Broadband Advice Please and wireless networking

First the good news; our small village in Dorset finally got its exchange
enabled for broadband yesterday.

Now the bad news; although computer literate I've got no knowledge of
broadband or wireless networking (or even networking) so apologies if i've
got this all wrong.

I've trawled through the internet and this group for advice and have sort of
reached a conclusion but would appreciate some input from those with more
experience.

Firstly my hardware. I run an old none standard (i.e. no expansion slots
available) 500 mhz celeron pc (Windows 98) in the house. This is the
family's main pc for accessing the internet. It has USB 1.1.

Outside in my brick built office I run a newer pc (2.4 Celeron) Windows XP -
plenty of PCI slots and USB 2.0. I would like to connect both to each other
and the internet via broadband and a wireless connection. I don't have any
great need to share files (although there will be some) as each computer is
for different purposes - so speed is not a huge issue.

So I reckon I need a ADSL wireless router in the house connected to the net
and the pc and a wireless connection on the pc in the office. Most of the
praise in this group seems to be for the Draytek Routers which may be
overkill for me.

I was thinking of the Ebuyer Wireless 1 Port Ethernet/USB ADSL Modem Router
at about 60 pounds together with a suitable PCI wireless card or wireless
usb adapter in the office computer. The office and house are about 12 metres
apart and both have external brick walls.

Questions is this likely to work ok or will the distance and brick walls
cause a severe reducion in performance?
What PCI card is likely to work well (There are reports of driver problems
with the cheap Ebuyer one) with the Ebuyer wireless router?
Are there any wireless PCI cards or wireless usb adapters that can be
connected to an external aerial (It would be fairly simple for me to fix an
external aerial on the external wall of the office)?
Would there be any advantage in spending more now for a faster/better
connection between the two (bearing in mind I can only connect to the one
computer via USB 1.1)?
Anything obvious i've missed (besides microfilters - are the Ebuyer ones at
99p any good)?

and finally PlusNet seems to get good reports from many - any other ISP's I
should look at/consider.

Thanks in advance for any input.

John

I will report back to you soon as I am about to do similar
i.e. set up wireless router with wire connection from home pc (XP PRO and
Athlon XP 1600)
and wireless connection to my work laptop which will travel

From this there are differences in our aims - namely: external arials, pci
cards for wireless.

I came to the same conclusion that DrayTek Vigor kit is best but very
expensive comparatably.
I almost ordered the Netgear 54g wirless router/adsl modem
But on searching I have found good and bad comments on the Netgear
further I found good reviews on Linksys WAG54G-UK
Also comments it is part of CISCO group
So I have ordered that from dabs.com
and 5 ebuyer 80p+VAT filters...

I gather that the filters for 8.99 from adslnation are some of the best...
we'll see

cheers

Ian


"John Burton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:c12d4s$jl9$(E-Mail Removed)...
> First the good news; our small village in Dorset finally got its exchange
> enabled for broadband yesterday.
>
> Now the bad news; although computer literate I've got no knowledge of
> broadband or wireless networking (or even networking) so apologies if i've
> got this all wrong.
>
> I've trawled through the internet and this group for advice and have sort
of
> reached a conclusion but would appreciate some input from those with more
> experience.
>
> Firstly my hardware. I run an old none standard (i.e. no expansion slots
> available) 500 mhz celeron pc (Windows 98) in the house. This is the
> family's main pc for accessing the internet. It has USB 1.1.
>
> Outside in my brick built office I run a newer pc (2.4 Celeron) Windows
XP -
> plenty of PCI slots and USB 2.0. I would like to connect both to each
other
> and the internet via broadband and a wireless connection. I don't have any
> great need to share files (although there will be some) as each computer
is
> for different purposes - so speed is not a huge issue.
>
> So I reckon I need a ADSL wireless router in the house connected to the
net
> and the pc and a wireless connection on the pc in the office. Most of the
> praise in this group seems to be for the Draytek Routers which may be
> overkill for me.
>
> I was thinking of the Ebuyer Wireless 1 Port Ethernet/USB ADSL Modem
Router
> at about 60 pounds together with a suitable PCI wireless card or wireless
> usb adapter in the office computer. The office and house are about 12
metres
> apart and both have external brick walls.
>
> Questions is this likely to work ok or will the distance and brick walls
> cause a severe reducion in performance?
> What PCI card is likely to work well (There are reports of driver problems
> with the cheap Ebuyer one) with the Ebuyer wireless router?
> Are there any wireless PCI cards or wireless usb adapters that can be
> connected to an external aerial (It would be fairly simple for me to fix
an
> external aerial on the external wall of the office)?
> Would there be any advantage in spending more now for a faster/better
> connection between the two (bearing in mind I can only connect to the one
> computer via USB 1.1)?
> Anything obvious i've missed (besides microfilters - are the Ebuyer ones
at
> 99p any good)?
>
> and finally PlusNet seems to get good reports from many - any other ISP's
I
> should look at/consider.
>
> Thanks in advance for any input.
>
>
>
>

Assuming that your brick walls haven't god metal mesh in them it should work
OK.
I would advise to go for (Orinoco) USB wifi adapter(s) as they are easy to
position for best signal,
half an inch can make a difference. Simpler and cheaper the PCI's and
antennas.
Having had bad experience with cheap(ish) routers I went for the Draytek,
worth the money IMHO.
The 2600We (11Mbps) would be more then fast enough for your needs, the price
should have come down
by now, but there seems to be perpetual short supply.
I am with PlusNet and haven't missed a bit since May installation.
If you sign up with them you could use my id 'jerryw' as a referrer and save
me few pence.
Regards,
Martin

Martin
Where is best to get these Orinoco USB adapters you refer to?
Are they a make or a chipset?

cheers

Ian
- PlusNet referral ID "Neltek"

"Martin²" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:eedZb.8059$Y%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Assuming that your brick walls haven't god metal mesh in them it should
work
> OK.
> I would advise to go for (Orinoco) USB wifi adapter(s) as they are easy to
> position for best signal,
> half an inch can make a difference. Simpler and cheaper the PCI's and
> antennas.
> Having had bad experience with cheap(ish) routers I went for the Draytek,
> worth the money IMHO.
> The 2600We (11Mbps) would be more then fast enough for your needs, the
price
> should have come down
> by now, but there seems to be perpetual short supply.
> I am with PlusNet and haven't missed a bit since May installation.
> If you sign up with them you could use my id 'jerryw' as a referrer and
save
> me few pence.
> Regards,
> Martin
>
>
>
>

John Burton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:c12d4s$jl9$(E-Mail Removed)...
> First the good news; our small village in Dorset finally got its exchange
> enabled for broadband yesterday.
>
> Now the bad news; although computer literate I've got no knowledge of
> broadband or wireless networking (or even networking) so apologies if i've
> got this all wrong.
>
> I've trawled through the internet and this group for advice and have sort
of
> reached a conclusion but would appreciate some input from those with more
> experience.
>
> Firstly my hardware. I run an old none standard (i.e. no expansion slots
> available) 500 mhz celeron pc (Windows 98) in the house. This is the
> family's main pc for accessing the internet. It has USB 1.1.

Fine, so be nice to it and stick a network card in it (around £8)
>
> Outside in my brick built office I run a newer pc (2.4 Celeron) Windows
XP -
> plenty of PCI slots and USB 2.0. I would like to connect both to each
other
> and the internet via broadband and a wireless connection. I don't have any
> great need to share files (although there will be some) as each computer
is
> for different purposes - so speed is not a huge issue.

You will be able to share them but equally you will be able to block sharing
if you don't need it. Personally printer sharing is a good idea, but then I
have a very economical laser printer.
>
> So I reckon I need a ADSL wireless router in the house connected to the
net
> and the pc and a wireless connection on the pc in the office. Most of the
> praise in this group seems to be for the Draytek Routers which may be
> overkill for me.

They are indeed very good as they have built in firewall, vpn etc... nice
new ones look good for VoIP as well.... still I have one (non VoIP one
though) and love it but you have probably come to the right conclusion.


> I was thinking of the Ebuyer Wireless 1 Port Ethernet/USB ADSL Modem
Router
> at about 60 pounds together with a suitable PCI wireless card or wireless
> usb adapter in the office computer. The office and house are about 12
metres
> apart and both have external brick walls.

Should be ok, keep it high as possible, away from other electronic etc. PCI
is probably least processer intensive.

> Questions is this likely to work ok or will the distance and brick walls
> cause a severe reducion in performance?

Hard to say really, if you can get a near line of sight it should be fine -
where can you mount the wireless router.
> What PCI card is likely to work well (There are reports of driver problems
> with the cheap Ebuyer one) with the Ebuyer wireless router?

No idea. I have a 3 com switch and wireless access point, draytek router and
linksys print server, so haven't really gone for these cheaper brands
(although they were keenly priced)

> Are there any wireless PCI cards or wireless usb adapters that can be
> connected to an external aerial (It would be fairly simple for me to fix
an
> external aerial on the external wall of the office)?
> Would there be any advantage in spending more now for a faster/better
> connection between the two (bearing in mind I can only connect to the one
> computer via USB 1.1)?

No you can't, the port on the router is there for a reason, use a normal
network card on it. If it hasn't got any expansion slots have you taken
everything out you don't need..... the internal modem springs to mind.

> Anything obvious i've missed (besides microfilters - are the Ebuyer ones
at
> 99p any good)?

Hmm..... what do you think, it may well be but don't buy things that look
cheap....a good quality microfilter is the secret of ADSL bliss.
>
> and finally PlusNet seems to get good reports from many - any other ISP's
I
> should look at/consider.

I'm with plusnet and certainly find them excellent, as a bonus they are
quite cheap as well.

Sam
>
> Thanks in advance for any input.
>
>
>
>


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>Martin
>Where is best to get these Orinoco USB adapters you refer to?
>Are they a make or a chipset?

Made by Proxim.com, they have changed their chipsets, you can find details
on their website.
Last time I looked wireless4u.co.uk were marginally cheaper then
Broabandbuyer.co.uk
Regards,
Martin

Thanks


"Martin²" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:rrAZb.8997$Y%(E-Mail Removed)...
> >Martin
> >Where is best to get these Orinoco USB adapters you refer to?
> >Are they a make or a chipset?
>
> Made by Proxim.com, they have changed their chipsets, you can find details
> on their website.
> Last time I looked wireless4u.co.uk were marginally cheaper then
> Broabandbuyer.co.uk
> Regards,
> Martin
>
>