Need help with wireless Networking.

[MoxManiac]

Hello folks,

Happy days are a-coming, after living in 56k stone age for god know's how long, my Cable company is finally going to offer Cable Internet in December.

Now herein lies the problem; I'm a total newbie when it comes to networking.

There are 3 PCs in my household that will need to be hooked up to this broadband. Because they are all over the house, it would be too much of a fuss to wire everything. hence, my itnerest in the wireless solutions.

What will I need? I assume there will be the Cable Modem, which then connects to a hub or router, which connects to each NIC.

however, I was looking at the wireless Network components, but I'm confused at what's what. What exact components will I need to do this? Do they sell some sort of kit?

[mbossman2]

Originally posted by MoxManiac
however, I was looking at the wireless Network components, but I'm confused at what's what. What exact components will I need to do this? Do they sell some sort of kit?

To wirelessly connect 3 PC's to a cable modem, you will need:

Wireless NIC's for each PC
Wireless Access Point (basically a wireless hub)
Some sort of network address translation device so 3 PC's can share a single IP address.

Linksys makes an access point/router (http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?prid=173&grid=19) that will take care of the NAT portion and the wireless AP. all you will need to do is get the wireless NICs.

[Confused]

Cable modem will connect via cable co. coax. Depending upon your cable provider, you may or may not be able to provide the cable modem. A straight thru CAT 5 cable between cable modem and PC. Reason I said PC is Insight here in Louisville comes and installs the cable modem and hooks up PC. They would not connect to router, your provider may. If any questions, just provide the PC, because they may want more money for additional PC's and addresses. You don't need aditional addresses using a router. You will move the DHCP address from the PC to the router.

Anyway after cable modem is in, straight thru CAT5 cable from modem to router. Since you want to go wireless, it will be a wireless router. You will also need a wireless NIC in each PC.

Linksys, Netgear, SMC all sell kits. I have a SMC router and have been very pleased. Others here have Linksys and Netgear. They can be found a places like CompUSA, Best Buy, Circuit City and any decent computer store.

If your cable co. will hook to a router, then you need the wireless router and wireless NIC's. If they won't hook to a router, then you will need a regular NIC in the PC closest to cable modem to get going. Then when they leave you would install the router yourself and the regular NIC could be removed at that time.

Chas

[Tuf]

I have a similar situation in my home. I have one PC hooked to a Lynksys wireless Router/Accesspoint with Category 5 cable. The other two are through wireless network cards. There are various speeds of equipment available. I have seen some other brands quite a bit cheaper than Lynksys but mine works well and was easy to setup. Actually with my broadband you have to set up some sort of network if you want more than PC on as they only assign one IP address at a time.
Actually there may be a kit, but I haven't seen a wireless one. Basically what you will need is: The Line coming in, a Modem, the wireless accesspoint and router,and either a network card or wireless network card in each PC. My setup requires that one PC have a regular card at least initially to set everything up.
Good Luck with it and let us know how it turns out.

[MoxManiac]

Thanks for the help guys! I appreciate it. Like I said, it won't be here until December, but I wanted to check out my options. It sounds like a Wireless setup will be very expensive, though it would be awesome to save the hassle of wiring 3 computers together that are on different floors and opposite ends of the house. We'll see how it goes.

[Confused]

Unless you are able and adept at pulling cable thru walls, (interior are not too bad if plenty of atic clerance), exterior walls can be a real hassel because of insulation. They used to sell network equipment that used house electrical or telephone wiring. Not sure if they are still being marketed with the advent of wireless. It may be cheaper to go wire if you can do it yourself. It would probably be cheaper to purchase bulk wire and connectors and a crimper can be had for less than $20.00. You need to check the distance limitations for wireless, I don't have any experience and my router is wire type. And then the cool factor of not having wire mess is worth something.
Chas