View Full Version : Wireless Networking/Broadband
stevegreen
07-05-2003, 8:52 PM
In our area we now have the option to have a wireless broadband connection. A local IT company is providing a no-frills high speed (640kbps) access and is proposing to charge £27.95 per month with an initial set up cost of £120. What I would ideally like to do is to have the connection coming into the house and then have some sort of wireless network set up to serve both my laptop (most important) and the ‘family’ PC. I assume that I can just connect the aerial into an access point and then from there into a wireless router so that both PC’s can use the high speed connection.
It also appears that BT will soon be upgrading the local exchange to support ADSL, so now, having gone from no access whatsoever I now have a choice :rolleyes:
I think that BT will be updating on June 8th which is no real wait so I’m prepared to sit it out on a dial up connection for the next month if BT is a better option.
What will I actually need to get a wireless LAN in my house. I’m assuming it’s as simple as a wireless router and then a wireless card in my laptop and the same in my ‘family’ PC. If I were to go with BT then the telephone point is right by the PC (actually we have one in every room) so do BT use the normal telephone access points or do they have to get another ‘wire’ into the house. The significant other does not really want to have walls drilled etc etc as the entire house has been recently re-decorated.
I’m desperate for a high speed connection at home but I want to make the right decision and have a wireless facility throughout the house.
Any advise on whats best to do?
hornydragon
07-05-2003, 9:10 PM
BT dont like people having ethernet modems they supply USB, this makes it harder to network,I'm sure some one more knowledgeable will point you in the right direction, Can i ask which local IT company are offering this service? and are they doing it in Kinver?
I'd wait for BT to upgrade you local exchange to ADSL then pick an ISP of your choice. If you have a look at www.adslguide.org.uk you'll find a complete listing of ISP's along with cost's and features etc.
You can then go and buy whatever equipment you want. I'd personally go for an ADSL Modem/Router and then plug in a WAP, add some Wireless cards to the laptop and PC and Robert's your mother's brother.
stevegreen
07-05-2003, 9:47 PM
Not sure it will reach Kinver mate but it's a company called IDEC.
Look HERE (http://www.wombournewireless.org.uk/) although that give little information, but there is a telephone number there to ring :grin:
Cheers Desmo, I will probably wait as having checked the BT website they are saying June 11th so it's better to wait and have a proper choice before jumping.
tomson
08-05-2003, 2:05 AM
Defo do what Desmo suggested before you even consider a provider - keep an eye on the adslguide forums and see who people are recommending, who is having down time etc etc. I really wanted a month-by-month contract so if I wasn't happy with the service I wouldn't be tied into paying for a full 12 months.
Nobber22
08-05-2003, 12:47 PM
Hi Steve. Get BT (or other) broadband service into your house. Then get one of these: http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pr=DG814&pm=415
Add wireless LAN kit to router and wireless cards to laptop & P.C. :smashin:
Don't forget to include a bit of encryption software to the wireless LAN if you don't want your neighbour's kids seeing what you get up to online.:devil:
Sinzer
08-05-2003, 1:41 PM
Once your local exchange is enabled, then choose an ISP, personally I would recommend either Pipex or Nildram. Both are very reliable, Nildram is the fastest ISP and has very good support, however it is not the cheapest. Pipex is a bit cheaper. Both are fairly popular so you are pretty much guaranteed to not have the service disconnected.
http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pr=DG824M&pm=881
I would recommend purchasing a wireless ADSL router like above, as it costs 170 quid (take a look for which protocol you want, the 504.11g router costs about the same, but I am not a big fan of D-Link). Purchasing a separate router and WAP really does not add any benefits over the all in one, yet costs significantly more.
Do not go with BT Openworld or buy a service, which offers a "free" modem, these are often not really the best peices of hardware and you are better off with connection only and buy your own hardware.
Also, for the home PCs I would really advise using the LAN (cable) ports, especially if you will be file sharing over the connection. Wireless is fine for laptops but for streaming large amounts of data it is not especially great.
I would recommend checking out the Networking section at www.tomshardwareguide.com these articles will explain the various protocols available and what the best setups are.
stevegreen
08-05-2003, 2:00 PM
Thanks Sinzer.
The idea behind me having a wireless network at home is purely me being selfish and wanting to be able to have my laptop 'live' on the internet anywhere in the house. I'm not going to be file sharing much and certainly will not be hosting web sites or anything of the like. I really after the cheapest solution to allow me to do that. I'm a bit confused by the language associated with all of this at the moment so i'll have a bit of a dig about before i ask anything else :grin:
Geezer
08-05-2003, 2:07 PM
Im looking at the same sort of thing Steve want to connect my PC Laptop and Xbox and think wireless will be the easiest thing. But not really sure what id need to get do etc.
Originally posted by Sinzer
Purchasing a separate router and WAP really does not add any benefits over the all in one, yet costs significantly more.
This bit I'd have to disagree with. I agree that separates will cost more, but wireless technology and speeds are moving on so quickly that in a couple of years time you'll be wanting to upgrade the wireless side of things. Whilst the router will still be doing exactly what you want and need in 10 years time.
Sinzer
08-05-2003, 2:38 PM
Whilst the router will still be doing exactly what you want and need in 10 years time.
Not if you wanted gigabit connections or a faster than 10Mbs uplink port etc etc. It really doesn't make much difference, you cannot guarantee any future proofing of hardware. I personally would buy the all in one, if you plan to upgrade your hardware in the future then as you can see the price is still the same as the all in one, most WAPs cost around 150-170 for a decent one.
I can't see any reason why the all in one would not last a sufficiently long enough time ~5 years if it is performing what you want, simple net access via a laptop (browsing and some gaming). Anything more than that and I would say that wireless is not the way to go.
I agree, it's all down to your needs. If it's purely down to sharing net access and the occasional file then fine. But for my uses I'd still prefer separates.
Wireless has just leapt from 11mbps to 54mbps which is a big difference and something I'd want to have if I had wireless. Who knows what speed it will be at next year.
Geezer
08-05-2003, 2:57 PM
Originally posted by Desmo
I agree, it's all down to your needs. If it's purely down to sharing net access and the occasional file then fine. But for my uses I'd still prefer separates.
Wireless has just leapt from 11mbps to 54mbps which is a big difference and something I'd want to have if I had wireless. Who knows what speed it will be at next year.
So is wireless slower?
Wireless is slower. The latest/fastest wireless is only 54mbps whereas the average wired network is 100mbps. That's almost half the speed in ideal conditions. Wireless will be affected by lots of differents factors, eg distance from WAP etc., so it won't always run at it's optimum speed.
Sinzer
08-05-2003, 3:22 PM
Also, wireless suffers from contention. All your applications will share the wireless connection. So if you have 2 concurrent connections your network speed is halved.
This obviously means little for broadband as most connections are only .5 Mbs, however it does affect file sharing and streaming across your home network.
Nobber22
08-05-2003, 5:01 PM
Steve: Very NB!!!!! Whoever you get your broadband service from, ensure you ask for your static public IP address at the same time as you put in your order. If you forget, you have to wait weeks for one (esp. with BT) and can't issue yourself private IP addresses to multiple (both) your machines.
Why do you need a static IP? With a NAT enabled router you'll be fine. Each internal machine will have it's own IP and just use the router for net access. NAT will take care of the outside world.
Nobber22
08-05-2003, 5:34 PM
Sorry Mate. My mistake. I'm just thinking about larger-sized networking issues. I prefer to avoid NAT. Makes firewall and IP traffic mamangement easier going static. Not neccessary in Steve's case, but I am averse to a dynamically assigned IP address from my ISP. I like to know who I am at all times. Makes remote access easy too.
P.S. I'm a paranoid network administrator :god: because my Line Manager is too. :rolleyes:
lol, I can see your point. But for a small home network I don't think a static IP is necessary, but can come in handy. As for remote acces, I use dyndns.org to keep me updated :)
stevegreen
08-05-2003, 5:55 PM
Nobber.......you calling me a newbie?? :mad:
Hands up mate, i really have little idea about it all but i know what i want it to do :grin:
The fellow i was talking to yesterday (the ones offering the wireless service) said that it was a fixed IP address. I assumed that all broadband network connections are :confused: But then he was talking about assigning different IP addresses for each PC using the network (ie one for the laptop and one for the 'family' PC) but, i assume, probably incorrectly, that the IP address that shows on the WWW would still be the static one.
My head isn't hurting yet, but it's bound to some time soon! :suicide:
Sinzer
08-05-2003, 5:59 PM
Whoever you get your broadband service from, ensure you ask for your static public IP address at the same time as you put in your order. If you forget, you have to wait weeks for one (esp. with BT) and can't issue yourself private IP addresses to multiple (both) your machines.
It makes little difference having a static or dynamic IP address. More often than not your "dynamic" IP address will never change unless you turn off you router for a pro-longed period. Also, when you mention "private addresses" I assume you mean NAT? In which case having a dynamic or static IP address makes no difference as the router assigns these.
Plus if you did want a static IP address, which would only be useful for hosting (which is against the AUP you sign when connecting to the service) there are many services on the net that will provide solutions.
For home use it is not that important.
Geezer
08-05-2003, 6:19 PM
Originally posted by Sinzer
Also, wireless suffers from contention. All your applications will share the wireless connection. So if you have 2 concurrent connections your network speed is halved.
This obviously means little for broadband as most connections are only .5 Mbs, however it does affect file sharing and streaming across your home network.
If i got it i would only be using it for broadband not file sharing so this would be fine speed wise then?
Sinzer
08-05-2003, 6:27 PM
Yup
:)
Mackster
08-05-2003, 8:13 PM
Can anyone list the components to achieve this wireless setup ? I Havent got much of a clue and could really do with a hand. I have a Laptop and a PC both with 802.11b cards in and want to be able to use them to get broadband. I have a 10/100 hub already if that can be used ? Cheepest solution using bits from Ebay if poss ?
Thanks Guys
stevegreen
08-05-2003, 8:18 PM
Originally posted by Mackster
Can anyone list the components to achieve this wireless setup ? I Havent got much of a clue and could really do with a hand. I have a Laptop and a PC both with 802.11b cards in and want to be able to use them to get broadband. I have a 10/100 hub already if that can be used ? Cheepest solution using bits from Ebay if poss ?
Thanks Guys
:eek: I'm obviously mils behind then......whats a 802.11b card then? My PC and my laptop both have a network cards in them, is this not enough? I assumed that i needed a card to go into my laptop to get the signal but what happens with the PC?
Geezer
08-05-2003, 9:40 PM
Originally posted by stevegreen
:eek: I'm obviously mils behind then......whats a 802.11b card then? My PC and my laptop both have a network cards in them, is this not enough? I assumed that i needed a card to go into my laptop to get the signal but what happens with the PC?
Its ok steve im not totally clued up on most of it either :grin:
hornydragon
08-05-2003, 9:54 PM
You need a network wireless card for all machines, PCMCIA/USB/PCI all catered for, 802.xx is the speed 54 current highest not sure if the backwards compatible or not, ie if an 802.11 card will talk to an 802.54 router or not Linksys are good and dabs do some good value kits a power buy might be a good idea if some one can buy 10 cards and save some cash with other members.
Sinzer
09-05-2003, 1:53 PM
There are three main protocols currently available :-
802.11b - This is the slowest form of wireless network. It runs at 11Mbps.
802.11b+ - This is twice the speed of 802.11b.
802.11g - This is the fastest current wireless network running at 54Mbps.
Nearly all 802.11g Access Points are backwards compatible with 802.11b.
A standard PC network card runs on a cable connection, you need to buy a wireless Network card to run on a wireless network. These cards also correspond to the above protocols, so you get an 802.11b, 802.11b+ and 802.11g cards. You can either buy a PCI card for a desktop PC or a PCMCIA for a laptop.
This is a handy website for purchasing
http://www.wifi-warehouse.co.uk/
This is a handy "noob" guide for a brief introduction, read the rest of tomshardware network section to get used to the terms.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/game/200303221/index.html
stevegreen
09-05-2003, 2:55 PM
One thing that is now confusing me. Is a normal broadband connection 512kbps? If so then why would it be necessary, in my case, to have anything other than the 802.11b which transfers data at 11mbps. I can perhaps unnderstand it for large networks that need speedy data transfer, but for home use? :confused:
graham.myers
09-05-2003, 3:00 PM
I've got an 802.11b with an NTL 600k link and its fine.
You'd only benefit from the extra oomf if you were copying a lot of data between your laptop and your desktop - which I'm not so saved pennies.
I've got linksys kit (all from dabs direct)
DSL router (You'll need ADSL router)
pcmcia wireless card
PCI wireless card
I've got the dsl modem plugged into the router and an xbox plugged into one of the wired ports.
came to less than £200 for all three pieces
Sinzer
09-05-2003, 5:25 PM
That is currently true, but if you increase data speeds on your broadband connection then your wireless point might not be able to keep up with it.
Again, the main question is :-
Do I need to transfer large files to and from my laptop to other home PCs.
If the answer is no then wireless is fine. If the answer is yes, then you need to look at cable based networking. :)