Roadrunner hookup - education on parts needed?

Factual Questions
1

It appears that if I’m ever going to be able to see pictures and video clips of my grandson, that I’m going to need to replace my dialup 56k modem.

My local cable company is the only source for high speed access. Time-Warner Roadrunner if it makes a difference.

I want to be able to move my PC around the house as I see fit and not be tethered to a single physical location. I think that what I want is for TW to bring their cable in and hook it to a wireless router. Correct? Then I think I need to install a card of some type in my PC to pick up the signal from the router.

Do I have the terms correct? I hate sounding like a dunce when I call. Will they furnish the router and card or do I need to pick that up? If someone else is in range of my router, will they be able to use my connection? Not sure if I mind or not but what is the distance I would need to worry about? 100 feet, a mile?

Thanks!

2

We’re talking about a laptop computer, right?

When you order the service, they will give you a Cable Modem. The modem can either be plugged into your computer or into a Wireless Router. I dont think Time Warner will rent you the router and card, but you can get them almost anywhere, WalMart, Best Buy, etc.

The cable modem is plugged into the Router and then you get a Wireless Card (buy it at the same place) to stick in your computer.

3

Thanks for clarifying the terms.

One of each, a laptop and a 3 year old Dell PC. The laptop might even have the card inside but I know the house machine doesn’t.

Does it make make a difference? (laptop vs. PC)

4

You should have that information in the paperwork that came with the laptop.

“Different strokes for different folks.”
The laptop will require a removable card, the PC a card that plugs into the bus and has an external antenna. The router is connected from the cable co. supplied modem (and you will pay monthly rental for it or purchase you own, cheaper in long term). The router, and cards purchased, comes with a CD for installation of the system.

5

Just that most folks prefer to keep their desktops somewhat stationary for the most part. Make sure that they’re including the modem too. With Comcast I had to go buy the package from a local big box store (which was free after rebate but still was money out of pocket).

6

Get “802.11g” or “802.11 b/g” standard hardware. Don’t pay extra for “speed booster” or other enhanced stuff. Your cable connection is the bottle neck, not the wireless link. If you get a laptop, or want to allow a guest to connect to your network, it will most likely use this standard.

The OP question has been answered, so I will take this opportunity to caution you:

A hacker with a decent antenna will be able to link to your wireless router from at least a block away. They all have security features, but many people take the path of least resistance and leave these features turned off. Be sure you do the following:

(read the instructions for explainations appropriate to your specific equipment)

  • Set the SSID on the router to something that is NOT the default (Typically “linksys” “default” or “Netgear”) and also does NOT identify you or your house. You will need to set the wireless network card to the same SSID. It is not unlikely that one or more of your neighbors will have the same brand of gear. If you both leave them set to the default SSID you can accidently join your two networks. If the SSID is “523 Elm St.” or “Bob Smith’s Network” then a hacker will know where to aim his antenna, and might also guess that the password is “Towser” because that is your dog’s name. The SSID is available to anyone with an antenna, so “I like whips & chains” might also be a poor choice.

-Set or change the password on the router. The default passwords are available on the manufacturer’s websites. “password” is not a good choice for the password.

-Use the WPA encryption. The key can usually be entered either as hexidecmal digits, (0-9, A-F) or more convieniently as a “pass phrase” The pass phrase option may not work if the network card and router are not the same brand. Later on you may want to add another computer to your wireless network, and it may already have another brand of wireless adapter, so it is better to use hexidecimal, even though it is a pain to enter.

If you can’t get WPA to work, call tech support untill you do. Without this, your network is open to the world. (or at least your neighborhood)

Think of the WPA like the lock on your front door. Given enough time, It can be cracked. But so many people fail to use it that it is easy for a hacker to find a wide open system and save the bother.

7

One more thing, not sure how old your laptop is, but it may have a 802.11b (as opposed to “g”) internal wireless adapter.

In that case you can’t use WAP, but you can still use the older and less secure WEP encription option. Software for cracking WEP is widely available, but again, with so many open systems the motivation do so is minimal.

AFAIK ALL the newer wireless routers are backward compatable to 802.11b, so that should not be a problem. You can even mix and match b and g standard devices on the same system.

8

OK, I think I have a grasp on the lingo. Now to gird my loins and call the evil empire!

(I’m not a big fan of TW but they are literally the only game in town)

9

If you only want to move your laptop around the house, but you’re going to keep your desktop PC stationary, you dont need a wireless card for the PC. You can just run a cable from the router to the PC. Wireless Routers are also wired routers. It will run a signal wirelessly to the laptop and wirely? to the PC. Your PC needs an ethernet card, but if it is only 3 years old, you can almost gauruntee it does.

10

And if you still want the desktop to be wireless, there are USB wireless ethernet adapters you can use instead of installing a card.

11

Why?

Broadband Internet access is provided by Qwest, Earthlink and Time Warner in Maine.

Satellite Internet Access is offered in Maine by Dish TV, WildBlue, and Maine Satellite Internet Co.

The following towns are included: Abbot, Andover, Naples, New Harbor, Newcastle, Newport, Newry, Nobleboro, Norridgewock, Northeast, Norway, Ocean Park, Ogunquit, Old Orchard Beach, Oquossoc, Orono, Orrs Island, Otter Creek, Patten, Pemaquid, Pembroke, Pittsfield, Poland Spring, Port Clyde, Portage, Portland, Presque Isle, Princeton, Prospect Harbor, Rangeley, Raymond, Robbinston, Rockland, Rockport, Rockwood, Rumford, Rumford Center, Rumford Point, Saco, Salsbury Cove, Sanford, Scarborough, Searsport, Sebago, Sebasco Estates, Sherman Mills, Sinclair, Skowhegan, Smyrna Mills, Solon, South Bristol, South Casco, South China, South Paris, South Portland, South Thomaston, Southport, Southwest Harbor, Springfield, Springs, Springvale, Spruce Head, St Agatha, St Francis, St George, Stacyville, Standish, Stockton, Stoneham, Stonington, Stratton, Sunset, Swans Island, Tenants Harbor, Van Buren, Vassalboro, Vinalhaven, Waldoboro, Washburn, Waterford, Waterville, Wells, Wesley, West Bethel, West Boothby Harbor, West Forks, West Paris, Westbrook, Wilton, Windham, Winter Harbor, Winthrop, Wiscasset, Yarmouth, York, York Beach, York Harbor, Ashland, Auburn, Augusta, Bailey Island, Baileyville, Bangor, Bar Harbor, Bath, Belfast, Bethel, Biddeford, Bingham, Blue Hill, Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Brewer, Bridgton, Brunswick, Bryant Pond, Bucksport, Calais, Camden, Canaan, Cape Elizabeth, Cape Neddick, Caribou, Casco, Castine, Center Lovell, Chebeague Island, Cornish, Cundys Harbor, Damariscotta, Danforth, Deer Isle, Dexter, Dover Foxcroft, Eagle Lake, East Boothbay, East Machias, East Orland, East Winthrop, Eastport, Edgecomb, Ellsworth, Eustis, Fairfield, Falmouth, Farmington, Freeport, Fryeburg, Georgetown, Glen Cove, Gorham, Gouldsboro, Grand Lake Stream, Greenville, Greenville Junction, Guilford, Hampden, Harbor, Harborside, Harpswell, Holden, Houlton, Hulls Cove, Isle Au Haut, Isle Livermore, Islesboro, Jackman, Jonesboro, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Kingfield, Kittery, Lewiston, Limestone, Lincoln, Lincolnville, Lisbon, Little Deer, Lovell, Lubec, Machias, Machiasport, Madawaska, Manchester, Manset, Mars Hill, Mattawamkeag, Medway, Mexico, Milbridge, Milford, Millinocket, Milo, Monhegan, Moody, etc.

If you really don’t like the “evil empire” of Time Warner, I’d look into some of these alternatives.

12

To let you now how bad security is on many home wireless networks. There used to be a site that people posted to on a map, where unsecured access points were, and what type of access they had. They were mostly found by people driving roads looking for a link up. In a large city access points were no farther away than a couple blocks and most of the city had multiple homes on each block on this map. The large city I looked up was over a 100,000 people in size. There were many bussinesses on the map too, and I was thinking how much a tech savy rivil could do with that data, from their car on the public road. I lsot the address of that site long ago, so I don’t know if it’s still up. I told friends to be sure their worksite or home wireless wasn’t on the site.

13

And basic security is really easy. I have my wireless network protected by an easy-to-remember, hard-to-guess or bruteforce 17-character WPA password and the network itself is hidden, meaning that you can only connect to it if you know the network name, as it won’t even show up as an option.

14

HowStuffWorks has a nice wireless networking article:

The second page has details on all the equipment you need and I think it sufficiently explains all the basics.

15

There is a tutorial on that and other subjects.
** Connectivity & Other Tutorials **

16

Hooking up with innocent roadrunners is just the kind of thing that they warned us gay marraige would lead to! :smiley: