OK - a bit of a Shakesperian intro but there you go.

My technical knowledge is zero so please forgive if this question comes across as completely numpty.

A friend of mine is going to let me have a wireless ADSL router that is surplus to requirements. It doesn't have a modem built in so my question is this; can you plug it straight into the telephone socket via the RJ11 socket and then connect it to the PC via Ethernet? If so, does that mean that the connection will be 'always on'?

Cheers
Les

 

Hello

You need to buy an ADSL Modem/Router, then plug this in to your telephone line. The router then plugs in to your wireless router to distribute the connection wirelessly.

Not that complicated, just a matter of getting all the network addresses of the devices correct.

Steve.

 

The Netgear DG832 might be your solution.

Firewall/router/modem all in one and affordable.

Might need an access point for better coverage.

 

Wireless is over-rated.. stick to cable supply

 

Umm, surely if his Wireless thing is a router then he just needs an ethernet ADSL modem. Having two routers seems bloody stupid.

To the OP, post the make/model of the devic you're getting so we can see what it actually is?

 

Thanks chaps

It's a Linksys Wireless-G broadband router, model no. WRT54G.

I have a USB modem feeding my PC and this PC has an ethernet port. Therefore, can I hook this Linksys devive to my PC via ethernet and then spray the resulting wireless signal around the house?

Cheers
Kav

 

Ok, that router has 4 ethernet ports, and one WAN port.
You could connect it to your PC with a straight CAT5 cable (don't use the WAN port!) and use Internet Connection Sharing however this would be nasty.

The best and most elegant solution would be to get an ethernet based ADSL modem (not router), connect that to the WAN port on the router, then connect the PC to one of the ethernet ports. This would result in an always on connection, and get your PC a bit of protection as well!

This diagram shows you the kind of setup you should be looking at.

Something like this would do the trick, though I'm not sure I could recommend this specific one as the way they want you to power it is a bit naughty.

 

Thanks Lum

Excuse my ignorance but why not?

Why so?

This bit of kit will come relatively cheap but if I've got to start from scratch, what should I get? I need to get one desktop and one laptop on-line.

Cheers
Kav

 

Think of a router as being like a splitter. You get one IP address on the internet and the router splits this into a number of local IP addresses (typically 256) and performs some trickery so that when machine #1 requests a web page it knows that the reply from that specific site should be sent to machine #1. It works fairly well, though a there are a couple of programs that don't work ideally without some special configuration (such as BitTorrent)

If you use ICS on Windows, your PC effectively becomes a router, so you would end up with your laptop going through two routers before getting to the outside world, which is not a good idea. however if your PC is connected to a LAN port rather than a WAN port then it is on the same side of the router as the laptop so that router is unused.

The reason using the PC as a router is nasty is because USB modems are not very good anyway, they introduce a lot more latency (ie. delays in starting to transfer data) than an ethernet modem (USB was never designed for high speed networking, ethernet was) and ICS is not the best router in the world, there are 3rd party programs for Windows that do a better job, but ultimately they all require you to leave the PC switched on.

It's much nicer to be able to just grab the laptop and look something up, for example looking up a thread on scoobynet to refer to while working on the car, than to have to go and boot up the PC, at which point you may as well just use that.

 

Thanks Lum

Interesting what you say about USB modems. I bought a 3COM wireless ADSL modem/router and ended up flogging it on eBay because it was dog slow and it took ages for ADSL to synchronise. I went back to the Speedtouch USB modem supplied by OneTel and bingo! Up first time and blinding speeds. Maybe it was down to user settings or something?

OK. I need to shift my workplace downstairs and for reasons I won't bore you with, hardwiring my new connection isn't an option so I need to go wireless. If I was starting from scratch, what would you recommend in the way of kit. A couple of guys have suggested a Netgear DG834G.

Cheers
Kav

 

Some of the ADSL routers can have problems, sometimes with wireless settings. (if it has wireless)
Once I sorted mine its been great. Wouldnt contemplate going back to USB modem.
I use my Linksys 54g with wireless and ethernet, wireless works great, anywhere in house.
If anyone intends using wireless , dont bother with the 11 Mb cards go for 54 Mb or above.