Wireless Networking bits n bobs..
Discussion
Hello.. looking at wireless-ing the house now, but i've got no experience with wireless things, and little with networking other than using some crossover on a couple of home computers.
I am looking at getting a decent router for Home use, that I can connect by wire to my main desktop computer (just like my current modem), but I can also add a wireless laptop or possibly other desktops to.
Would the best way to do this be by getting a 802.11g Wireless Router, then an 802.11g card for the laptop?
Should I keep my USB modem, but just use wireless to network the computers alone?
Hope that all makes sense and my budget (looking at eBay) is about £50 for the lot.
Dave.
I am looking at getting a decent router for Home use, that I can connect by wire to my main desktop computer (just like my current modem), but I can also add a wireless laptop or possibly other desktops to.
Would the best way to do this be by getting a 802.11g Wireless Router, then an 802.11g card for the laptop?
Should I keep my USB modem, but just use wireless to network the computers alone?
Hope that all makes sense and my budget (looking at eBay) is about £50 for the lot.
Dave.
Dave.. Have a quick look at this..
Link
That should do the job..
btw, if the link doesn't work, head over to www.pcworld.co.uk and have a look at the D-Link bundle for £39.99..
slinky
Link
That should do the job..
btw, if the link doesn't work, head over to www.pcworld.co.uk and have a look at the D-Link bundle for £39.99..
slinky
Ta 
But as far as PC World goes..
Just a personal thing, sorry!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Netgear-108MB-W
I am thinking this:
But it has the 802.11b laptop card instead of the 'g' faster version.. will this make any noticable difference at all or shall I spend the extra tenner?
Thanks!
Dave.
But as far as PC World goes..
Just a personal thing, sorry!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Netgear-108MB-W
I am thinking this:
But it has the 802.11b laptop card instead of the 'g' faster version.. will this make any noticable difference at all or shall I spend the extra tenner?
Thanks!
Dave.
UncleDave said:
Yikes that was quick...
Just wondered if I will notice the difference between a 'b' or 'g' PCMCIA card?
[Really have no idea as far as these things are concerned, although not tooo bad at installing it.. I think!]
Just wondered if I will notice the difference between a 'b' or 'g' PCMCIA card?
[Really have no idea as far as these things are concerned, although not tooo bad at installing it.. I think!]
Short answer: Maybe.
Long answer: It depends on what your going to do with it and how many systems are connected.
'b' is pretty much obsolete these days and is supported more as a throw back to the earlier standard. 'g' and above (super-g / g+ / pre-N) are pretty much all that you'll find for sale in the shops and on-line; unless someone is desperatley trying to get rid of old stock
I'm sure you'll see more of me here if there are any installation issues hehe.I bought a Netgear earlier this week. Brought mine from DSLShop and ordered it midnight Monday ie effectivetly Tuesday, and it was delivered Wednesday!
Installed it last night, was a piece of cake to do, my laptop and my wifes desktop connect with it easily, and so simple to do. Generally you won't notice the difference in speed unless you are trying to transfer large files between PCs over the network.
Do remember that you might want to set up some form of basic security to prevent others piggy-backing on your network
Installed it last night, was a piece of cake to do, my laptop and my wifes desktop connect with it easily, and so simple to do. Generally you won't notice the difference in speed unless you are trying to transfer large files between PCs over the network.
Do remember that you might want to set up some form of basic security to prevent others piggy-backing on your network
the security thing I will be looking into.. assuming this will be in the drivers/setings for the router when it is installed. 
For security, I'd do the following:
1. Use WPA-PSK as the algorithm and use a long passphrase
2. Hide the SSID so a quick scan won't show up your network
3. Lock the network down to only allow certain mac addresses. These should be on the PC cards and you just enter them onto the router.
Can't think of anything else. The main thing is to make yourself a harder target than most other people.
1. Use WPA-PSK as the algorithm and use a long passphrase
2. Hide the SSID so a quick scan won't show up your network
3. Lock the network down to only allow certain mac addresses. These should be on the PC cards and you just enter them onto the router.
Can't think of anything else. The main thing is to make yourself a harder target than most other people.
tycho said:
For security, I'd do the following:
1. Use WPA-PSK as the algorithm and use a long passphrase
2. Hide the SSID so a quick scan won't show up your network
3. Lock the network down to only allow certain mac addresses. These should be on the PC cards and you just enter them onto the router.
Can't think of anything else. The main thing is to make yourself a harder target than most other people.
1. Use WPA-PSK as the algorithm and use a long passphrase
2. Hide the SSID so a quick scan won't show up your network
3. Lock the network down to only allow certain mac addresses. These should be on the PC cards and you just enter them onto the router.
Can't think of anything else. The main thing is to make yourself a harder target than most other people.
Personally I just do the latter two, working on the assumption that there are unlikely to be anyone seriously trying to access my network. Its more likely to be a neighbour taking advantage of its presence or just trying wat they have read on the internet.
However change the default name of the network, and make the SSID name secure. On the Netgear locking down the network is easy, as when you set it up its insecure. You then log in your wireless connections to it, and they will show up on the control panel. You then move them into the trusted area, and then secure the network. No looking up of IP addresses needed!
What a tit!
Seems you also need a modem, the wireless router itself doesn't act as a DSL modem... I just assumed it would
. It's times like this I hate myself! Back to eBay.. any recommendations?
I thought possibly this would do?
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