Home Network Help Required 1

[bluebilly]

I have a desktop PC on the ground floor of my house, connected to broadband and wish to use my laptop to access the same broadband service from a first floor bedroom. I have an additional phone socket in the bedroom.
Can someone please advise what equipment I need and how it all fits together ?
My telephone also runs off the same broadband line, so I have microfilters in place. Basically, I want to use both my Desktop PC and my laptop on the internet at the same time (in different rooms) and also have the ability to make or receive a telephone call on this line.
Any assistance would be much appreciated

Thks
bluebilly

 

[bcastner]

Making or receiving a phone call will not disrupt your DSL service (your microfilters gave you away).

You need to purchase a broadband router. Because you are using a notebook computer, a wireless/broadband router and the additon of a wireless adapter for your notebook would give you the greatest flexibility.

Your DSL router would connect to the WAN port of the router; your ground-floor PC with cable to the new router. And your laptop would use the wireless connection hopefully nearly any area in the house you might roam.

The least expensive entry-level to wireless would be to purchase 802.11b equipment. Make it all from the same company: router, and adapter.

Personally, I would spend slightly more and buy 802.11g router and adapters. This might be overkill at the moment for you, but the cost difference is not great, and it allows for future upgrades to your broadband connection and security.

For my neighbor, I just purchased a Linksys WRT54G wireless four-port router, and a Linksys PCMICIA "G" adapter card for his notebook. Netgear, Buffalo and others offer comparable devices.

 

[MaxPipeline]

I think bcastner hit the nail right on the head. Your best solution is to purchase a wireless router and wireless network adaptor for your notebook (preferably a PCMCIA card). One thing to add with regard to 802.11b vs 802.11g. 11g with WAP is much more secure than 11b. This is a very real concern since anyone near your home might be able to get on your network with fairly easy-to-get equipment and software. Plus as bcastner mentioned, the cost difference is not too great and IMO well worth it.

I have used Netgear, DLink and Linksys wireless equipment before. I like the Netgear the best based on the price, performance and features. But as in any wireless equipment, your experience may vary.

 

[bluebilly]

Thanks - I went with the BT 1250 Wireless modem and have connected it up to my main PC and telephone line (with a microfilter) and am getting perfect internet access as required.
I also bought a BT Voyager 1020 laptop adapter so that I can access my broadband internet service with my laptop in a differnt room and wirelessly. I've downloaded the software for the adapter on the laptop, installed the actual adapter and confirmed via the utility menu that it is connected to my base unit, yet I cannot get an internet connection. The signal is confirmed as good, it is communicating with the base unit, but every time I hit the internet explorer icon on my laptop desktop, I get nothing.
Am I missing something ? Do I have to configure the adapter to connect to the internet as a seperate process. The BT helpline are not able to help and suggest that it is a Microsoft issue re explorer, which I doubt. Has anyone got an ideas ?
Appreciate your time in reading this.

Thanks

bluebilly

 

[MaxPipeline]

I am assuming the router is configured for NAT and that your other PC is getting an IP address in the private range (192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x). If so then check to see if your laptop is configured to obtain an IP address automatically. Also check your IP to make sure you obtained an IP address. To check goto Start, Run. Type cmd then enter. This should get you to a DOS prompt. Type ipconfig /all. What IP address do you see? Also what DNS settings?

 

[bluebilly]

All it was that my internet LAN settings on my laptop were fixed to proxy server. When I changed it to automatically detect settings it worked fine.

Thanks for your interest

bluebilly