoo because they offered the cheapest Wireless package, so he didn't have to worry about buying all the bits he needed.

Hope this helps!

FWIW I have plumbed for Tiscali when I can't get access to Telewest coz you're not hammered on download limits. I'm sure there are others around nowadays offering unlimited surfing, but at the time of selecting it most of the others were restricting the amount you could download/upload.

I agree with previous comments about 'wired' being more secure than wireless, ultimately a physical connection is going to offer the best form of protection. However implementing an appropriate level of encryption will act as a deterent which is a good hurdle to put in the way of most would-be snoopers. At the end of the day there are many other ways of intercepting internet traffic, governments/agencies are doing it all the time.

I was determined to network our house with CAT5 cabling system when we moved in about 4 years ago. Convinced the Missus that it was worth spending the money (which was a job in itself. I've had better receptions presenting business cases to the boards of big companies than I did trying to win her support for that one !!). Looking back now I'm so glad the wireless revolution hit the consumer market. Saved myself a packet and wasn't restricted to using the PC within range of a wall socket. Plus the Missus was happy that I wasn;t ripping up the carpets to route cables here, there and everywhere. I've even gone wireless on my front door bell - which was a giggle for the first few days when I had it on the same channel as someone else in the area. It was sport alone watching the kids dive to the front door when the bell rang only to find no-one was there. I still smile at the thought that the other person was probably doing the same when we rang our door bell .

Jiminy

Lots to look through - thanks peeps :)
I was going to go down the Talk Talk one til I heard there's a 3 month waiting list.
My kids would lynch me having to wait that long !

use a Firefox extension called clippings....just past it in from a menu item :D

Where there's a will, there's a way and rules were meant to be bent. ;)

2 cylinders are all you need but, 3 is a fine compromise
www.twpd.co.uk
www.twpdracing.com

When I went wireless I decided to keep one computer (the one nearest the phone point and the router) on a wired connection just in case anything went wrong with the wireless network. Lo and behold within a month the router was hors de combat and so still had one pooter talking to the outside world while BTs Bangalore office eventually sorted out a replacent router.