learning about routers / access points

I'm beginning to feel stupid about networking. I've got a cable modem
hardwired to a router (proxim bg2000) which is hardwired to a ethernet
card inside a pc (I'll call this PC one). PC one also has a wireless
nic inside of it. Then I have several other pc's and one laptop
sharing the internet as a wireless network. I'm trying to eliminate
the hardwire from the router to PC one and have it work as wireless.
As it's now setup, if I shut off PC one, all the other pc's lose
access to the internet except the laptop which can still access the
internet. I want all the pc's to behave as the laptop does such that
if any pc is turned off, the other pc's can still access the internet.
Can I do this with this router or do I need another piece of hardware?
I am thinking of calling Proxim for tech support but just want to ask
here first.

<franklin101@no_email_please.net> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm beginning to feel stupid about networking. I've got a cable modem
> hardwired to a router (proxim bg2000) which is hardwired to a ethernet
> card inside a pc (I'll call this PC one). PC one also has a wireless
> nic inside of it. Then I have several other pc's and one laptop
> sharing the internet as a wireless network. I'm trying to eliminate
> the hardwire from the router to PC one and have it work as wireless.
> As it's now setup, if I shut off PC one, all the other pc's lose
> access to the internet except the laptop which can still access the
> internet. I want all the pc's to behave as the laptop does such that
> if any pc is turned off, the other pc's can still access the internet.
> Can I do this with this router or do I need another piece of hardware?
> I am thinking of calling Proxim for tech support but just want to ask
> here first.

Reading up on the Proxim BG2000 router, it looks like this router only has
two Ethernet ports, which I assume one goes to the cable modem, while the
other one goes to your PC One. What you have to do is buy a cheap little
device called an Ethernet hub, and plug that between the Proxim and your PC
One. Ethernet hubs can be had anywhere from $20 on up, depending on how many
ports that you have on it. Usually the cheapest ones only come with four or
five ports on it, which should be enough for your case.

What you have to do is unplug the PC One and put that Ethernet cable into
one of the empty plugs of the hub. Then you take another Ethernet cable, and
plug one end into PC One and the other end into any one of the remaining
empty plugs of the hub. Then take all of the rest of your wired PC and plug
them into the remaining empty plugs of the hub. It's as simple as that, you
probably won't have to reconfigure any software on your PC either.

BTW, if you had gotten another router, such as one from Linksys or Dlink,
you would have then had the router and the hub combined into one device.
These routers usually have one Ethernet port to connect to the cable or adsl
modem, while they have four other ports to connect to the PCs in your
personal network.

Yousuf Khan

>On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 21:41:14 GMT, "Yousuf Khan" <(E-Mail Removed) > wrote:

><franklin101@no_email_please.net> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> I'm beginning to feel stupid about networking. I've got a cable modem
>> hardwired to a router (proxim bg2000) which is hardwired to a ethernet
>> card inside a pc (I'll call this PC one). PC one also has a wireless
>> nic inside of it. Then I have several other pc's and one laptop
>> sharing the internet as a wireless network. I'm trying to eliminate
>> the hardwire from the router to PC one and have it work as wireless.
>> As it's now setup, if I shut off PC one, all the other pc's lose
>> access to the internet except the laptop which can still access the
>> internet. I want all the pc's to behave as the laptop does such that
>> if any pc is turned off, the other pc's can still access the internet.
>> Can I do this with this router or do I need another piece of hardware?
>> I am thinking of calling Proxim for tech support but just want to ask
>> here first.
>
>Reading up on the Proxim BG2000 router, it looks like this router only has
>two Ethernet ports, which I assume one goes to the cable modem, while the
>other one goes to your PC One. What you have to do is buy a cheap little
>device called an Ethernet hub, and plug that between the Proxim and your PC
>One. Ethernet hubs can be had anywhere from $20 on up, depending on how many
>ports that you have on it. Usually the cheapest ones only come with four or
>five ports on it, which should be enough for your case.
>
>What you have to do is unplug the PC One and put that Ethernet cable into
>one of the empty plugs of the hub. Then you take another Ethernet cable, and
>plug one end into PC One and the other end into any one of the remaining
>empty plugs of the hub. Then take all of the rest of your wired PC and plug
>them into the remaining empty plugs of the hub. It's as simple as that, you
>probably won't have to reconfigure any software on your PC either.
>
>BTW, if you had gotten another router, such as one from Linksys or Dlink,
>you would have then had the router and the hub combined into one device.
>These routers usually have one Ethernet port to connect to the cable or adsl
>modem, while they have four other ports to connect to the PCs in your
>personal network.
>
> Yousuf Khan
>
>

Thank you for the reply. But maybe I misunderstand your reply. I
want to have a wireless network for the pc's and the laptop.

<franklin101@no_email_please.net> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 21:41:14 GMT, "Yousuf Khan"
<(E-Mail Removed) > wrote:
> Thank you for the reply. But maybe I misunderstand your reply. I
> want to have a wireless network for the pc's and the laptop.

Then that shouldn't be a problem at all, as long as all of your laptops and
PCs are also wireless. Is that what the case is going to be? Or are you
going to have some that are wired and some that are wireless?

Yousuf Khan

>On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 03:02:56 GMT, "Yousuf Khan" <(E-Mail Removed) > wrote:

><franklin101@no_email_please.net> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> >On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 21:41:14 GMT, "Yousuf Khan"
><(E-Mail Removed) m> wrote:
>> Thank you for the reply. But maybe I misunderstand your reply. I
>> want to have a wireless network for the pc's and the laptop.
>
>Then that shouldn't be a problem at all, as long as all of your laptops and
>PCs are also wireless. Is that what the case is going to be? Or are you
>going to have some that are wired and some that are wireless?
>
> Yousuf Khan
>


All wireless, none wired.

<franklin101@no_email_please.net> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >Then that shouldn't be a problem at all, as long as all of your laptops
and
> >PCs are also wireless. Is that what the case is going to be? Or are you
> >going to have some that are wired and some that are wireless?
> >
> > Yousuf Khan

> All wireless, none wired.

Then you should be fine, just put a wireless card in each one, and have them
all connect to your wi-fi router's SSID name, like your laptop is doing now.
DHCP should assign each one a different private IP address.

Yousuf Khan

>On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 04:45:39 GMT, "Yousuf Khan" <(E-Mail Removed) > wrote:

><franklin101@no_email_please.net> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> >Then that shouldn't be a problem at all, as long as all of your laptops
>and
>> >PCs are also wireless. Is that what the case is going to be? Or are you
>> >going to have some that are wired and some that are wireless?
>> >
>> > Yousuf Khan
>
>> All wireless, none wired.
>
>Then you should be fine, just put a wireless card in each one, and have them
>all connect to your wi-fi router's SSID name, like your laptop is doing now.
>DHCP should assign each one a different private IP address.
>
> Yousuf Khan
>

Thanks. I've tried to do this yet still seems that this router
requires PC one to be wired to the router. I know it doesn't make
sense but I've tried a lot of different settings to no avail. I guess
I'll either call Proxim tech support or consider finding a router that
does do a "complete" wireless network.

Thanks again for your help.

>On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 04:45:39 GMT, "Yousuf Khan" <(E-Mail Removed) > wrote:

><franklin101@no_email_please.net> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> >Then that shouldn't be a problem at all, as long as all of your laptops
>and
>> >PCs are also wireless. Is that what the case is going to be? Or are you
>> >going to have some that are wired and some that are wireless?
>> >
>> > Yousuf Khan
>
>> All wireless, none wired.
>
>Then you should be fine, just put a wireless card in each one, and have them
>all connect to your wi-fi router's SSID name, like your laptop is doing now.
>DHCP should assign each one a different private IP address.
>
> Yousuf Khan
>


After reading a book, I just solved my problem. I didn't realize I
had to change the setting of all my desktop wireless cards from ad hoc
to access point networking and now all works as I expected / wanted.
Feel stupid after spending days changing settings only to learn this
now but better late then never.

Thanks again for trying to help me.

<franklin101@no_email_please.net> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> After reading a book, I just solved my problem. I didn't realize I
> had to change the setting of all my desktop wireless cards from ad hoc
> to access point networking and now all works as I expected / wanted.
> Feel stupid after spending days changing settings only to learn this
> now but better late then never.

Good stuff!

Yousuf Khan

"Yousuf Khan" <(E-Mail Removed) > wrote in
message news:daKEb.93783$ea%.(E-Mail Removed) le.rogers.com...
> <franklin101@no_email_please.net> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > After reading a book, I just solved my problem. I didn't realize I
> > had to change the setting of all my desktop wireless cards from ad hoc
> > to access point networking and now all works as I expected / wanted.
> > Feel stupid after spending days changing settings only to learn this
> > now but better late then never.
>
> Good stuff!
>
> Yousuf Khan

And don't forget to turn on at least 128-bit WEP encryption, once you're
sure that the wireless network is working fine in its default configuration.

Yousuf Khan