Wireless router - how to setup

I am soon going to go onto ADSL and I wonder if you could help me out with a
few things. I want to have a wireless router so that I can connect to my PC
and laptop without cables.

My queries are as follows:-

1. Using a wireless router do I lose any performance over a cabled setup
(i.e. speed, reliability etc)?

2. Both desktop PC & laptop PC's have network cards in them, but what I do
not know is how they will communicate to the router. I imagine I have to
plug in some sort of receiver with an ariel into the network card but I am
not sure. Can someone please tell me what I need to connect my PC's to the
wireless router?

3. I have heard some ISP talk about VPN. What exactly is VPN and what does
it do for me?

4. Finally, what is the basic specification for a PC that can use wireless
communication? I ask as 1 of my Laptop PC's is quite old.

I hope you understand my questions and I hope you are able to help me out. I
am sorry if some of the questions are silly and basic but I am very new to
this area of computing.

I appreciate any information and advice given.

Thanks!!



---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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Well it really is simpler than you think

First usually you have one compute that is hard wired that would be your PC
the laptop would have a wireless card that would go in the Pc card slot. Age
of the laptop is not as important as the operating system it CAME with as
long as it was win98/98SE or ME you should be OK. there are many different
brands and I will not start a discussion of whose is best. I look for toll
free tech support and a lifetime warranty myself.

performance wise the slowest wireless cards are rated at 11 MBPS since your
ADSL is probably 768 or so you will not notice any speed loss. There will be
an increase in latency (the delay) in the actual packets. This is important
only for online games!
Buy the same brand wireless router as you do the card for the laptop just to
make things simpler. you can
"secure" your wireless network fairly easily several different ways and
that is all spelled out with the instructions!

VPN is usually how people connect to their work network from home. The data
is all encrypted and some ISPs block or do not allow it from home accounts
they want to make more money by charging you for a home office or business
account!

This web site is probably a good place to start
http://www.homenethelp.com/


Once you get high speed install the google toolbar and start doing searches
on your own use the + and - signs to get the right results

I used wireless router + review for the search I just did!

Wayne


"Neil Hindry" <neilhindry@_nospam_ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:rWWcb.276$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I am soon going to go onto ADSL and I wonder if you could help me out with
a
> few things. I want to have a wireless router so that I can connect to my
PC
> and laptop without cables.
>
> My queries are as follows:-
>
> 1. Using a wireless router do I lose any performance over a cabled setup
> (i.e. speed, reliability etc)?
>
> 2. Both desktop PC & laptop PC's have network cards in them, but what I do
> not know is how they will communicate to the router. I imagine I have to
> plug in some sort of receiver with an ariel into the network card but I am
> not sure. Can someone please tell me what I need to connect my PC's to the
> wireless router?
>
> 3. I have heard some ISP talk about VPN. What exactly is VPN and what does
> it do for me?
>
> 4. Finally, what is the basic specification for a PC that can use wireless
> communication? I ask as 1 of my Laptop PC's is quite old.
>
> I hope you understand my questions and I hope you are able to help me out.
I
> am sorry if some of the questions are silly and basic but I am very new to
> this area of computing.
>
> I appreciate any information and advice given.
>
> Thanks!!
>
>
>
> ---
> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> Version: 6.0.521 / Virus Database: 319 - Release Date: 23/09/2003
>
>

"Neil Hindry" <neilhindry@_nospam_ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:rWWcb.276$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I am soon going to go onto ADSL and I wonder if you could help me out with
a
> few things. I want to have a wireless router so that I can connect to my
PC
> and laptop without cables.
>
> My queries are as follows:-
>
> 1. Using a wireless router do I lose any performance over a cabled setup
> (i.e. speed, reliability etc)?

Performance should be OK if the radio link is good and range not too long.
My D-Link set up covers the house but in the furthese corners I get the
occasional drop out when streaming Internet Radio to an IPAQ.

> 2. Both desktop PC & laptop PC's have network cards in them, but what I do
> not know is how they will communicate to the router. I imagine I have to
> plug in some sort of receiver with an ariel into the network card but I am
> not sure. Can someone please tell me what I need to connect my PC's to the
> wireless router?

Wireless Routers usually come with four wired ports on them so depending on
where you plan to put the router you could keep the desktop PC connected by
wire. It's usually necessary to have one PC connected to the router by wire
to set it up anyway. To set up most routers you treat them like a web site
(eg you point your browser at an specified address and up pops the config
page for the router). Once the router is configured you can usually unplug
the wired connection and go "all wireless". (It's also a good idea to use a
wired connection rather than wireless when updating the firmware in the
router).

If you want to go all wireless you have two choices for the Desktop PC:.
Replace the wired LAN cards with Wireless LAN cards or use a USB wireless
card. The worst place for the aerial is round the back of your PC so I
favour using USB wireless card. The latter allows you to locate the whole
unit (including aerial) where you get best connection.

For the laptop: If you have a PCMCIA slot I would get a PCMCIA Wireless Lan
card. Check the specs for the card to make sure it works in your laptop.

The instructions with the router will probably tell you to power up the
equipment in a certain order (eg Modem then Router then PC's). I've found
it's important to allow plenty of time between each one. eg You need to
allow the modem to connect to your ISP and complete it's self test before
turning on the router. If you have problems with the set up always repeat
this step slowly (gives you time to thing as well!).

"CWatters" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:



>
>The instructions with the router will probably tell you to power up the
>equipment in a certain order (eg Modem then Router then PC's). I've found
>it's important to allow plenty of time between each one. eg You need to
>allow the modem to connect to your ISP and complete it's self test before
>turning on the router. If you have problems with the set up always repeat
>this step slowly (gives you time to thing as well!).

The only thing I'd add is you MAY have to clone the MAC address of the
computer that is first connected to your ISP's modem. I had to do
this on my Linksys router as it wouldn't SEE the internet with-out
doing this first...

"gene martinez" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "CWatters" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> The only thing I'd add is you MAY have to clone the MAC address of the
> computer that is first connected to your ISP's modem. I had to do
> this on my Linksys router as it wouldn't SEE the internet with-out
> doing this first...

Perhaps your ISP is restricting access to one MAC addresses. (Hence the need
for the router to "pretend" to be the MAC from the previously directly
connected network card).