Wireless question?

[cityboy-stl]

My friend asked me this and since I've never hooked up anything to wireless I'm not sure of the answer. If I have a wireless modem is there a way to put the modem in a different room (the one that has the DSL phone connection) and run the desktop computer wirelessly in a different room? Or do you need to have one computer hooked up to the modem and phone line?

I think you would need to have one hooked up directly. If not, what would I need in the computer to make it work?

Thanks.

 

[Corny]

*confused*
what exactly is wireless?

if the modem is plugged into the phoneline and has an internal access point, you can place your computer in the other room.

 

[andysayshi]

Once the wireless modem is configured, there's no need for it to be connected to a computer. So long as your computer has wireless capability it can then connect to the modem wirelessly.

Many computers have wireless capabilities built in, particularly modern portables. If yours doesn't, you can get a USB WiFi device, or a PCI wireless card for a desktop machine, or a PCMCIA Wireless Card for a laptop.

If you post the model no/type of your computer, I'm sure you'll get more solid suggestions of what's possible.

 

[cityboy-stl]

Currently phone cord runs from wall to wireless capable modem.
Network cable runs from modem to ethernet port on main computer.
Computer connects to internet.
Other computers connect to wireless modem.

Move to new house.
No phone outlet in room where computer is.

Want to put modem in room with phone connection.
Want to put computer in another room.

Computer is not mine so I'm not sure of model but it's an old Dell with XP.

*confused*
what exactly is wireless?

How do we get the main computer to connect to the internet without running a 50 foot network cable from the modem to the ethernet port. What do we need to put in the main computer to connect it wirelessly? Do we just need to put a wireless card in the machine?

 

[andysayshi]

How do we get the main computer to connect to the internet without running a 50 foot network cable from the modem to the ethernet port. What do we need to put in the main computer to connect it wirelessly? Do we just need to put a wireless card in the machine?

That's correct. Depending on the computer model, Dell may have a custom Wireless option for the machine, but it's not necessary to use that. So long as you have a PCI slot free in the computer, you can add a PCI Wireless card to the machine and connect wirelessly to your modem/router. If you're not comfortable putting the card in yourself, any computer shop should be able to do the job for you quite cheaply.

No offense meant to Chinfat2004, but his message is not correct. Once the wireless modem is correctly configured, there's no need for a computer to be connected to it.

 

[cityboy-stl]

^ Thank You!

I shouldn't have any trouble installing the card. I've done that kind of thing before. We may just go with a USB device which would be even easier. I'll get my hands on the machine and figure out exactly what we need. I'm fairly computer knowledgeable but I've just never done anything with wireless before.

 

[andysayshi]

Agreed! USB should be a last resort. Sorry, I shoulda said that in my earlier post.

 

[cityboy-stl]

^ Thank You all again. We will definitely go with a PCI card device then. I think they're cheaper anyway.

 

[cityboy-stl]

Reporting back the results. I got a Linksys wireless card. I had to take out the old dial-up modem and put it in its place. The thing works absolutely great. It searched out and found the access point right away. We connected and were on line before I knew it. In addition to the wireless card I added an additional 256M of memory and completely reinstalled XP. I have a new video card on order, still waiting to get it. The computer is really zippy now even if it is 7 years old.

Thanks for everyone's advice.



.

 

[andysayshi]

Great news!

 

[cityboy-stl]

THREE CHEERS FOR CITYBOY!

hip-hip hurrah!
hip-hip hurrah!!!
hip-hip hurrah!!!!

Now the ultimate test... do you have WPA2 wireless encryption running on the connection?

No, it's WEP. I don't think that would even work on this system. The modem is 802.11g. Don't you have to have 'i' for that work? I don't think the card would support it either.

 

[ANDORYUU]

wireless needs to be connected to both a phone line/or cable line and 1 computer for others to be wireless and you also need a wireless router.

That's complete bollocks!

All you need is a wireless router connected to your phone line and a computer that is wireless capable, placed where the hell you like.

 

[cityboy-stl]

a/b/g/n are just frequency/speed designations and have no specification control over encryption.

(hell if you wanted you could create your own wireless AP from a desktop and create your own supplicant using rc5 and an evolving hash. all with everyday hardware.)

Anyways, if you have the PCI card, then it will handle the {de/en}cryption instead of the proc.

WEP is not to be considered secure by any means. It will of course ward off cheap neighbors who want to leach internet for free. but will get the likes of me aroused with the excitement of seeing just how quickly it can be compromised and gaining access to your network.

Well gee...if it gets you aroused with excitement...