Tell me what I need for a wirless network

[Dan K]

I have a desktop computer in the basement, and my laptop that goes from room to room with me.
Both computers run off of modem for internet access, but I'm not really interested in sharing the internet connection at all.
I'm more interested in being able to print stuff from my laptop to the printer hooked up on the desktop, and being able to share music files back and forth between the 2 machines.
I know nothing about hooking this stuff up, so point me in the right direction.

Thanks guys!

 

[granatl]

You'll need (minimally) a wireless accces point and PCMCIA card (or USB "dongle") for the laptop. The 2 can be purchased as a package, starting at ~$80.


WAP
This one appears to plug into your desktop's USB port. Then once you buy the card or dongle for the laptop, it's just a matter of setting up your network, and sharing out your printer. The caveat to this method is that the PC that has the printer, must be on in order for your laptop to print. Also, that link is for 11Mb wireless, which means that a 300MB file would take about 4 minutes to transfer, in optimal conditions. So you have to decide if that's too slow, or it's fine.

 

[Louie L.]

I just did the same last week. I purchased a Linksys wireless router along with a wireless notebook card. I had some minor problems with the software in the laptop loading up, but after dating up my windows 98 , it works perfect.

 

[Dan K]

OK, so I need the wireless router that connects to the desktop pc, and a wireless card for the laptop.
And with 800.11b I can transfer data at 11Mbps and with 800.11g I can transfer at 54Mbps?
So if that's the case, for $30 more I could buy this rather than this and I should be good to go?
And I don't need a cable modem or DSL like the computer geek at Best Buy tried to tell me?

 

[wlaukaitis]

I am a computer geek and I am going to tell you the same thing.

My cable company only allows me 1 IP adress. With the router (wether it be wireles or not) allows me to have up to 255 IP addresses. The cable company only sees 1 IP address. What you are basically doing is "routing" all those 255 computers (or addresses) on YOUR side through 1 IP address on THIER side.

Not too geeky is it?

You connect the high speed internet to the "WAN" port on the router and the PC's will connect to the router either through the wireless or through an actual CAT 5 cable (aka "wired")

Make sure no one can "steal" your internet. I could sit in front of your house in my '86 GN with my laptop (maybe I am running turbolink) and a wireless card and surf the web on your dime. Very easy to do.

 

[Dan K]

Yep too geeky.
Not sure what you're trying to tell me.

I don't think anyone would want to steal my net connection by sitting out in front of my house as they wouldn't be able to do much since I'm only on a dialup.

Hmm...makes me think, I could probably take my laptop to work then and steal their T1 connection if I have to download any big files. I'll have to ask my boss if we can do that.

 

[wlaukaitis]

Actually you can steal internet from work, just get a Ethernet PCMCIA and a CAT5 cable.

Most people who have a router use it becasue they have cable or DSL internet.

I have cable internet and a router. I have 4 PC's and my playstation on it.

 

[NJTurbo]

Originally posted by Louie L.
I just did the same last week. I purchased a Linksys wireless router along with a wireless notebook card. I had some minor problems with the software in the laptop loading up, but after dating up my windows 98 , it works perfect.

I second that.