Wireless ADSL - shopping list

Hello

Broadband newbie here.

I have 2 PC's - neither has an internal NIC.
I have 1 x Draytek 2600G wireless router.
I have 2 x Sparklan wireless USB adapters.
I have ADSL and an account with ISP (not saying which because of all the
laughter it would cause).

Can any one tell me please:

Do I need a wired NIC in my main PC to connect to router? If not how do
I configure the router and get connected to internet?

Any advice appreciated.

Regards - Bob

> Do I need a wired NIC in my main PC to connect to router?

Yes!

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Bob Hitchcock <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Hello
>
> Broadband newbie here.
>
> I have 2 PC's - neither has an internal NIC.
> I have 1 x Draytek 2600G wireless router.
> I have 2 x Sparklan wireless USB adapters.
> I have ADSL and an account with ISP (not saying which because of all
> the laughter it would cause).
>
> Can any one tell me please:
>
> Do I need a wired NIC in my main PC to connect to router? If not how
> do I configure the router and get connected to internet?
>
> Any advice appreciated.
>
> Regards - Bob

Did your router and wireless adapters come with any documentation - either
printed, or a manual on CD? If so, have you read it?

You *may* be able to configure the router without a wired connection - but
it is far better to have one.

Have you tried to establish a wireless connection between the router and one
of the PCs? You will need to do this if you are to configure the router
without a wired connection. The router documentation should tell you how any
wireless device needs to be set up to talk to it (channel number, default
SSID, etc.). You will probably need to install some supplied software on
your PCs for the wireless adapters - and then run it to configure the
adapters in a way compatible with the router. You will probably need -
within Network Settings - to configure TCP/IP on your wireless adapters to
automatically obtain an IP address from the router.

Once you have established basic communications, you should be able to open a
browser window to the router's IP address, and start setting up the config
for the ADSL connection - using the information provided by your ISP. [If
you curently connect using an ADSL modem, the inf. will be the same as that
uses].

The default router settings for wireless connection probably doesn't use any
security. You really need to turn on things like MAC address filtering and
encryption to stop all and sundry from hacking into your network. This is
where the fun starts. If you accidentally get this wrong, and screw up
wireless connections, you can no longer talk to the router to get them back!
That's why it's a good idea to have a wired connection as well. Note that if
a single PC has both a wired and wireless network adapter installed, you can
only use one at a time - and must disable whichever one you're not currently
using.
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

Bob Hitchcock wrote:
> Hello
>
> Broadband newbie here.
>
> I have 2 PC's - neither has an internal NIC.
> I have 1 x Draytek 2600G wireless router.
> I have 2 x Sparklan wireless USB adapters.
> I have ADSL and an account with ISP (not saying which because of all
> the laughter it would cause).
>
> Can any one tell me please:
>
> Do I need a wired NIC in my main PC to connect to router? If not how
> do I configure the router and get connected to internet?
>
> Any advice appreciated.

Ooh you are lucky... I flamed - reread - and then deleted in preference to
this gem of advice.

You *can* configure your router wirelessly but its going to be much more
difficult. Its a chicken and egg situation. Without a wired connection, how
will you initially tell the router (from a wireless PC) its Network (SSID)
name? Without this (and other bits and pieces which I won't go into here),
the wireless PCs won't be able to identify your network (I'm thinking here
of 100's of wireless networks in suburbia, rather than 1 or 2 in the
sticks - which you could "fiddle" with to get it right). If you set it up
from a wired connection the setup is much easier, because you are in control
all of the time. ONCE the wireless connectivity is established, you can THEN
control it wirelessly, just as you can wired. Its getting the wireless
connectivity off its initial knees thats problematic - but not impossible.

HTH

On Fri, 24 Sep 2004 20:56:32 +0100, Bob Hitchcock
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I have 2 PC's - neither has an internal NIC.
>I have 1 x Draytek 2600G wireless router.
>I have 2 x Sparklan wireless USB adapters.
>I have ADSL and an account with ISP (not saying which because of all the
>laughter it would cause).
>
>Can any one tell me please:
>
>Do I need a wired NIC in my main PC to connect to router? If not how do
>I configure the router and get connected to internet?

With all recent Drayteks they will provide a wireless LAN out of the
box, with no security set and an SSID = default. Windows XP etc. will
search and detect this automatically. The Draytek DHCP server will
allocate your wireless adapter an address automatically
(192.168.1.xx). The router starts its life with address 192.168.1.1.

Open a browser and type in the router address, enter the username
"admin" and away you go.

Make sure that you then lock-down the Wireless security!

--
Hiram Hackenbacker

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Hiram Hackenbacker
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>On Fri, 24 Sep 2004 20:56:32 +0100, Bob Hitchcock
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>I have 2 PC's - neither has an internal NIC.
>>I have 1 x Draytek 2600G wireless router.
>>I have 2 x Sparklan wireless USB adapters.
>>I have ADSL and an account with ISP (not saying which because of all the
>>laughter it would cause).
>>
>>Can any one tell me please:
>>
>>Do I need a wired NIC in my main PC to connect to router? If not how do
>>I configure the router and get connected to internet?
>
>With all recent Drayteks they will provide a wireless LAN out of the
>box, with no security set and an SSID = default. Windows XP etc. will
>search and detect this automatically. The Draytek DHCP server will
>allocate your wireless adapter an address automatically
>(192.168.1.xx). The router starts its life with address 192.168.1.1.
>
>Open a browser and type in the router address, enter the username
>"admin" and away you go.
>
>Make sure that you then lock-down the Wireless security!
>
Thanks for the answers guys - I make that one no, one yes and a couple
of maybes! I had thought, like the poster above, that I could simply
connect to 192.168.1.1 and configure the router. However I can't ping it
or connect via IE (probably because this PC is 98SE). I can telnet to it
but that's getting a bit messy.

All in all thanks for the sound advice given, especially the bit about
how would I connect wirelessly if the router were to go titsup. So it's
off to the office and liberate an old network card and get myself a
permanent connection.

Thanks again - Bob

Don't forget to set the firewall on. The default is off.

Gee Six Jay N Ess at spamcop.net

With Win98SE you need to set the Gateway to 192.168.1.1 in the properties of
your wireless cards TCP/IP,
then it should find the router.
Failing that you can set the IP manually to 192.168.1.11 and 255 255 255 0
Regards,
Martin