Help setting up wireless LAN to cable modem

I want to bring cable (Comcast) broadband service into my home office.
The cable company says pulling the cable will be a problem. That got
me thinking about wireless.

Is it possible to have them install the cable wherever then get a
wireless router to provide service to the whole house?

Will such a setup be as fast as being hard wired to the cable for
internet access?

Can it also serve as a wireless LAN?

Will it be as fast as the cat5 LAN we have now? I think it's 100/10 or
10/100 or something like that?

Can anyone suggest good hardware? I don't want the cheapest. This is
for a small business. I am willing to pay more for reliability and
speed.

We have two computers -- one laptop and one workstation.

From what I've read, I just need (a) a wireless router, (b) a PCI
wireless card for the workstation, and (c) a wireless PCMCIA card for
the laptop. Anything else?

I may get a new laptop, so the wireless will be built in, right?

I am assuming I want to get 802.11g, right?

Any other considerations?

Thanks

--
For email, use Usenet-(E-Mail Removed)

LurfysMa <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news(E-Mail Removed):

> I want to bring cable (Comcast) broadband service into my home office.
> The cable company says pulling the cable will be a problem. That got
> me thinking about wireless.
>
> Is it possible to have them install the cable wherever then get a
> wireless router to provide service to the whole house?

There is no problem for you.
>
> Will such a setup be as fast as being hard wired to the cable for
> internet access?

It's not as fast as a 100 wire mip connection but it's ok.
>
> Can it also serve as a wireless LAN?

You can have wire and wireless *together* with the router.
>
> Will it be as fast as the cat5 LAN we have now? I think it's 100/10 or
> 10/100 or something like that?

It will work.

>
> Can anyone suggest good hardware? I don't want the cheapest. This is
> for a small business. I am willing to pay more for reliability and
> speed.

I don't know about using wireless in a business situation. I myself
wouldn't do it but others do. The Linksys 54G router and change to
firmware ont the box to one of the 3rd party firmware so you can use
Wallwatcher. You can use Google to find out about Wallwatcher and it's
(free).

>
> We have two computers -- one laptop and one workstation.
>
> From what I've read, I just need (a) a wireless router, (b) a PCI
> wireless card for the workstation, and (c) a wireless PCMCIA card for
> the laptop. Anything else?

That should do it and you should get all of it from the same manufacture
so there will not be any finger pointing.
>
> I may get a new laptop, so the wireless will be built in, right?

Most of them have that option.

>
> I am assuming I want to get 802.11g, right?

That, WPA and wireless MAC filtering and you may want keep one machine
with an always wire connection to the router as wireless can be touchy at
times
>
> Any other considerations?
>

the basics
http://netsecurity.about.com/cs/wire...aa112203_2.htm

Duane

"LurfysMa" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
>I want to bring cable (Comcast) broadband service into my home office.
> The cable company says pulling the cable will be a problem. That got
> me thinking about wireless.
>
> Is it possible to have them install the cable wherever then get a
> wireless router to provide service to the whole house?
>
> Will such a setup be as fast as being hard wired to the cable for
> internet access?
>
> Can it also serve as a wireless LAN?
>
> Will it be as fast as the cat5 LAN we have now? I think it's 100/10 or
> 10/100 or something like that?
>
> Can anyone suggest good hardware? I don't want the cheapest. This is
> for a small business. I am willing to pay more for reliability and
> speed.
>
> We have two computers -- one laptop and one workstation.
>
> From what I've read, I just need (a) a wireless router, (b) a PCI
> wireless card for the workstation, and (c) a wireless PCMCIA card for
> the laptop. Anything else?
>
> I may get a new laptop, so the wireless will be built in, right?
>
> I am assuming I want to get 802.11g, right?
>
> Any other considerations?
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> For email, use Usenet-(E-Mail Removed)

I just did the same thing. I had Comcast "hard wired" but moved my home
office and couldn't easily get cable there. I used a NetGear WG311 v2 PCI
card and a WGR614 Wireless Router. I hooked the cable to the Comcast Modem
in my garage, connected it to the wireless router, put the card in my PC and
tried to set it up using the CD supplied. Then I realized that the router
needs to be hard wired to the PCI card and modem to be set up. Once I did
that it was a snap. I get 54mb connection. I set up WEP for higher
security. It is great.

Dave

"LurfysMa" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
>I want to bring cable (Comcast) broadband service into my home office.
> The cable company says pulling the cable will be a problem. That got
> me thinking about wireless.
>
> Is it possible to have them install the cable wherever then get a
> wireless router to provide service to the whole house?
>

Yes. Cable goes to cable modem and you can either have the wireless router
connected to your computer or the cable modem if it has networking ports.

> Will such a setup be as fast as being hard wired to the cable for
> internet access?

No. The machines wired are faster.

>
> Can it also serve as a wireless LAN?
>

Yes.

> Will it be as fast as the cat5 LAN we have now? I think it's 100/10 or
> 10/100 or something like that?
>

No.

> Can anyone suggest good hardware? I don't want the cheapest. This is
> for a small business. I am willing to pay more for reliability and
> speed.
>

Well, depends entirely on location. I have found the D-Link G604T which is a
wireless router to be excellent. It also does ADSL which you dont need.
However, Netgear stuff isnt bad usually. The other thing that you want to
consider is where things are located. If you want wireless to other
computers and the computers wirelessly connected are a fair distance apart
in your home with lots of electrical interference, then a wireless card
inside your desktop computer or even a wireless PCMCIA card for a laptop is
less than ideal. You are better off getting D-Link external USB (USB1 and 2)
wireless NICs because the NIC can be placed in better reception spots. Also,
the same NIC can be put into a desktop and a laptop then moved over to a Mac
as well.

> We have two computers -- one laptop and one workstation.
>
> From what I've read, I just need (a) a wireless router, (b) a PCI
> wireless card for the workstation, and (c) a wireless PCMCIA card for
> the laptop. Anything else?

As above. What you say is correct but think in terms of "radio reception"
for the wireless gear and have a good look how the two computers are placed.

>
> I may get a new laptop, so the wireless will be built in, right?
>

Not necessarily. With Centrino, the power used is large and so is that of
more modern CPUs. You cannot get Centrino and a 3.0Ghz laptop to work well
on batteries which is why Centrino laptops use lower speed CPUs. When Sonoma
comes out, that problem is gone but for the moment if you are getting
another laptop soon, I would say to forget about getting native wireless and
just go for the higher CPU then use a wireless external USB NIC as I have
detailed above. I use one on my older laptop (new in 2002) and also on this
desktop which does wired and wireless for 3 computers to the router. Never a
problem.

> I am assuming I want to get 802.11g, right?
>
> Any other considerations?
>

Speed of connection is dependant upon many factors but the major one missed
by most is just reception.