Help - BT have taken away our broadband socket!

aloiseb

...they came to repair the faulty phone line and discovered the problem was our extra socket (installed by a previous owner of our house) into which we had plugged the Broadband router. They have now killed that socket.

We have 2 choices - we can either get a really really long cable to go right around the room to where the other phone socket is. Or we can get a wireless dongle (dont' know what this is) which wll enable us to use the PC wirelessly - ie picking up the signal from the router at the other side of the room.

Please can anyone suggest which is likely to be the best option? I'm typing this from my daughter's laptop upstairs. Our PC was only bought in January but we didn't ask for it to have a wireless card in it so it doesn't.

Just been reading another post andit mentioned a wireless
USB card. Woudl that work likea memory stick - i.e. go into one of the usb ports at the frontof the PC, to enable wireless networking? /maybe that is what a dongle is? sorry I get a bit confused. (probably shoudl stick to ironing)

espresso

aloiseb wrote: »

...they came to repair the faulty phone line and discovered the problem was our extra socket (installed by a previous owner of our house) into which we had plugged the Broadband router. They have now killed that socket.

I would be more concerned how much BT will charge you for removing this socket!

Your best option would be to get someone who knows what they are doing to properly install an extension socket for your router.

-TangleFoot-

You can get a wireless USB adapter (not a dongle) for less than £10 these days. What's the make and model of your router?

tomsutton529

Before you go Wireless I would consider IP over powerline (powerline adapters), It uses your house wiring to get the internet around OR the much easier option is to get a wireless dongle, It simply plugs into a spare USB port and you get the internet on your PC, Should cost around £20.

The advantage of powerline is speed and security, no real disadvantage. Advantage of Wireless, there is no wires and cheap, Cons: can be unreliable, not 100% safe,

-TangleFoot-

• Powerline, HomePlugs and gaming: eight things you should know
• Wi-fi: should we be worried?

thescouselander

-TangleFoot- wrote: »

• Powerline, HomePlugs and gaming: eight things you should know
• Wi-fi: should we be worried?

Thats just scare-mongering IMHO. EM radiation is everywhere, some of it is naturally occurring - you cant escape it unless you lock yourself in a giant faraday cage.

You might not bother with wi-fi but that doesn't stop next door installing it. What about all the mobile phones and mobile phone masts around or the radiation from satellites beaming down onto you from space - and thats on top of cosmic rays too.

There are far more dangerous things to get worked up about.

aloiseb

Thank you all. that explains about the dongle issue.
As far as I now understnd, I can get a wireless adapter for under £10 which I can use to get wireless broadband on the PC. this will be great, as we already have the wireless connection going for the laptop and the house is small enough that we are unlikely to have issues with connectivity. )and if our brains are going to be fried, well, they already are being since we already have wireless)

one question - about security - does each device using the wirelss network have to have separate security? is it the wirelss connection, or the PC /laptop which we have been protecting with our Norton security package? The wirelss adapter you gave the link to said it had free trial Panda security software - is that just for people who maybe haven't got any securtiy at all yet? or do you have to have a different sort, with wireless?

I know you have to use a password to make your wireless connection safe, and secure, (so cheeky people down the street can't take advantage ) and dd has one for using the internet on her laptop. Will we have to set up a password separately when we ge the PC going wirelessly, or will we have to use the same one as her?

Alsso, if we did opt for the "very very long cable around the living room" so we can carry on using the Ethernet port on the router with the PC, as before, would there be any problem with connecting? We are old-fashioned people and would feel slightly happier with all power passing through actual cable rather than bouncing about the room (even tho this is illogical as it is already bouncing up the stairs into dd's bedroom - but then, she doesn't buy stuff online)

But if a long, long cable (about 20foot probably, to get round the doorways + corners) would make a mess of the connection, then we'll probably go with the wireless option and save ourselves a lot of stapling.

Smits

If your not comfortable going wireless there is an alternative. I cant remember what theyre called but its basically an ethernet cable that travels throguh the electrical wires in the home.

You plug one into the pc, and a plug socket, and the other into a router and a plug socket. Its wired without the wires going through the house.

Heres an expensive example

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Mbps-Powerline-Adapter-Black/dp/B001CF2TXI/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_0

-TangleFoot-

There are essentially two kinds of security at work here; one prevents others from accessing your network and seeing what you are doing, whereas the other protects an individual system from attack. Ignore the included Panda for now - you won't be needing it.

In the case of the former, it's the router - or wireless access point - which determines the means, so any systems that connect to it must do so in much the same way. Same encryption method, same password.

macman

Why don't you make life simple and just get a DIY person or handyman to rewire you an extension socket where it is needed (please don't ask BT to do this, as otherwise you will get another bill for £120 on top of the one you will get for removing the dodgy extension)? Parts about a tenner, fitting maybe £25? Or DIY-the connection involves just 2 wires.
Norton Internet Security is nothing to do with wireless security, it's for antivirus and anti-spyware.
If your daughter has already set up a secure encrypted connection (this should be WPA not WEP) from her laptop to the wireless router, you simply need to install the wireless adapter on the PC and then enter the same password to access the router.

andy2004

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/Networking-Wired/Powerline/Novatech/NOVATECH85MBPSPOWERLINETWIN.html

twinpack for the powerline, Novatech 85Mbps PowerLine Adapter, Twin Pack, Turns Any Electrical Outlet into a Home Network Connection.

I personally put in a extension lead for telephone line, you need a cable, and a socket,
and have to remember which wires you used at both ends
both ends must add to 7, so when your connecting up 1-6 2-5 or 3-4 are the connections 2 of the wires go to, then you have to connected the ringer wire up. basically use the same connections on the bt line socket, and on the other end copy the original socket again. then its just a matter of fixing it.

oops put 2-6 instead of 2-5, doh!, each connector is labelled 1-6, in 2 rows of 3, each socket must be 7, so 2 and 5, 1 and 6,etc, then