Wireless with wires as well?

I have one laptop that I would like to set up a wireless connect with
NTL broadband. I do not have any other computers that need to share this
connection at the moment but might in the future use my work laptop at
home. I have been told that to have a wireless connection, you must have
at least one PC/laptop connected with wires/ethernet. I have tried to
search for this on the internet and could not see anything telling me I
needed a wired computer. Is this true or can I run the laptop alone with
a wireless router and adaptor card?

FJDx <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I have one laptop that I would like to set up a wireless connect with
> NTL broadband. I do not have any other computers that need to share this
> connection at the moment but might in the future use my work laptop at
> home. I have been told that to have a wireless connection, you must have
> at least one PC/laptop connected with wires/ethernet. I have tried to
> search for this on the internet and could not see anything telling me I
> needed a wired computer. Is this true or can I run the laptop alone with
> a wireless router and adaptor card?

What is NTL broadband?
For most DSL installations or cable installations, a technician would want
to install their modem directly to a wired computer of yours.
After they leave, disconnecting the computer and putting a wireless router
on the modem would be left up to you, and is typically "not supported",
meaning only that the installers don't know how to deal with it, or aren't
supposed to.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

FJDx wrote:
> I have one laptop that I would like to set up a wireless connect with
> NTL broadband. I do not have any other computers that need to share this
> connection at the moment but might in the future use my work laptop at
> home. I have been told that to have a wireless connection, you must have
> at least one PC/laptop connected with wires/ethernet. I have tried to
> search for this on the internet and could not see anything telling me I
> needed a wired computer. Is this true or can I run the laptop alone with
> a wireless router and adaptor card?
>

You normally use the wired connection to configure the router. Once it's
up and running you can disconnect the wired connection and use it
wirelessly.

Hope that helps (a bit)
Ian

On Tue, 17 May 2005 20:39:52 +0000 (UTC), in alt.internet.wireless ,
(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>What is NTL broadband?

Cable mostly, tho they now offer DSL for some cable-free areas.

>For most DSL installations or cable installations, a technician would want
>to install their modem directly to a wired computer of yours.

not in the UK - here they deliver the cable feed if needed, a modem,
USB cable and CAT5 if you ask for it, hand you the CD and leave.

--
Mark McIntyre
CLC FAQ <http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html>
CLC readme: <http://www.ungerhu.com/jxh/clc.welcome.txt>

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On Tue, 17 May 2005 20:39:52 +0000, dold wrote:

> FJDx <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> I have one laptop that I would like to set up a wireless connect with
>> NTL broadband. I do not have any other computers that need to share this
>> connection at the moment but might in the future use my work laptop at
>> home. I have been told that to have a wireless connection, you must have
>> at least one PC/laptop connected with wires/ethernet.

wrong.

>> I have tried to search for this on the internet and could not see
>> anything telling me I needed a wired computer. Is this true or can I
>> run the laptop alone with a wireless router and adaptor card?

connect the wireless router to the ethernet port on the cable modem...
you don't need wires for the computers.

> What is NTL broadband?

cable... mine's 600kb

> For most DSL installations or cable installations, a technician would want
> to install their modem directly to a wired computer of yours.

no, no, no! i don't think they are actually allowed to touch your machine
because if anything goes wrong with it (something's already wrong with
it), ntl don't want the responsibility.

they'll check the signal is correct at the end of the cable and attach the
modem. some of the engineers may hang around to make sure you can access
the internet though.

> After they leave, disconnecting the computer and putting a wireless
> router on the modem would be left up to you, and is typically "not
> supported", meaning only that the installers don't know how to deal with
> it, or aren't supposed to.

correct.

bryan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> no, no, no! i don't think they are actually allowed to touch your machine
> because if anything goes wrong with it (something's already wrong with
> it), ntl don't want the responsibility.

> they'll check the signal is correct at the end of the cable and attach the
> modem. some of the engineers may hang around to make sure you can access
> the internet though.

That sounds like a kind of half-baked self-install. In my area, the
installers ran cable to my modem, connected cat5 to my PC (disconnecting my
hub, so I couldn't get at my printer any more), and adjusted my NIC
settings to DHCP from static. He stopped short of setting up Outlook
Express to point to their servers when he realized there was already a
configuration in place, or I think he would have done that too.

The self-install kit arrives in the mail.

>> After they leave, disconnecting the computer and putting a wireless
>> router on the modem would be left up to you, and is typically "not
>> supported", meaning only that the installers don't know how to deal with
>> it, or aren't supposed to.

For my cable installation, I had to "clone" the MAC address of the PC that
was configured onto the cable system by the installer. Later, on a trouble
call, the first clueless guy (you don't get the installer-level guys for
trouble calls), wanted to blame my router, although he didn't suggest
removing it. The other guys didn't seem to care about the router, nor did
they have a clue about what I might have correct or bungled in my PC
configuration.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

On Wed, 18 May 2005 01:16:30 +0000, dold wrote:

> bryan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> no, no, no! i don't think they are actually allowed to touch your
>> machine because if anything goes wrong with it (something's already
>> wrong with it), ntl don't want the responsibility.
>
>> they'll check the signal is correct at the end of the cable and attach
>> the modem. some of the engineers may hang around to make sure you can
>> access the internet though.
>
> That sounds like a kind of half-baked self-install. In my area, the
> installers ran cable to my modem, connected cat5 to my PC (disconnecting
> my hub, so I couldn't get at my printer any more), and adjusted my NIC
> settings to DHCP from static. He stopped short of setting up Outlook
> Express to point to their servers when he realized there was already a
> configuration in place, or I think he would have done that too.
>
> The self-install kit arrives in the mail.
>
>>> After they leave, disconnecting the computer and putting a wireless
>>> router on the modem would be left up to you, and is typically "not
>>> supported", meaning only that the installers don't know how to deal
>>> with it, or aren't supposed to.
>
> For my cable installation, I had to "clone" the MAC address of the PC that
> was configured onto the cable system by the installer. Later, on a
> trouble call, the first clueless guy (you don't get the installer-level
> guys for trouble calls), wanted to blame my router, although he didn't
> suggest removing it. The other guys didn't seem to care about the router,
> nor did they have a clue about what I might have correct or bungled in my
> PC configuration.

are you sure you're not with ntl? :-)

bryan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> are you sure you're not with ntl? :-)

The names change, but the techniques remain the same.
MCHSI.COM in my area. The support number rings to Florida, 3000 miles away.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

Taking a moment's reflection, bryan mused:
|
| wrong.

Don't be so hasty. Some wireless routers ship with the wireless
turned off. So, the only way to connect initially is via wired
connection.

"mhicaoidh" <®êmõvé_mhic_aoidh@hotÑîXmailŠ*PäM.com> wrote in
news:kBdje.9769$796.1002@attbi_s21:
>> I have been told that to have a wireless connection, you must
have at least one PC/laptop connected with wires/ethernet.

> Taking a moment's reflection, bryan mused:
>|
>| wrong.
>
> Don't be so hasty. Some wireless routers ship with the
> wireless turned off. So, the only way to connect initially
is via wired connection.
>
>

Both responses are on the right track. Just to clarify:

1) You do *not* need a wired connected PC for normal operation of a
wireless router. [at least all of the ones I've seen, which is
many]

2) You may need a wired connection to configure the router if
wireless networking is not enabled by default. And to set up
wireless security it makes life a lot more convenient to have a
wired connection.

3) Diagnosis of connectivity problems can be a lot easier if a
wired connection can be eastablished. Hence I always take a laptop
PC and Ethernet cable with me to wireless LAN sites for that
purpose.