Okay, this is where the experience of Mole and Satis definately comes in. Pig and 11b, maybe. Pev?...well Pev's ... blonde.

So anyway. As youve probably seen in previous posts we (at my uni house) are considering installing broadband. Ive had a good look at ISP's and the ones available to us dont seem to provide the equipment we need.

So im interested in seeing whether its something easy enough that i can setup and maintain. I need some advice. Assuming everyone has the specs on their computers/laptops. Is there a wireless solution?

And while were at it, what kind of setup will i have to go through with Windows?

*Notices this may be a huge task*

Thanks.

wow, you guys dont really give a shit about my problems do you?

wireless is just as easy as wired. In fact, it may be easier, since you don't have to do any cabling. Yes you can do it. The only question is whether or not you can do it while maintaining security.

I once tried to connect 2 computers together. Utter nightmare.

I believe it's even through the same set up wizzard...

Anyway, best thing to do is keep a connection set up, so you can always get back to the net to ask for help. I learned that the hard way.

And yeah, so long as you don't need something super secure, go for it. Should be straight forward really. I don't know how wireless works in specifics, but just make sure all the recievers etc are set the same channel/frequency and should be all systems go.

just by a set of nics and a wireless router and follow the directions. If you run into specific problems, we'll help you out, but it's really not that hard.

Wiring 2 computers together is easy too. You probably did something wrong, like trying to use a patch cable without an intermediate device.

The nightmare was trying to use the Wizard with little/no networking knowledge. In theory the Wizards make knowledge redundant, obviously not in this case.

Thanks for the helping offer. Ill have to google about to prepare myself.

the wizards suck. It's easier to set up the connection manually. If you're connecting via a router or whatever, you IP, subnet and default gateway (and Dns) are typically all dynamic, so it's not like the settings are hard.

Do you mean a wireless internet solution or a wireless Local Area Network solution?

hmm, good question. My guess was a wired broadband and then just wireless to distribute it across the house.

I thought that to have wireless broadband to 4 nodes, you'd need a WLAN.

what are you trying to accomplish?

To answer your question...

In order to have wireless broadband, you'd have to have a wirlesss lan. No, that's not true. If you have wireless broadband, you could equip all your pcs with wireless nics and due without a wireless local area network at all...you'd just connect directly to the wireless wide area network. Or, you could get a base station that grab the wireless signal and converts it to wired, then have a regular lan. Or you could even have something grab the wireless WAN signal and convert it to wireless LAN.

So anyway...home networking is easy regardless of how you cut it. Unless you're trying to implement multiple router hops, like a segmented LAN, a MAN or even a small-scale WAN. Or if you're actually an ISP and have to set up BGP (*shiver*). Or if you're dealing with complex routing protocols like multiarea OSPF or EIGRP. Or multiple autonomous systems. Or complex network requirements involving AAA, LDAP, QoS, or whatever.

Yea im confused.

You can have no internet and a wireless network.
You can have wireless internet and no network.
You can have wireless internet and wireless network.
You can have wired internet with wireless network.
You can have wired internet with wired network.
You can have no internet and no network.

In the above the term "internet" and "network" are not the same thing.


So what the hell do you want?

Okay, dingbats. Ill throw in the context. I was reluctant to give it to you at first because i thought you wouldnt speak conceptually. Seeing as you are unable to do this here goes:

Proposed equipment:

- Wireless router+modem connectied to broadband.
- 4 computers. ( 3 laptops and 1 PC, all have USB ports ).
- Windows XP on 2, 2000 on the others.

Problem:

- How to get wireless broadband to the 4 computers.

Possible constraints?:

- Need some kind of adaptor for each computer.
- Need XP on all computers.

How big area are we talking?

If those 4 computers are close enough a wrouter will do and you dont need the relay antennas.

I have both at my home, a wlan coverage and lan.

I have a router which converts the broadband into wireless. The router is powerful enough to give excellent signal strength at roughly 20 meters or so.

The laptops, their wifi devices will automatically detect the connection. PC with wireless adapter i have no idea since ive never used/seen one with my own eyes.