Broadband??? Wireless??? Help!!!!!

meerustar

Hi all, bear with me on this one as I'm completely lost with technology.

I am on AOL dial up at the mo and this month I am finally getting a laptop :j

Thing is, I don't know how to connect all this stuff up.

My desktop PC is upstairs and my main 'telephone box' is downstairs, and I haven't had broadband as I heard you needed to be within 10 metres for the wire to reach (or something along those lines) so I've just stuck to the dial up. Now I'm at the point of tearing my hair out as it's getting slower and slower.

So now I'm getting a laptop and want to connect that to the 'net as well, but I need broadband, so what do I do about this wire ... or is this where wireless comes into it??? :wall:

I notcied Wanadoo are offering a wireless box thingy in with the price if you sign up ... is this the type of box I need??? :wall:

Or, do i get one of those other box thingys out of the argos (they have an easy to understand guide for wireless that I find hard to understand, lol), or are they one and the same thing?? :wall:

Please help me if you can one of you lovely - techo - money - saving - heroes. :beer:

I don't know about madasafish ... I'm daftasabrush.

Thanks.

mike_paterson

My desktop PC is upstairs and my main 'telephone box' is downstairs, and I haven't had broadband as I heard you needed to be within 10 metres for the wire to reach (or something along those lines) so I've just stuck to the dial up. Now I'm at the point of tearing my hair out as it's getting slower and slower.

It is not necessarily important for the 'main' phoneline to be the one that you connect broadband to - you can connect to any phone extension.
In any case Wireless broadband will resolve this.


So now I'm getting a laptop and want to connect that to the 'net as well, but I need broadband, so what do I do about this wire ... or is this where wireless comes into it??? :wall:

You have a few options. The 2 best ones are :

1)If you have a phone socket nearby (not the main one) you can get an adsl modem and just plug it in to the socket.

2) The best option all round really is to buy an all in one wireless adsl modem/router.
You plug this into a phone socket and then get your laptop and desktop to talk to the wireless adsl modem/router. You will probably need a wireless card or dongle for your desktop - I bought one on ebay the other week for £12 inc postage.


I notcied Wanadoo are offering a wireless box thingy in with the price if you sign up ... is this the type of box I need??? :wall:

Yes it probably is.

Or, do i get one of those other box thingys out of the argos (they have an easy to understand guide for wireless that I find hard to understand, lol), or are they one and the same thing?? :wall:

Probably the same thing - what you need is an adsl modem that is a router (so that you can have the laptop AND the desktop connected simultaneously, and also network between them for file sharing, printer sharing etc.) It also needs to be wireless so that your laptop and desktop can connect to it wirelessly. The better ones also have a built-in firewall. You should by one that supports 54 MBps and a wirelsee card for your PC to match.

sloughflint

I went for Netgear rangemax. It advertises further range. You can refer to the argos catalogue. It's in there but I would search on https://www.pricerunner.com or other for a better deal. A lot of places give the laptop card free with the modem router. Don't worry about being untechnical. Good instructions come with it.

espresso

mike_paterson wrote:

My desktop PC is upstairs and my main 'telephone box' is downstairs, and I haven't had broadband as I heard you needed to be within 10 metres for the wire to reach (or something along those lines)

With respect, that is rubbish. The line to your telephone exchange could easily be three or more miles in length and adding a few more meters within your property is very unlikely to cause any problems, if the correct type of cable is used.

I would advise against getting the Wanadoo livebox, as it is locked so that it will only work with that ISP, making it more difficult to change your ISP at a later date if you ever want to.

If you view this thread you will find answers to many of your wireless questions but you can also post any specific queries in the Techie Stuff Forum where you should get any help needed to get up and running.

mike_paterson

espresso - please quote the OP of the comments that you have attributed to me.
Thanks
Mike

meerustar

Thankyou so much for explaining all this too me, i really appreciate it.

So the way I see it is this ... I buy my nice new laptop, I buy a adsl modem router thingy and plug it into either my downstairs phone socket or the one in the bedroom. I have to make sure the modem is a router and then my computers can chat away happily to each other ...hope I have that right.

Thanks for all your help ... I'm off to watch Prison Break now ... Wentworth Miller is soooo handsome ... (erm ... is there not a tv forum here ????)

meerustar

oh, and I'm guessing I need to get my broadband first .. another dilemma, who do I choose, lol..

..anyway, thanks again!!!!!

mike_paterson

meerustar wrote:

So the way I see it is this ... I buy my nice new laptop, I buy a adsl modem router thingy and plug it into either my downstairs phone socket or the one in the bedroom. I have to make sure the modem is a router and then my computers can chat away happily to each other ...hope I have that right.

Yep that's about right - best of luck !

P.S you will need an ADSL filter on every phone socket in use.

JohalaReewi

meerustar wrote:

Thankyou so much for explaining all this too me, i really appreciate it.

So the way I see it is this ... I buy my nice new laptop, I buy a adsl modem router thingy and plug it into either my downstairs phone socket or the one in the bedroom. I have to make sure the modem is a router and then my computers can chat away happily to each other ...hope I have that right.

Just an idea.

You say you are on dial up at the moment therefore, your PC is within reach of a telephone socket (at a guess). If so, you don't need to go wireless with routers and all that, you can just use an ADSL modem (USB type will do) on your new laptop and plug into the nearest telephone extension socket (via a microfilter of course). You may even find that your new broadband ISP has a deal where you can get a free USB ADSL modem (but they are not expensive to buy anyway).

However, if you want both your old PC and shiny new laptop to use the internet at the same time then you will need an ADSL modem/router/local network setup as previously described.

meerustar

Hi, yes I probably will want them both to be able to access the internet at the same time as my son will be using the desktop a lot with his exams coming up (he's not touching my new laptop, noooo wayyyyy)

I have found out today that I can only have broadband upto 10 x faster as that is all my line supports at the moment, so one of the cheaper broadband packages will do for now. I am thinking of going with Virgin as they don't have you tied to a contract, or myabe BT broadband ... but might yet go with Wanadoo. I don't know who's best. I am on AOL at the moment and there is no way I am staying with them as they are crap!!

I'm now searching for a good priced modem router thing as my laptop is coming in 3 days and I'm dying to play with it .. I've wanted one for years, so I want to sign up with a braodband package and get all my techie bits today (I've got the day off work so time to look around).

Thanks for your help so far .. I say so far as you just know I'll be back in a bit to ask more advice, lol.

Cheers

mike_paterson

Do your research carefully.
Check out the reviews/forums at :

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.shtml
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/
http://www.net4now.com/

and also Martin's article at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1092034925,22928,