Page 1 of broadband question??

Ok I am changing my broadband provider and have decided to go for the PlusNet 2MB for £14.99, but I am also wanting to make the house all wireless now to a change in location of the computer soon.

My question is the PlusNet wireless router any good and worth it at £74.99 to me it sounds expensive but I don`t know to much about the wireless stuff.

I will be connecting a maximum of 2 PC`s and one laptop, also can the PC`s be connected wirelessly so I dont have to trawl the telephone wire all over the house?

Thanks in advance
Rv

Rv,

I would buy my own wireless router, at 74.99 sounds a okay but you can get cheaper. Do you know what make and model it will be?? I have brought from www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk before and they do good pricing but lots of details / information on all there wireless products. Also look at www.dabs.com they do some good prices and packages with extra cards.

As for your PC`s, it can go wireless in lots of differnt ways but I would recommend a PCI card to slot in to your machine, very much like a standard network card would. Again these can be purchased from the above on-line shops and some times you can get deals on bundles.

Remember with wireless equipment, the more walls you go through the more interference / drop in signal quality you will get so take that in to account your looking at placing equipment.

Hope this helps!

Colin

You can set up a wireless network using either "ad-hoc" connection or a connection via an access point. The first one does NOT require a router and basically 2 machines communicate with each other via wireless network cards costing between £15 and £25 each. This works because one of the PCs acts as a router but the obvious disadvantage is that the router PC must be switched on at all times in order to establish a connection. The good thing is that if you wish to go for the router option at a later date then you can still use one of your existing wireless network cards.

If you go for the router option, then buying one with a wireless card included is usually the cheaper option than buying the 2 components separately. The costs start at around £65 for both the router and the card for an 802.11g system (802.11b will be a lot cheaper although I don`t know the prices).

If you are using a wireless network to connect to the internet you do not need to worry about signal strength. The 802.11b standard transmits data at 10Mbits/s and the 802.11g standard transmits at up to 54mbits/s. Now broadband connection is far slower than either of these so even with a signal degradation, it will make no odds to your broadband speed. What will be affected is file transfer speed because the hard disc transfer rate is faster than the wireless transfer/receive rate.

evening, have just got back from a local pc fair, myslef looking at wirless connectivity for one pc and a notebook
for approx £65 u can buy now a wireless router with pmcia card for ur laptop all rolled in, running at up to 108mbts much faster than the norm
u will also need to purchase a pci card for each of ur desktops, again around about £10-15
search the big ads in the national papers , the likes of currys , pc world etc occasionally have good one off deals

Ok all I have been out to the shops to have a look at the routers and all for my wireless network, I went and bought a Belkin one, however I think that it has to be connected to at least one computer first before I can use the broadband connection, is this true or if I plug the router its the (ASDL Wireless router) into the phone line and stick in the card into my pc will it work without having to connect the network cable??

I am confused basically I need all the PC`s to be connected wirelessly, I know my post does not make much sense but I just dont get it help please!!!

Thanks
Rv

No, it doens`t need to be connected to a computer. Connect the router to the phone line. Your PC can connect to the internet via the router`s network via a network cable or a separate wireless card.

My setup is as follows. I have a router which is connected to the phone line. My main PC is connected to the router using a network cable (because it is next to the router so no point in wireless card in this case). My 2nd PC (a laptop) is also connected to the router but this is done using a USB wireless card.

If you want to only connect one PC to the router then you can connect it using a network cable (if it`s very near the router) or use a wireless card (USB or internal PCI). The USB option gives greater flexibility as you can freely connect it to a laptop in the future.

Ok thanks for all your help people apparently I only need to use the network cable to help set it up!!! So hopefully it should all work now!!