The Need to go Wireless

[Duncan_Mon]

Well, i think i am going to be needing to go wireless soon enough with my broadband connection.

My household at the moment currently has the phoneline in the kitchen (only wall socket for phones in house). Which is routed under the floorboards through to my livingroom where it connects to the Sky, it is then under the carpet through to a spare room where the computer sits using up the broadband basicly 24/7. There is maybe about... 40 feet of cabling total, say 20feet each seperate bit.

At christmas, i shall be receiving a Wii, which is wireless only at the moment, which shall most likely be sitting next to the sky box, but it may be taken through to my room, through the house, which has no way of connecting at all. It would probably spend most of its time through there, my brother may also be getting a laptop for his christmas, which again requires wireless. Also in the next year or so, another computer or laptop will most likely be bought for my sole use because of my choice of study at college next year (going into multimedia studys).

Basicly, im wondering what hardware etc i need to set this up. Im with BT, on a 2MB unlimited package (i do a hell of alot of downloading / uploading) ADSL. I cannot get DSL where i am because of the phone exchange etc (cant get cable services either).
Having the wireless connection secure really isnt a problem as i have no neighbours at all, across the road is my grandad, and the 2nd closest after that is my uncle and auntie! So no problems there, the only hardware i have is a ADSL Bt Voyager 100 USB Modem, has 2 ports on the back, one goes into USB, the other into a DSL microfilter, the microfilter cable goes to the sky box, which there has another microfilter for the sky to plug into, this then goes to the phone line, which has another microfilter, one cable from the phone goes into it, the other from the last microfilter.

Basicly, what do i need?? Also, i currently have a maximum speed of 5MB according to BT for my line, would it be worth upgrading to this service?

[bsodmike]

Personally I hate mixing USB with 'networks' and prefer sticking to ethernet based hardware, but most of the newer units comes with options for both.

What you'd want to do is replace the BT Voyager with a wireless ADSL modem/router/switch - something from say Netgear should do the job nicely. Some people also like the Linksys stuff but I tend to hate D-Link.

As for protection, enable WPA2 and you should be fine. Also setup a decent NAPT setup blocking external HTTP/TELNET access to the router (if you like NAPT it to a dead ip...). Also use a decent pass phrase for the WPA2 key

5MB: It seems that you do a fair amount of leeching, if you need it why not. Personally I'd go for it, but the best I can do here in Sri Lanka is 2mbit.

[GeorgeTuk]

As a point of practice it is always a good idea to secure your wireless, even if only basically.

I would also avoid USB modems they do not maintain connections very so as the poster above says avoid the BT Voyager.

[snedger]

Hello
Some choices are:
- turn your PC into a wireless access point by plugging in a wifi usb dongle
- wireless ADSL modem, with mix of ethernet cabling and wireless cards.
- powerline network + wifi usb dongle (if you can't wait until January for the Wii ethernet adaptor)
- wired router and wait 'til Jan 2007 for Wii ethernet adaptor

If I was starting from scratch I would go the powerline network route.
I do not like the vunlerability of wireless - even with WPA2 security (by the way the Wii can get on to WPA networks!).
Cheers
snedger

[EtheAv8r]

You can replace the BT Voyager with a wireless ADSL modem/router/switch - I have the NetGear DG834PN and think it is VERY good, I have installed several for friends & family and they all work well. I would try to steer clear of USB wireless adapters and use PCIA or PC Card as appropriate (or bulit in of course).

Sounds like, like me, you are in a rural location, and may not need to worry too much with WiFi encryption, in my case if someone wants to drive up my drive and park outside my house to hijack my broadband without getting eaten by my dogs, good luck to them! However I still enable encryption.

Depends what you are doing, but it is no problem to add the extra security layer and use the free, built-in encryption (that comes with a DG834PN et al), so you should do it because there is no real reason not to.

The suggestion to use powerline (HomePlug) is a possibility, but it is expensive, especially the higher speed options, and results are variable, bepending on house wiring age - and the only way to find out is to try it.

I would not turn my PC into a wireless access point - and another BIG advantage of such as the DG824PN is the hardware firewall at your connection point to BBW.

[Rack]

I do not like the vunlerability of wireless - even with WPA2 security (by the way the Wii can get on to WPA networks!).

A bit paranoid aren't we for a private internet connection?
In my area - which is all semi-detached with large gardens, ie not central london - i can access 3 unsecured networks and 5 secured. IMO putting WPA2 on a personal network and MAC filtering is more than enough - if someone wants internet that badly there's always someone without security. Sounds like he's quite isolated too.

All you need is a wireless router/modem/switch as mentioned several times. Add WPA2 passphrase - very easy to setup - and MAC address filtering - most these days detect the PC's on the router and you can easily just click 'add' if you recognise it, and you'll be secure and wireless.

[DigiGuru]

You could, if you've been with BT long enough, switch to a different provider.

I know Orange, Eclipse and AOL are all offering free Wireless routers for people transferring in... and they all have unlimited downloads too

[Steve B]

orange unlimited is only available if you go for the most expensive package, which is about an extra tenner a month i think.
my mate just got the internet package by upgrading his contract to an extra fiver a month. The modem comes with an ethernet port on the back, so you can add in a wireless router for cheap as chips (~10 squids)

as far as connectivity goes, i would keep as much of the network as you can wired, as this will give the most stable speeds. you said you've gone under the floorboards to connect the sky box, is there any way you can bring a cable to your room via the floorboards.

if not, go wireless. Go PCI for desktop and PCMCIA for laptop, USB dongles actually suck in comparison. If you're walls are thick you might want to consider getting bigger aerials for them too, these are about a tenner each

[uk_sam]

If you do a lot of downloading and you have other people in your house also using the internet at the same time, then you might want to consider a router with QoS (Quality of Service) allowing you to prioritise traffic. Otherwise if one computer is using a bittorrent client, then the rest of the computers will suffer very slow internet speeds - to the extent that they cannot even access the internet.

With some routers, the firmware can be upgraded to DD-WRT which provides a lot more router functions including QoS. How easy this process is will depend on the router.

[bsodmike]

uk_sam, do you have any suggestions for a fairly powerful router? Right now my all in-one solution is a speedtouch (non-wireless) that handles all the router tasks but it lacks the ability of QoS. I might consider installing a decent router after it...

[snedger]

A bit paranoid aren't we for a private internet

Totally paranoid, or so I'm told.
But that's what keeps me alive!
Time for my medication,

[Duncan_Mon]

God, alot of replys for a day
Thanks to all of course.

Rite, after reading through all of that, much of it is complicated to me, such as i have no idea the difference between a router and switch (i know what a router is), no idea what WPA2 or NAPT is (but i suppose it doesnt matter as long as i learn how to enable / use it), what a powerline is?

And concerning me being in a rural area, yup very rural lol, also, if someone wants to drive up the non pavemented non streetlit bumpy and pot-holey road just to attempt to access my wireless then good on them, and im sure my St Bernard would alert us as she tends to bark and chase anyone that passes by.

After seeing everything, im thinking, buy a wireless ADSL router (or switch, whatever it may be ) that can replace my current modem and not interfere with my sky or current cabling, i have a ethernet port on the rear of my pc built into my A8N-E motherboard that im sure i could connect it into. I could then set up the wireless connection for wherever the Wii is in the house and any laptops or computers that would be in the house? Would this work?

My reason for wanting to keep this PC wired is because of its use alot of the time: online gaming, the quality and consistency needs to remain high .

Also QoS sounds quite interesting, the Wii when gaming online (when Nintendo decide to release the software and designing utilities to game makers), would most likely need a good bit of my 2mb (unless i upgrade).

I cannot change ISP's, i know ive been with them for over the required contract, but me, only being 16, doesn't have this choice over my household, my Dad being the one paying the bills etc, does, he would stick with BT just because he beleives its simpler and "better", hes nearly completely computer illiterate, so has no clue whats so ever. I was looking at BTs 8mb packages and none of them are unlimited downloads, which is kind of useless for me. Im sure i could convince him to change service sometime after christmas time, so the "hastle" at that time would be minimal.

Basicly, what router / switch should i go for and explanations of any of the above would be greatly appreciated (i love to learn ). And will the onboard ethernet be fine on my motherboard? Also any other comments on anything at all are greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Duncan

[EtheAv8r]

God, alot of replys for a day
Thanks to all of course.

......

Basicly, what router / switch should i go for and explanations of any of the above would be greatly appreciated (i love to learn ). And will the onboard ethernet be fine on my motherboard? Also any other comments on anything at all are greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Duncan

Well I recommend the NetGear DG834PN - it is good value, well developed, easy to set-up and use, and NetGear in my experience give very good support and long warrenties, and it provides good WiFi range in a variety of conditions. The onboard ethernet on your motherboard will be just perfect, I don't think anyone adds additional NIC to replace onboard ethernet.

[uk_sam]

uk_sam, do you have any suggestions for a fairly powerful router? Right now my all in-one solution is a speedtouch (non-wireless) that handles all the router tasks but it lacks the ability of QoS. I might consider installing a decent router after it...

For £100 maybe look at the Linksys WAG300N. If you can spend more, then Draytek routers are apparently excellent. I don't have experience of any of these routers but I've heard them mentioned on other forums so it may be worth investigating them.

[Rack]

Totally paranoid, or so I'm told.
But that's what keeps me alive!
Time for my medication,

lol! You're not paraniod if they're really after you.

[Duncan_Mon]

Rite, thanks everyone once again.

Im not buying the router yet so i wont decide which one i want, but any furthur suggestions are appreciated as i will be looking back at this thread when i do decide to buy in the near future and deciding.

Also, does any of the 2 rtouters suugested so far have QoS, it sounds really useful.


Also, is this possible:
A device (router etc) that connects directly into the broadband line from the wall socket and sets up a wireless network in the area without actualy needing to be physically connected to a computer / laptop etc. Ive always been led to beleive that a router etc needs to be configured through one computer to be wireless connected to others. This is for a school assignment, i have a budget of £500 and 3 laptops, none of the laptops have wireless equipment but do have them laptoppy PCI slots on the side, basicly, set up whats needed ti network them amongst each other to share data and peripherals.