Wireless networking basics

I have a Belkin modem/router connected to an ADSL phoneline and an
ethernet cable connected from the modem/router into a netgear ethernet
card in the desktop PC. I also have a Belkin network card in my laptop
and both communicate well. However I would like to understand the basics
a little better and would appreciate if someone would explain the purpose
of the ethernet card in this setup please.

AL

In article <opsvef6zp9eqivgi@alan-0yxs5sm3ff>, "Alan"
(E-Mail Removed) says...
>
> I have a Belkin modem/router connected to an ADSL phoneline and an
> ethernet cable connected from the modem/router into a netgear ethernet
> card in the desktop PC. I also have a Belkin network card in my laptop
> and both communicate well. However I would like to understand the basics
> a little better and would appreciate if someone would explain the purpose
> of the ethernet card in this setup please.
>

Network cards are like modems - they translate the zeros and ones
from the computer into something that can be fed down a cable, and
then translate it back at the other end.

If you want to go a bit deeper there's plenty of stuff on the web
like this:

http://www.novell.com/info/primer/primer.html

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 14:36:51 +0000 (UTC), Alan
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> However I would like to understand the basics
>a little better and would appreciate if someone would explain the purpose
>of the ethernet card in this setup please.

the ethernet card provides the computer with an ethernet LAN interface
over which it can talk to the Belkin router.

Phil
--
Remember - Global Warming is only a weather forecast :-)

"Alan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
newspsvef6zp9eqivgi@alan-0yxs5sm3ff...
>
> I have a Belkin modem/router connected to an ADSL phoneline and an
> ethernet cable connected from the modem/router into a netgear ethernet
> card in the desktop PC. I also have a Belkin network card in my laptop
> and both communicate well. However I would like to understand the basics
> a little better and would appreciate if someone would explain the purpose
> of the ethernet card in this setup please.

The Ethernet card in the PC provides an industry-standard means of
communicating between the PC and the router (and via the router, with the
internet and the laptop). Modern Ethernet cards work at a speed of 100
Mbits/sec - 50 times faster than a 2Mbit/sec ADSL line, to set things into
context. You could equally well have put a wireless card in the PC and
communicated with the router by wireless. Either way, you get a TCP/IP
"connection". I'd advise using a cable (Ethernet) where distances are short
because in my experience it is faster and more reliable: this is most
noticeable when transferring data between PCs on your local network.

You don't specify whether the laptop's network card is Ethernet or wireless.
Since your thread title says wireless, I'll assume that there's some
wireless involved somewhere.

The main thing to remember with wireless is that it is physically insecure:
anyone within range can pick up the signal. Therefore it is essential that
you encrypt the signal. There are two encryption schemes: WEP and WPA. WPA,
which is newer, is reckoned to be much more secure. Either way, you
configure the router and the wireless card to support the same algorithm (eg
WPA) and configure the same password or passphrase into all the wireless
devices. You may have already done all this - if not, turn encryption on
ASAP!


The Ethernet and/or wireless link provides a local area network: local
because traffic between your various PCs is local and doesn't get out onto
the internet; similarly traffic on the internet doesn't get through onto the
private LAN unless it's in response to a request from one of your PCs. The
filtering of traffic is performed by the router - specifically the firewall
in the router.

On 12 Aug 2005 17:32, "Martin Underwood" wrote:

>The filtering of traffic is performed by the router - specifically the
>firewall in the router.

You don't need to have the firewall enabled... "filtering" of traffic is
also a function of routers providing Network Address Translation. Peter.

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"poster" <us-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed). net...
> On 12 Aug 2005 17:32, "Martin Underwood" wrote:
>
>>The filtering of traffic is performed by the router - specifically the
>>firewall in the router.
>
> You don't need to have the firewall enabled... "filtering" of traffic is
> also a function of routers providing Network Address Translation. Peter.

I didn;t want to complicate matters for the OP - but, yes, NAT on its own
makes a pretty good firewall to protect your network from unsolicited
traffic from the internet - it will only allow in traffic that is in
response to a request (for a web page, email etc) from one of the PCs on the
LAN.

On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 18:19:19 +0100, "Martin Underwood" <a@b> wrote:

>"poster" <us-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed) .net...
>> On 12 Aug 2005 17:32, "Martin Underwood" wrote:
>>
>>>The filtering of traffic is performed by the router - specifically the
>>>firewall in the router.
>>
>> You don't need to have the firewall enabled... "filtering" of traffic is
>> also a function of routers providing Network Address Translation. Peter.
>
>I didn;t want to complicate matters for the OP - but, yes, NAT on its own
>makes a pretty good firewall to protect your network from unsolicited
>traffic from the internet - it will only allow in traffic that is in
>response to a request (for a web page, email etc) from one of the PCs on the
>LAN.
>
Thank you.

I found this thread helpful.

Colin