NTL Mac/PC Wireless Connectivity

[jonathan_phang]

Hello All,

A mate of mine is having NTL broadband installed this Friday and has been asking me a few questions about setting up wirelessly. I have managed to do so for my PC through a 3Com Wifi Router no problem, but what he wants is a bit different, so I'm not sure.

There will only be one cable coming into his lounge and I guess that they will give one cable modem. Now. He has an imac in the lounge as a media computer, and also a PC upstairs for gaming.

The iMac is wireless enabled, so I was wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of some wireless access point that i could connect through ethernet or something, so that the imac could pick up the signal and then get a USB receiver for the upstairs PC.

If there is a better way of doing this then that would be great, please, any ideas would be very welcome

Jonny

[herulach]

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper

[jonathan_phang]

Thats just a standard wireless router, right? And this could connect throught ethernet cables to the (rubbishy) cable modem that they are going to give. I was hoping to get some advice on something that would fall short of being a full separate router, and just emit a wireless signal (and hence be more of just a wireless access point).

As a side, would that even work?

ie: Cable->NTL cable modem->3Com/Linksys/et al Wireless Router -> Mac & PC Wirelessly?

[BUFF]

The NTL modems do their job OK, haven't had any problems with mine over the years.

& why wouldn't you want a router on an always on broadband connection ...

[herulach]

You need a router. An access point work. And id second the notion that theres nothing wrong with cable modems.

[jimborae]

I have an NTL cable modem & Linksys WRT54G a 10mb connection & it all works flawlessly & has done for the last 3 years

[jonathan_phang]

Thanks for the input guys. I think there is a little confusion, probably on my part, regarding terminology and what is needed.

As i have been using my own 3Com wireless router on Pipex ADSL for some time, i thought that this might be ok:

http://www.3com.com/prod/en_UK_EMEA/...u=3CRWE554G72T

Now, I would still have to use the cable modem, and then connect it to the above, or would it REPLACE the cable modem? Also, how would the 3Com/Linksys connect to the cable modem? would it be through an ethernet cable? So there would be a signal IN connector, right. On mine, it takes a phone line, but from a cable modem I'm guessing it would be ethernet.

Thanks for your answers

JP

[BUFF]

My NTL modem can be connected either by ethernet or USB with ethernet definitely being the preferred option.

[jonathan_phang]

Right, i think that i will recommend this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=63763

Seems reasonably priced and so the final connection method will be (and correct me here..)...

Cable --> NTL Cable Modem --> (Via Ethernet Cable) --> Linksys WRT54GS --> PC/Mac

Hows that? Also read a few things about PPoA (or whatever) not being supported by the linksys. Is this going to be a problem, as the cable modem will sort out the connection and the linksys will just distribute the data to the 2 computers wired/wirelessly

Thanks for all your help - would appreciate any final thoughts before I go ahead and buy/recommend to buy

JP

[JPreston]

SSSHTOP!! You aren't ready yet

You can buy exactly that router PLUS a USB wireless adaptor from PC World, of all places, for £49.99. The USB adaptor sells separately at Savastore for £34

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/852034

[jonathan_phang]

In fact, thats the exact bundle that i got. I actually set it all up yesterday successfully. Tell you what though, NTL didn't make it easy! First off, I went to start the install CD that came with the package - done it many times before on PC - but this time on a mac....And the installer would always quit after accepting the license agreement - great.

Anyway, then we moved the PC from upstairs to downstairs and ran the installer...and the PIN that was given wasnt valid - so theres only so much i could do - so i called NTL - on an 0800 number (boy was i surprised!!!!!) and when i mentioned Mac, they said ooooooohhh....and that it wouldnt work. Mind you for Macs you just have to select a few options in the ethernet contol panel and thats it. And i also found out that i didnt really need to run the installer to register and could have just plugged it in and accessed a remote web address to register.

So, the wired connection to the mac worked. Fine. Then i unplugged it - and connected the WRT54GS and then thought, lets just press the auto button on the front - something i wouldnt normally do - BANG, picked up the Wireless Network on the Mac straight away!!! Then it was a simple case of 192.168-ing the router and setting up a WPA key (unlike someone in the street, who we could have just used instead... Finally, move the PC back upstairs, installed the drivers for the card and no probs - good signal strength and 54 max upstairs. So just the one cable from NTL modem to router

Thanks for all the help guys - and also to PC world - they get a bad rep, but £50 for that bundle is great value IMO

Cheers

JP

[BUFF]

And i also found out that i didnt really need to run the installer to register and could have just plugged it in and accessed a remote web address to register.

& you wouldn't have got junk like broadband medic & quicklinx either

[jonathan_phang]

Well, it kinda went on anyway, but put it this way - it wasnt that hard to get rid of. Kinda satisfied with my work - also impressed with the Linksys config - its just seems so much more detailed than my 3Com ADSL modem router. Anyway - problem solved. Thanks for the help.

As a side - seeing as some of you are NTL users - i did a speedtest, both at giganews and at adslguide.org.uk and it comes out to circo 700-750, which is a bit low in all honesty. And yes - i did test it on a wired connection straight from the NTL modem first. Do you think that there are settings that i need to tweak, or are NTL having a few problems recently??

[BUFF]

This is what I get at ADSLguide for my 2Mb service:
Downstream 1913 Kbps (239.1 KB/sec) 2066 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 192 Kbps (24.0 KB/sec) 207 Kbps (inc. overheads)

[JPreston]

...Then it was a simple case of 192.168-ing the router and setting up a WPA key...

Hang on a sec, WPA? I thought the USB adaptor supported WEP only and set up my network with that instead. Can it handle WPA too?

I'm not being too lazy to check myself, I've inadvertently buggered my second PC almost immediately after setting up the network and now need to buy it a non-fried graphics card

[jonathan_phang]

I'm fairly certain it was WPA - but after the day i had setting it up, the fact it was secured WPA or WEP was good enough. I may go and check if i am round there soon one day...