wireless-does my main pc have to be connected

mrs_baggins

sorry if its a stupid question.

I have virgin broadband and a few years ago bought a wireless router so I could use a laptop in bed. I couldnt get it to work so a mate did it for me and it worked great except that i had to actually log into main pc and log onto internet.

Now I want to reinstall it but some one at work tells me that my main poc doesnt have to be on. So i just need to know please? The router is a BT voyager if this makes a diference

closed

If the router is the correct type and setup correctly, the main pc doesn't need to be on, try it and see

Virgin cable broadband or virgin national (via a bt line)? They require different types of wireless router, you appear to have an adsl router for use on a bt line, not cable?

bertboy60

It so easy these days for wireless to be hijacked.

I would recommend keeping atleast on PC having a wired connection and you should do your Online Banking and anything else that needs to be secure on this.

mrs_baggins

closed wrote: »

If the router is the correct type and setup correctly, the main pc doesn't need to be on, try it and see

Virgin cable broadband or virgin national (via a bt line)? They require different types of wireless router, you appear to have an adsl router for use on a bt line, not cable?

When i bought router I did day I had a virgin cable and not BT.

this is the product spec

The BT Voyager 1500 is a state of the art Router combined with an IEEE 802.11g Wireless Networking Access Point. The Wireless Router plugs into your existing DSL or cable modem/router to add high-speed wireless to your Broadband connection.
In router mode, connect to your existing Ethernet Internet modem or cable modem and benefit from advanced features such as firewall and parental Internet access control. Alternatively, if you already use a wired router to connect to the Internet, the BT Voyager 1500 can be used as a simple wireless access point with 4-port hub.

Is this ok for me?

thanks

macman

That router should be fine as long as you use a decent level of wireless encryption (which means one of the WPA options, and not WEP). The manual will say what encryption your router supports.

closed

It should be ok (most BT branded kit is adsl, but this one is ok for cable), shutdown the pc and try it.

Hammyman

bertboy60 wrote: »

It so easy these days for wireless to be hijacked.

I would recommend keeping atleast on PC having a wired connection and you should do your Online Banking and anything else that needs to be secure on this.

What utter tosh. WPA and WPA2 have not been cracked. If it is secured using WEP then you'd have a point but all the OP has to do is change the security to WPA or WPA2.

And if they got on your wireless network, having a wired computer makes no difference because its still on the same LAN so could be hacked.

bengalknights

Hammyman wrote: »

What utter tosh. WPA and WPA2 have not been cracked. If it is secured using WEP then you'd have a point but all the OP has to do is change the security to WPA or WPA2.

And if they got on your wireless network, having a wired computer makes no difference because its still on the same LAN so could be hacked.

WPA has actually been cracked although the crack hasnt been released publicy (just google WPA cracked)

WPA2 is still safe though