USB Modem - Wireless Ethernet

A friend of mine has purchased the following;

Linksys Etherfast Wireless Router
Laptop with built-in Wireless card
2x Desktop computers with Wireless PCI Cards

Now, in trying to setup the router it first tries to access the internet
connection, which is provided by a USB ADSL Modem (BT Speedtouch). Now,
obviously the router is intended for an Ethernet ADSL connection, hence why
it can't find the connection.

So, firstly is there any way to get this router to work without the need for
an internet connection, and secondly, is there any way to get the connection
into the router from the USB Modem?

Thanks in Advance :-)

Lee

When you say "get this router to work without the need for an internet
connection," I assume you mean that you want to create a Wireless LAN and
perform file sharing and printer sharing between the laptop and 2 desktops.
That should not be a problem.

A wireless router is really three devices in one: router, Ethernet switch,
and wireless access point. Without an internet connection, you won't be
using the router function. The Ethernet switch requires no configuration.
That just leaves the access point. First set it up with as few changes from
the factory settings as possible. Then customize the configuration. The
first thing that I would change is the administration password on the
router. Then change the SSID (name of the wireless network) so that your
network doesn't have the same name as your neighbors' networks. If that's
working, download and run NetStumbler to find out what channels your
neighbors are using, then choose a channel away from your neighbors'
choices. Channels overlap. Adjacent channels (like 2 and 3) overlap by
80%. Channels further apart overlap less (2 and 6 overlap by 20%).
Channels must be 5 numbers apart to have no overlap (like 1 and 6, or 6 and
11). Your neighbors will mostly be using factory defaults of 1, 6, and 11.
Netstumbler should help you see which signals are strongest. Stay far away
from stronger signals, and less far from weaker signals. Some overlap is OK
and probably unavoidable. Only the access point needs to have the channel
configured, not the computers.

When all of that is working, enable WEP, which encrypts your wireless
messages. Choose a passphrase and configure into the access point and all
computers.

As for using the USB DSL modem with your router, the easiest solution is to
replace the modem with one that has an Ethernet interface. I don't think
you'll be able to use a USB-to-Ethernet adapter in this application. You
could put a computer running Internet Connection Sharing between the router
and the modem, but that's too expensive, too complicated, too noisy, and too
hot.

Ron Bandes, CCNP, CTT+, etc.

"PCS - Lee" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:c87mui$ceh$(E-Mail Removed)...
> A friend of mine has purchased the following;
>
> Linksys Etherfast Wireless Router
> Laptop with built-in Wireless card
> 2x Desktop computers with Wireless PCI Cards
>
> Now, in trying to setup the router it first tries to access the internet
> connection, which is provided by a USB ADSL Modem (BT Speedtouch). Now,
> obviously the router is intended for an Ethernet ADSL connection, hence
why
> it can't find the connection.
>
> So, firstly is there any way to get this router to work without the need
for
> an internet connection, and secondly, is there any way to get the
connection
> into the router from the USB Modem?
>
> Thanks in Advance :-)
>
> Lee
>
>
>

I have a usb modem with a wireless router and I just set up one PC as a
server always on with the modem going into the usb port and adding a NIC .
Setup ICS on the server and run the NIC into one of the LAN ports on the
router not the WAN port. Disable DHCP on the router. Set the PC's connecting
to the wireless router with a static IP . ICS uses 192.168.0.1...So ICS will
assign the router an IP of 192,168.0.2...all other PC's connected will have
to be set statically using an IP in the range of 192.168.0.2->254. Also you
will want to set the proxy settings of the client compters to the local
address 192.168.0.1 if you want the same perfoemance of the server....but
you might not want to use this proxy setting for secure sites...so just dont
enter one for secure sites. To set proxy setting go into internet explorer
tools....internet options...connections...lan settings. I have this setup
working here...works flawlessly.

Cheers
Jason

"PCS - Lee" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:c87mui$ceh$(E-Mail Removed)...
> A friend of mine has purchased the following;
>
> Linksys Etherfast Wireless Router
> Laptop with built-in Wireless card
> 2x Desktop computers with Wireless PCI Cards
>
> Now, in trying to setup the router it first tries to access the internet
> connection, which is provided by a USB ADSL Modem (BT Speedtouch). Now,
> obviously the router is intended for an Ethernet ADSL connection, hence
why
> it can't find the connection.
>
> So, firstly is there any way to get this router to work without the need
for
> an internet connection, and secondly, is there any way to get the
connection
> into the router from the USB Modem?
>
> Thanks in Advance :-)
>
> Lee
>
>
>