My parents just got Charter High-Speed internet a few days ago. They bought a wireless router as well. According to the instructions, the router has to be connected by an ethernet cord to one computer. My understanding is that one computer must be connected by ethernet to the router and then any other computers can connect wirelessly to the network. The problem is that the desktop is old and doesn’t like to turn back on if it’s been turned off. My parents are leery of using it for the network because if the wired computer goes down then the network doesn’t work at all, right? My question then is: is there a way to have a completely wireless setup with the only cord being the one that goes from the modem to the wireless router?
There is no need to maintain a wired connection to the wireless router. What you read probably describes the setup requirements, where you need to initially connect to the router to set up any security settings, change the default password, etc. Once you have set everything up, you can remove the connection to the computer and have the only cord being the one from the modem to the router.
Thank you very much! It seemed weird to all of us that one computer needed to stay connected.
So far as I have seen, laptops also have Ethernet ports as well, you could use one of them to set up the wireless settings*, then unplug it and use the wireless connection. That is how I set mine up with my wife’s laptop and my desktop was in the shop. Once that is done initially you can set up another laptop or wireless desktop without wiring in first.
*Setting up the router of course.
The reason for setting up the router with a wired connection is that adjusting the router wirelessly can cause you to lose the connection with the router, resulting in a catch-22: you can’t connect to the router to adjust the connection settings so you can connect to the router.
The router will work (allow connections wirelessly) without any adjustment at all. The problem is that without any setup there won’t be any security for the wireless settings and the router will have a generic name that is openly broadcast.
Set up the router with a wired connection from any computer you want that has an ethernet connection. After that it’s your choice whether to connect wirelessly or not. Usually a wired connection is faster, but you might not care. Use a wired connection when you want to make changes to the router that might disrupt the connection.
Some routers are also set up where you cannot change some settings wirelessly as a security feature.