Wireless Internet over ISDN

To start, I live in a rural area where DSL is not available, so I'm
stuck with ISDN for now.

I want to connect a host PC with my ISDN connection to a LinkSys
Broadband wireless router via an ethernet card & cable and allow two
other PC's in my home to share a wireless connection the I-Net.

Can someone tell me if this scenario will work?

The wireless router has 4 ethernet ports + 1 ethernet port for the
DSL/Cable Modem which is labled "Internet". Can I plug the ethernet
cable from my host PC's NIC to the DSL/Cable port since it is in
essence the "Internet" connection, or do I have to plug into one of
the other 4 ports?

Also, I've read a little about DHCP. Do I need to the router handle
DHCP, or the host PC?

Thanks.


Bruce McDougald

(E-Mail Removed) (Bruce McDougald) writes:

> To start, I live in a rural area where DSL is not available, so I'm
> stuck with ISDN for now.
>
> I want to connect a host PC with my ISDN connection to a LinkSys
> Broadband wireless router via an ethernet card & cable and allow two
> other PC's in my home to share a wireless connection the I-Net.
>
> Can someone tell me if this scenario will work?
>
> The wireless router has 4 ethernet ports + 1 ethernet port for the
> DSL/Cable Modem which is labled "Internet". Can I plug the ethernet
> cable from my host PC's NIC to the DSL/Cable port since it is in
> essence the "Internet" connection, or do I have to plug into one of
> the other 4 ports?

Your ISDN router will plug into the Internet connection.

> Also, I've read a little about DHCP. Do I need to the router handle
> DHCP, or the host PC?

Typically you let the router do it. Tell us about your current use of
that ISDN...is your PC set up to use DHCP today? IF so, then your
ISDN is spitting out IP addresses to your computer (i.e. the ISDN
terminal adapter or router is acting as a DHCP server). In that
case, you will want to use the router's internal DHCP server to spit
out IP addresses to your computer and other machines connecte to the 4
LAN ports on the router.

The ISDN terminal adapter/router will consequently spit out an IP
address to your new wireless router and it should all just happily
work.

What model/brand is your current ISDN equipment? With this info, you
can get a more detailed answer.

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

Bruce McDougald wrote:
> To start, I live in a rural area where DSL is not available, so I'm
> stuck with ISDN for now.
>
> I want to connect a host PC with my ISDN connection to a LinkSys
> Broadband wireless router via an ethernet card & cable and allow two
> other PC's in my home to share a wireless connection the I-Net.
>
> Can someone tell me if this scenario will work?
>
> The wireless router has 4 ethernet ports + 1 ethernet port for the
> DSL/Cable Modem which is labled "Internet". Can I plug the ethernet
> cable from my host PC's NIC to the DSL/Cable port since it is in
> essence the "Internet" connection, or do I have to plug into one of
> the other 4 ports?
>
> Also, I've read a little about DHCP. Do I need to the router handle
> DHCP, or the host PC?


It sounds as if your ISDN Terminal Adapter is internal (A PCI card)? If it
is *external*, the other response is A-OK. If it is internal, it could be
mildly more complicated with the need for ICS (assuming your machines are
windows machines) rather than your router doing the internet packet routing
and perhaps a crossover cable.

Assuming your TA is internal - and still assuming you are running windows,
if your internet connected machine is W2K or WXP, the version of ICS
supports multiple clients rather well (98 can do it too, but there could be
a couple of trouble shooting necessities to get it working). According to
this, (adobe acrobat required) http://makeashorterlink.com/?P28A366A6 AD HOC
mode works between multiple wireless devices. You could install ICS
(Internet Connections Sharing - Part of Windows 98, 2K, and XP) and simply
connect your wireless devices in AD HOC mode. That would save you the need
for a router and might save you a couple of bucks.

If your Terminal Adapter is external (like the 3Com stuff provided by most
ISPs), then you need to obtain the proper RJ-45 cable to connect to your
wireless router. Depending on the model, you might have to connect to
Uplink via Crossover, or if a new model, you could be quite allright with a
straight through and the cable/dsl port. - The other thing you have to keep
in mind is how to dial if connected through the router (the TA documentation
should have some explainations). Some ISPs support an always-on ISDN
connection through keep-alive packets, but some do not.

Another couple of questions: You didn't mention if you are in the US where
standard ISDN is two channels and 128k or if you are in Europe where most
ISDN is single channel and 64k (your headers only indicate google groups -
though if memory serves, InterNap owns the IP block you are in and that
would put you in the Southern US). Are you intending to use your ISDN for
the phone line(s) as well as internet?

Another news group that could be of interest to you is comp.decom.isdn.

before anything -
you have to tell us how your ISDN line is connected to the PC
ie - an external or internal Terminal Adapter (modem)
or an ISDN router, or ??
I used to run a Motorola ISDN Bitsurfer TA to a single PC as a modem,
then an Ascend ISDN Pipeline router to my local home network,
and now on DSL with a different router for the network -

Phil -