Begiinner... Light begininning to dawn?

Carrying on from my last question (can't now find the thread), I gather I
need a wireless access point which I connect to my landline connected (ADSL)
Netcomm Modem/router. Then I can roam round the house with my Toshiba A100
notebook with inbuilt Atheros wireless card.

Some questions arise:

a) There is no antenna on my notebook but the card does appear to be built
in. Does that matter?

b) Presumably the wireless access point is a small standalone box. How is
security arranged? Does the access point need its own computer? I know the
notebook will have security settings but how will I prevent people outside
from using my access point?

BTW I'm in Australia.
Thanks in advance.

"Suzy" <not@valid> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Carrying on from my last question (can't now find the thread), I gather I
> need a wireless access point which I connect to my landline connected
> (ADSL) Netcomm Modem/router. Then I can roam round the house with my
> Toshiba A100 notebook with inbuilt Atheros wireless card.
>
> Some questions arise:
>
> a) There is no antenna on my notebook but the card does appear to be built
> in. Does that matter?
>
> b) Presumably the wireless access point is a small standalone box. How is
> security arranged? Does the access point need its own computer? I know the
> notebook will have security settings but how will I prevent people outside
> from using my access point?
>
> BTW I'm in Australia.
> Thanks in advance.
>

On most modern notebooks with integrated Wi-Fi the cover/lid, ie. behind the
display, acts as a large antenna. If you have a plug-in Wi-Fi card they have
an built-in antenna.

No the wireless router does not need a computer other than for the initial
configuration. You can use your laptop to do that but I do recommend
configuring the router using a wired Ethernet connection versus a wireless
connection.

As far as security is concerned I have some general security guidelines on
this page. Basically you want to use the strongest encryption type your
router and wireless clients support, ie. WPA2 or WPA. Don't use WEP since
that is easily cracked. The encryption type and key must match on the router
and your clients. Change the router password from the default and configure
a unique SSID (ie. network name if you will) so you can easily find your
network.

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...sSecurity.html

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...

Suzy wrote:
> Carrying on from my last question (can't now find the thread), I gather I
> need a wireless access point which I connect to my landline connected (ADSL)
> Netcomm Modem/router. Then I can roam round the house with my Toshiba A100
> notebook with inbuilt Atheros wireless card.
>
> Some questions arise:
>
> a) There is no antenna on my notebook but the card does appear to be built
> in. Does that matter?
>
> b) Presumably the wireless access point is a small standalone box. How is
> security arranged? Does the access point need its own computer? I know the
> notebook will have security settings but how will I prevent people outside
> from using my access point?
>
> BTW I'm in Australia.
> Thanks in advance.
>
>

If your Netcomm modem/router is supplied by your ISP, see if you can
exchange it for a wireless modem/router (or, better, separate wireless
router and modem). If not, you may find that a wireless router is less
expensive (and perhaps easier to find) than a wireless access point.
You just don't use the router part of if. For details regarding using a
wireless router as a wireless access point only, see
http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

--
Lem -- MS-MVP - Networking

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm