OT: Wireless internet?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I presume it would involve a wireless modem, but I know nothing about it, other than it's wireless and would be useful for my laptop.

So, I'm wondering how much it costs and if it could be hooked into an existing lan.

And, whatever other useful facts I should know.

Thanks.

[Fyron]

There is a distinction between wireless networking and wireless Internet connections. Actual wireless Internet service would be provided by a cell phone or satellite company, and you'd just get a little USB receiver to plug into the laptop.

Assuming you really meant wireless networking, you'd need to get a wireless router (sometimes you can get a modem + router combo box from your ISP, but they always suck). Good brands of Wifi gear include Linksys and Netgear, and exclude D-link, Trendnet, Belkin, and other random general gear/hardware vendors. Before picking up parts, there are some questions to ask:

1) Does your laptop have any sort of built-in Wifi network adapter? If so, what kind? 802.11 B, G, or N?

If your laptop has a B or G adapter, all you need is a 802.11g router. If it has a N adapter, you can still get away with a cheaper 802.11g router, and it will function in G mode.

2) If your laptop has nothing, you will need to get both an adapter and a router. At this point, you need to choose whether you want to go with 802.11 G or N (B is obsolete and noone makes just B gear anymore). N provides better networking speeds and better range, but will cost more money (and it has the dubious position of still being a draft standards specification..). The speed will only matter in network connections between your computers, since 802.11g is likely faster than your Cable or DSL service (19 Mb/s throughput).

Wifi adapters for your laptop come in both USB and PCMCIA slot flavors. USB can be used in any machine, but sticks out the side. PCMCIA cards fit mostly inside the machine, and are thus less obtrusive. You cannot use them in general machines though, since most non-laptop computers have no PCMCIA slots.

Assuming you don't go with cheapo gear, you're looking at spending around $100 US on a 802.11g router + adapter (more if you go the 802.11n route).

=0=

Regarding setup, the easiest thing to do will be to plug the uplink port of your new router into the current modem, then plug all ethernet cables into the new router. This way, all of your computers will get IP addresses in the same network range, and life will be much, much easier. It also helps to set up a rule in the modem to blindly forward all traffic to the router, and just use the firewall stuff in the router itself. This way, you don't have to worry about forwarding ports from the modem to the router, then from the router to the computer.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

It has built-in wireless; how do I tell what type that is?

So wireless routers have wire ports?

What price range is a 'good' wireless router?

[Fyron]

Look in System Properties > Device Manager > Network Adapters. This should tell you exactly what the card is.

There are wireless routers without a built-in Ethernet switch (usually called a base station or something), but most of them include a switch because its dirt cheap to do so, and always useful for the customer.

For a good Linksys or Netgear 802.11g router, you're looking at $50-60 US (though they do get put on sale all the time). 802.11n routers tend to have gigabit Ethernet switches, and cost in excess of $100 US. There are also more expensive models with fancy features like USB ports for NAS (network attached storage) hard drive setups, but that's usually overkill.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

It's an 802.11n, but it seems it can handle b/g

...Huh? I knows nothing...

Ok, thanks.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

What I mean is, what do you mean by 'built-in Ethernet switch'?

[Ed Kolis]

One wire in, multiple wires out - basically a splitter for your wired network connection. Never hurts to have that around

[bearclaw]

FYI: My personal experiance has been good with D-Link wireless routers and Linksys (I prefer the D-Links myself), but I'll echo Fyron: Stay away from most others. We had a Belkin. 2 weeks later I tossed it and got a D-Link. No problems since.

[Fyron]

D-Link is only marginally above the likes of Belkin and Airnet. Maybe they have improved their technology in recent years, but I'll never trust them again.

Narf, here is some terminology:

switch
router
modem

[narf poit chez BOOM]

@Fyron: Why don't you trust D-Link?

Also, I have a wireless network now.