Members TeleCarlos Posted September 13, 2005 Members Share Posted September 13, 2005 Thought I'd ask here see what you all had to say. This what I've got: * Cable/net connection by Adelphia* A cable modem, provided by them also.* a Dell desktop in another room.* Will soon have an iBook, WiFi ready. So I'm guessing all I need is a wireless router, right? The desktop will still be connected to the router and will be able to use the iBook 'round the apt., right? Saw I few products by D-link and Linksys that would do just that. Anyway, thought I would ask see what any of you got. If you know where I can find out more bout this or have experiences with this, let me know. Thanks!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boseengineer Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 Not a trivial task but do-able. In general everybody that speaks 802-11b or 802-11g should work with each other. I have a D-Link router and D-Link and Netgear access network cards and they play fine with each other. The two tricky parts are: 1) Configuring the router so it talks to the cable or DSL modem. It might be worth checking with your provider if they recommend or sell a specific router for their modem. In my neck of the woods, Verizon will sell you a Linksys router (at a hefty price tag) and refuse to support anything else. 2) Setting the correct encryption protocols. 802-11b/g supports various encryption levels and protocols and all partners need to use the same. Setting those through the stupid Microsoft Wizards isn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rabid Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 I got a Linksys WRV54G 2.4ghz wireless router. First it was connected to Adelphia Cable Net and now to my DSL modem. Basically it just connects to the modem by ethernet so the modem really has no idea what the connection is. That should not be a problem. There are 3 PC's wired by ethernet, plus a laptop and TIVO connected by Linksys wireless devices. I had a bit of trouble getting encryption working so I chose the simple route. My router only allows connection of devices that I give permisson to. This is accomplished by connecting to the router via a web page, and then inputing the MAC addresses of the devices I own. Other people can see my router but they cannot use my internet connection unless I input the MAC address of their device into my router. There is an occasional problem. Sometimes my laptop will cause the router to freeze. I have not figured it out but it does not happen often. Range is decent. The router is upstairs. The TIVO is downstairs. The laptop moves around and sometimes goes to the back deck. Speed is decent with the G devices. Not quite as fast as wired, but still handy when I want to download a 4 meg mp3 of some VSTi I want to demo. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daklander Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 I have a dLink router and have two computers running hardwired and three others running wireless.I thought it was quite easy to get running on windows systems, running XP, Win2000Pro and ME on them and three different wireless cards. The only real issue I've had is getting one dual boot unit going on Linux though it was a piece of cake on the windows side of the dual boot..The wirless units are located in various places. One in the daughter's bedroom, one, the dual boot unit, in the garage until my recording room is set up and this laptop goes where ever I need it. I use it in three separate offices as well as other areas and have no problems gaining wireless access on non-encrypted systems or the systems i have the codes for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Café Dekcuf Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 Originally posted by TeleCarlos Thought I'd ask here see what you all had to say. This what I've got:* Will soon have an iBook, WiFi ready.So I'm guessing all I need is a wireless router, right? If you're getting an iBook with a built-in airport card (all the new iBooks ship with the card now ) get yourself an Airport Extreme base station. Plug your cable moden into it and your iBook will now be on your wireleses network. The base station also has a USB in, so you can plug in your printer and print from your iBook. See: Airport Extreme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members where02190 Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 Yup, Airport is the answer. I've got a Cable modem here with a Linksys Router and an Airport Express, and it works great. I can access it all over both inside and outside with no problems to easily 100ft, even though they say it's range is only 50ft. Word of advise, password protect your login, otherwise anyone with Wifi can use your ISP for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kptkarl Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 Yep...airport is great. Though if you don't need the USB or Audio output(express) you can save a bundle by getting a DLink or Linksys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flemtone Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 I feel compelled to put in a plug for Netgear over Linksys, however. Linksys can be a beast to configure sometimes, but the Netgear wireless router I bought a few years ago is incredibly simple (which works for me!). Just my 2 bits... ...or bytes... -Tim from Jersey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members js1 Posted September 15, 2005 Members Share Posted September 15, 2005 Do a search in Google on "set up wireless network" and a ton of articles/tutorials will turn up. I would disagree with leaving your network unsecured. Some people take advantage of unsecured networks to download "questionable material", and you don't want to be accountable if that happens. A guy in my town got arrested in his car with his laptop, parked outside a house with his pants around his knees.... js Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted September 15, 2005 Members Share Posted September 15, 2005 It should be quite easy. I've set up two at my house (my first cheap router died so I bought an even cheaper one and its been solid except that one day nothing worked and I ended up just resestting it with a paper clip and starting over. It was 15 pr 20 minutes I didn't think I shoulda had to spend but everything was fine after.) I even set one up for one of my web database clients, who has a 2 Mac household. It was my first real time on a Mac... I had a lot more problems sussing out the OS X interface -- which I thought would be self-explanatory... guess I've been too long in Winland. Anyhow, the wi-fi part of things was pretty much a snap. (All that said, one node on my home network -- my old desktop -- recently decided to not show up -- it's connected via ethernet and can see the router and internet -- but not my laptop. And vice versa. But that's obviously some wacky Windows issue. Or maybe something I did in my sleep. Y'know?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amplayer Posted September 15, 2005 Members Share Posted September 15, 2005 I have two Macs and one Wintel machine all using wireless. My setup is a cable modem, Linksys wireless router, Macs and PCs with wireless capability.I have had no issues connecting the Macs to the Linksys router, so don't feel you need to buy the Apple base station.If you live in a big city that has lots of people nearby, I highly suggest enabling an encryption protocol so people don't "accidentally" access your network. In general, I don't think many people do it maliciously, but encryption is simple to set up and the loss of bandwidth it causes is most likely unnoticable. Unfortunately, your router and your computers support several encryption protocols, so you'll need to pick one and make sure the router and all the computers are set up for the one you choose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daklander Posted September 15, 2005 Members Share Posted September 15, 2005 Originally posted by boseengineer 2) Setting the correct encryption protocols. 802-11b/g supports various encryption levels and protocols and all partners need to use the same. Setting those through the stupid Microsoft Wizards isn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 the Netgear wireless router I bought a few years ago is incredibly simple (which works for me! I've got a Netgear wifi setup here at home. My computer is hardwired to a cable, and we wifi my wife's at the other side of the house - I didn't feel like running another coax cable into that room. It just barely reaches out to the studio... I need a better antenna so it will work better out there... then clients can use their laptops out there if they want. I don't have any of the 'puters in the studio connected to the 'net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TeleCarlos Posted September 16, 2005 Author Members Share Posted September 16, 2005 Thanks a whole bunch fellows! This is a bit new to me but I'm getting my head around it. I live in an apt/townhouse building so not that much traffic is around to steal my web access. Still, want to avoid others using it to avoid those issues mentioned before. I would totally prefer the Airport Apple thingy but the price seems twice what other similars cost so... you know. Will do the research suggested, just glad to hear I'm not the only one around here messing with this crap. Thans again!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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