I’m thinking of going wi-fi. I have a Dell 1501 laptop with 2 gig of RAM, 60 Meg hard drive and and exterior 500 Gig drive. I live in in a small town withhout much around.
My questions are this:
I’m currently connected to Century Link with 10 Meg download.
Should I have an antenna or something similar?
What about security?
Thanks in advance all,
Jake
If I understand correctly, you do have an Internet connection at home, but it is wired and you want to make it wireless?
Or do you want to have internet access anywhere outside your home?
The online specs I see for your laptop indicate that it already has wifi built in. You need no USB thing for the laptop to get wifi.
Do you want to get the internet over a cell network like from verizon or AT&T? If so then you will need to get a USB dongle with a subscription.
Dog, I have wired internet in my home (DSL). I am curious about adding wireless to my system. If I already have it built into my system what do I do next?
Gaz, how do I activate the wifi? I’m happy with my wired connection, I just want to add to the system. And, who do I subscribe too? I’m confused.
You dont need a subscription, you need a device called a router.
The router will have the ability to generate a wireless signal connecting your laptop wirelessly to the home DSL service.
There are many makes and models: Cisco or linksys is a common one and most major retailers carry them (walmart, target, BB, etc)
They come with setup disks that can often facilitate the whole process of installing even for the technically challenged.
Technically, there’s nothing about a router that requires it to support wireless. At this point, it would be rare for a non-technical consumer to run into a router that doesn’t, but do check.
Most DSL providers give you a combination modem/wireless router as their default now days. I looked at the Century Link web page. I can’t see a complete list of equipment options without trying to sign up for service, but the one modem they pictured before placing an order was a combination modem/wireless router.
Can you look at your modem and tell us the manufacturer and model number?
I’m sorry – I just wanted to clarify that you meant to type 60MB for the hard drive size.
Asimov, yes, that’s what I meant.
Alley, I have a router (that’s what the Century Link installer told me) a Westell A9000-750022-07
There is a slot (PCMCIA?) in the side of the computer and have no idea of it’s purpose. Maybe I need one of those?
I’m going to continue searching on line but any help from you guys will be trusted more.
Thanks Again!
Jake
Are you sure you didn’t add a couple of zeros, and it’s actually a Westell A90-750022-07? If so, it seems that model already has wifi capability. Does it have anything that looks like an antenna? Though, lack of exterior antenna doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t have wifi…
Anyway, I’m assuming your computer is directly connected to this Westell with a network cable. In your browser’s address bar, try typing: 192.168.0.1 and then hit enter. If you are prompted for a login/password, try admin/admin or admin/password or admin/0000. (or look at the bottom of the Westell and see if it states the default login/password)
If you are able to access that IP address, and able to get past any login/password, do you see a tab amongst the menus that says “Wireless” or “wifi”?
Before going any further unnecessarily, confirm the above, and we can try from there.
Here’s your ISP’s page for helping setup wireless:
Here’s their page detailing the proper settings for the various modem/routers they usually use:
(Your particular model isn’t among them, unfortunately. Does yours look superficially like any of those?)
Here’s their generic page with basic security tips for when using wireless:
Thanks, Voltaire! Your knowledge is amazing!! I hope I can email you with any other questions?
And thanks all, for your help. 
I think you are on track on the router side of things.
Now for the computer side. How old is the Dell 1501? I’d suspect that it may already have a wi-fi adaptor installed - you may be able to go into control panel/system/device manager and see if a WiFi adaptor is installed. Or perhaps control panel/networks - here you will definately see your wired connection, and an option for a wireless connection if your laptop has a wireless adaptor installed.
You’re welcome to PM me, but it might be better to try to work it through in this thread, that way, others might respond faster, and some others might also find the info useful.
Either way, let us know how the latest steps went.