Newbie Question - Wireless home network/ADSL setup..

Hi,

I'm looking to set up a wireless networking solution at home between a
desktop PC and a laptop purely for the purposes of having braodband
available on both PCs at either end of the house. Minimal file
sharing will probably be needed too.

I am looking at purchasing the following equipment:

D-Link DSL-604+ 4-Port Wireless ADSL Router
DWL-650+ 22Mbps Wireless CardBus Adapter (for the laptop)
DWL-520+ 22Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter

From: http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk

I take it 22Mbps is more than sufficient for my needs? (ADSL + minimal
file sharing)

The major question I need answering is - is the router purely plug in
and go? - i.e. if I connect it to a telephone line and then turn it
on, will the wireless adapter cards automatically detect the router
and I can then configure it from there? or do I physically need to
connect the router to either the laptop/desktop via an ethernet CAT5
cable in order to be able to get up and running (presumably then the
other PC would connect wirelessly). If the latter is the case -
surely I would only need 1 wireless adapter for either the destop or
laptop and 1 standard ethernet 10/100 card? (since the wireless cards
only have an antenna on the rear with not cat5 input) As you can tell
I'm slightly confused as to what "wired" connections are actually
needed here....

I would have thought, you'd power the router near a phone port,
connect it to the phone line via internal adsl modem then install the
wireless nic cards in each pc, click "find" and voila the router is
detected - no wires needed anywhere other than between the inbuilt
adsl modem and the phone socket...

Thanks in adavance to anyone that can clear the mist!

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 00:57:03 +0000, ASalem wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm looking to set up a wireless networking solution at home between a
> desktop PC and a laptop purely for the purposes of having braodband
> available on both PCs at either end of the house. Minimal file sharing
> will probably be needed too.
>
> I am looking at purchasing the following equipment:
>
> D-Link DSL-604+ 4-Port Wireless ADSL Router DWL-650+ 22Mbps Wireless
> CardBus Adapter (for the laptop) DWL-520+ 22Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter
>
> From: http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk
>
> I take it 22Mbps is more than sufficient for my needs? (ADSL + minimal
> file sharing)
>
> The major question I need answering is - is the router purely plug in and
> go? - i.e. if I connect it to a telephone line and then turn it on, will
> the wireless adapter cards automatically detect the router and I can then
> configure it from there? or do I physically need to connect the router to
> either the laptop/desktop via an ethernet CAT5 cable in order to be able
> to get up and running (presumably then the other PC would connect
> wirelessly). If the latter is the case - surely I would only need 1
> wireless adapter for either the destop or laptop and 1 standard ethernet
> 10/100 card? (since the wireless cards only have an antenna on the rear
> with not cat5 input) As you can tell I'm slightly confused as to what
> "wired" connections are actually needed here....

Yes, you've hit the nail on the head here. You do need to make a wired
connection to initally configure your router.

There are two seperate parts of the router that need to be set up:
1. the internal network. this involves setting an ip address for the
router and configuring the wirless lan settings.
2. the outside connection to your ISP, the router actually manages the adsl
connection so it needs to be told your internet account details and your
password.

All this is usually done using your browser, you may have to manually
configure the PC's network card settings to allow this initial connection.

> I would have thought, you'd power the router near a phone port, connect it
> to the phone line via internal adsl modem then install the wireless nic
> cards in each pc, click "find" and voila the router is detected - no wires
> needed anywhere other than between the inbuilt adsl modem and the phone
> socket...

Not so I'm afraid, initial settings must be done over the wire. It
involves setting local network information and radio security levels that
would force the wirless link to fail mid configuration.

> Thanks in adavance to anyone that can clear the mist!

If one PC can be fed over a cat5 link it leaves more wirless bandwidth for
the other PC. Imagine copying a large file from one PC to the other over
wirless lan, the signal would have to make two hops: PC1 - router - PC2
There is a fixed amount of bandwidth available, so both PC's using it at
the same time would half the bandwidth so transmission would drop by 50%.
Use cat5 whereever possible.

Hope this helps

graham

Thanks for your help Graham!

In that case, I'll just buy a Wireless CardBus adapter for my laptop
and connect the router to the desktop using a standard 10/100 ethernet
network card and CAT5 - should do the trick?

Thanks again,

Antony

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 23:44:26 +0000, "Graham"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 00:57:03 +0000, ASalem wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm looking to set up a wireless networking solution at home between a
>> desktop PC and a laptop purely for the purposes of having braodband
>> available on both PCs at either end of the house. Minimal file sharing
>> will probably be needed too.
>>
>> I am looking at purchasing the following equipment:
>>
>> D-Link DSL-604+ 4-Port Wireless ADSL Router DWL-650+ 22Mbps Wireless
>> CardBus Adapter (for the laptop) DWL-520+ 22Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter
>>
>> From: http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk
>>
>> I take it 22Mbps is more than sufficient for my needs? (ADSL + minimal
>> file sharing)
>>
>> The major question I need answering is - is the router purely plug in and
>> go? - i.e. if I connect it to a telephone line and then turn it on, will
>> the wireless adapter cards automatically detect the router and I can then
>> configure it from there? or do I physically need to connect the router to
>> either the laptop/desktop via an ethernet CAT5 cable in order to be able
>> to get up and running (presumably then the other PC would connect
>> wirelessly). If the latter is the case - surely I would only need 1
>> wireless adapter for either the destop or laptop and 1 standard ethernet
>> 10/100 card? (since the wireless cards only have an antenna on the rear
>> with not cat5 input) As you can tell I'm slightly confused as to what
>> "wired" connections are actually needed here....
>
>Yes, you've hit the nail on the head here. You do need to make a wired
>connection to initally configure your router.
>
>There are two seperate parts of the router that need to be set up:
>1. the internal network. this involves setting an ip address for the
>router and configuring the wirless lan settings.
>2. the outside connection to your ISP, the router actually manages the adsl
>connection so it needs to be told your internet account details and your
>password.
>
>All this is usually done using your browser, you may have to manually
>configure the PC's network card settings to allow this initial connection.
>
>> I would have thought, you'd power the router near a phone port, connect it
>> to the phone line via internal adsl modem then install the wireless nic
>> cards in each pc, click "find" and voila the router is detected - no wires
>> needed anywhere other than between the inbuilt adsl modem and the phone
>> socket...
>
>Not so I'm afraid, initial settings must be done over the wire. It
>involves setting local network information and radio security levels that
>would force the wirless link to fail mid configuration.
>
>> Thanks in adavance to anyone that can clear the mist!
>
>If one PC can be fed over a cat5 link it leaves more wirless bandwidth for
>the other PC. Imagine copying a large file from one PC to the other over
>wirless lan, the signal would have to make two hops: PC1 - router - PC2
>There is a fixed amount of bandwidth available, so both PC's using it at
>the same time would half the bandwidth so transmission would drop by 50%.
>Use cat5 whereever possible.
>
>Hope this helps
>
>graham

On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 01:19:53 +0000, ASalem wrote:

> Thanks for your help Graham!
>
> In that case, I'll just buy a Wireless CardBus adapter for my laptop and
> connect the router to the desktop using a standard 10/100 ethernet network
> card and CAT5 - should do the trick?
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Antony
>

Yey that sounds like the best option.

graham

If you already have an ADSL modem and can live with the PC connected to the
modem being on when you use broadband on the other (the laptop preumably),
why not just buy the two adaptor cards, share your broadband connection over
an ad-hoc network set-upand save the cost of the router? Works for me.

Alick

"Graham" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 01:19:53 +0000, ASalem wrote:
>
> > Thanks for your help Graham!
> >
> > In that case, I'll just buy a Wireless CardBus adapter for my laptop and
> > connect the router to the desktop using a standard 10/100 ethernet
network
> > card and CAT5 - should do the trick?
> >
> > Thanks again,
> >
> > Antony
> >
>
> Yey that sounds like the best option.
>
> graham
>

Got broadband last week and have wireless the house already. One PC
and two laptops. Got rid of the BT 100 modem and bought a BT 2000
voyager wireless adsl modem for £100 at PC world. Since I already have
2x £30 pc cards for the lap, just got an PCI wireless adapter for the
PC for less an £30. Easy to follow instructions nothing fancy except
for wireless access. Security is provide by both WEP and MAC filtering
and the modem is turned off when not in used. No worries just turn the
modem on, switch on the laptop, boot and openinternet explore and surf
the net at speeds of 489/260. You don't need the extra 802.11g (54Mbs)
if you , like me only going to use it for internet then speed is not a
factor. Great in the garden during the summer months. BIG MUST - make
sure that you get a adsl wireless router that has an RJ11 socket. When
I went looking only two models have the RJ11 socket, one of which was
the BT model.
The RJ11 is the line from your phone socket(microfilter) to the back
of the modem.

Enjoy!