wireless router yes or no?

foxyuk

hi guys i use my internet from workstation but kids want on all the time....

i have a spare laptop... if i bought a wireless router can i and the kids use internet at same time im on ntl?

Al_Jolson

Yup.
Just get DSL wireless router and a wireless card for the laptop.

foxyuk

its ntl im with is it any router i get or is there ones not compatible?

Al_Jolson

This'll do it-
http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/785_266620.html

There are basically 2 types of broadband, and therefore 2 types of router.
BT lines supply ADSL broadband, and require an ADSL router.
NTL/Cable lines supply DSL broadband and therefore require a DSL/Cable router.

I'm not bang up to date with the best wireless router deals around just now, but the Comet one sounds excellent.

Have a search through the forum for DSL wireless routers and see what you can find.

Good luck.

foxyuk

thanks....

HugoSP

I recently bought an ASDL router from PC world for £60. It came with a free usb thingy for an extra laptop/desktop. Both our laptops are wireless enabled anyway so I didn't need it.

I found it a pain to set up but it was the first time I'd done anything like this.

H

Nicholas

Al_Jolson wrote:

This'll do it-
http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/785_266620.html

There are basically 2 types of broadband, and therefore 2 types of router.
BT lines supply ADSL broadband, and require an ADSL router.
NTL/Cable lines supply DSL broadband and therefore require a DSL/Cable router.

I'm not bang up to date with the best wireless router deals around just now, but the Comet one sounds excellent.

Have a search through the forum for DSL wireless routers and see what you can find.

Good luck.

I can vouch for the quality and reliability of the router, as I have a similar one that I purchased back in March 2004 and have been using ever since without any problems.

I would also recommend a router even if you did not have the laptop, as these routers have a built in hardware firewall which stops about 95% of all attacks on your PC, and a good software firewall takes care of the other inbound attacks and stops anything from getting out.

Just make sure you set up all of the security on the firewall ie the encryption, change the name of your homenetwork to something other than "linksys", and use the MAC filter to stop anyone else accessing your wireless network.

Enjoy:cool:

foxyuk

is the one on the home page any good or do i need a card for the laptop

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/

Al_Jolson

That one seems to come with a USB adapter, which will perform the same functional task as a wireless PCMCIA card, but with much less convenience.
The USB adapter will, at best, stick bulkily out the side of the laptop. More likely though, from looking at the picture, it will be a separate box connected by a short cable- which pretty much defeats the point of being wireless(?).
Also, unless your laptop is new enough to have modern USB2 ports, as opposed to plain old USB, the the wireless adapter might be a bit volatile.
If I were you I'd stick to getting a standard wireless DSL router and wireless PCMCIA card (which will slot neatly into the PCMCIA slot).

This is all assuming that your laptop doesn't already have a built-in wireless card of course. If it's a couple of years old then it's probably a safe bet that it doesn't.

tomstickland

Buy a router with Ethernet sockets in it too so you can run the laptop wired in too. Personally I've been unimpressed with wireless networking. Though, having said that, my wireless connection only drops out for 5s every hour or so now.