I’m moving back home and have a laptop. The parents are bitching about how I “monopolize” the computer by being on it “all the time” …yeesh. So, to circumvent this, and because I have a laptop now from work, they want to get this wireless thing going. Any suggestions on what’s good or bad for such a thing?
You just need a wireless router. As to cheap, in my experience (in Canada) they all cost about the same. Mine is a netgear one, works great, easy to use interface, took maybe 5 minutes to setup. I have used others, they are all about the same for home use. YMMV.
Get a G one that is also backwards compatible to B. When setting it up, stick the CD in the drive and follow the instructions.
Make sure you have some security. MAC filtering is easy. The MAC is the unique manufacturers number of your wireless network card. To obtain this go to start–run—cmd—ipconfig /all. In all the information that appears make sure you get the wireless network connection (it will say, you will probably have 2) and look for physical address (it will look like xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx <that is 6> pairs of letters/numbers). This is your MAC address. Follow onscreen instructions to set-up mac filtering. As well make sure you change both the password and the network. Hope this isn’t more info then you needed.
That’s what I figured. Thanks much. The info is also much-appreciated.
Well, I can offer a counterpoint. I have tried it twice, once in an apartment and once in a house, both with top of the line equipment and failed dismally both times. The signals generated are simply not strong enough to penetrate more than 2 walls or one floor reliably. It would work, but at best dropped connections occured daily, if no hourly and constant fiddling with the antennae was required. It seems to me that current wireless networks are fine for open areas like study halls or cafes but inside of a building or house in seperate rooms, you’d be lucky to get even 30 or 40 feet of range.
I like Linksys routers although I am sure the others work well too. The standard is well-defined and all the makers are just building to it. If distance is a problem, Linksys sells high-gain antennas for their 802.11g routers. They just screw on and they do work. Unfortunately, they cost $50 or so (about as much as the router). I have that setup at home and the signal reaches fine everywhere in a 2800 sq ft two story home with dense antique walls.
You never really know how far it’ll go, I’m sure it depends on the type of walls and any other interference that might be around (I think some cordless phones use the same frequency). Mine works fine in my house, from one corner (upstairs bedroom where router is) to the other (downstairs den on opposite side of house).
Just make sure you setup the security (like the MAC filtering). In addition to what Queuing says, also change the SSID to something unique (though nothing identifiable like your name) and use a WEP/WPA key (you’ll see it in the router setup). You don’t want other people using your network. Once you have your laptop connecting (you have to enter the same key), you can probably even turn off the SSID broadcast and your laptop will still connect ok (Windows XP will, at least).
I brought my laptop to a friends apartment and found 4 wireless networks named: “linksys”, “belkin54g”, “linksysg”, and “netgear” (default names). I “borrowed” one to play some Magic: Online against him, but someone with nefarious purposes in mind could do bad stuff instead, or if someone uses your network for illegal file trading you may find the MPAA/RIAA coming after you.
I’m eagerly listening to your tips about installation. I have 2 desktop systems on my desk at the moment and it’s getting crowded. The older one is the main in a wireless network, and has to stay next to the cable until I set up a newer router with the new computer as the main. Someone set up the first system for me, but I want to try the new one myself.
Once the network is set up, how to you designate which folders are accessible to the other computers on the network?
By the way, I love wireless home networks. My house is on 4 levels, 3700 square feet, and it works great.
Never mind, I just found a Linksys tutorial. 