Planning a wireless network

[m.penny]

Hi all,

new poster to the forum, but heard lots of good things about you guys.

I have just moved into a new property and have a problem with getting a broadband signal to the room where my PC is located.

My phone line comes into my property in the downstairs kitchen at the back of the house, and my PC is located in the front upstairs bedroom, so my questions are?

1.Over what sort of distance would a wired conection lose strength/speed/stability?

2. in my kitchen I have a microwave oven and in my front downstairs room a video/audio sender to transfer cable picture upstairs to the front bedroom (i heard the frequencies these operate at could cause interfearence) is this true? and if it is what can I do (if anything) to get around it??

Finally

3 I have a broadband modem already what are the beifits (if any) of having a combined modem/router over seperate items, and is there any (cheap) models you can recommend (I live in the UK btw)

thanks in advance for your help.

Matt

[Ob1]

a wired connection signal/strength/speed should stay the same as long as the ethernet cable isnt longer then 236ft. or something around that length, after that you would need a repeater to keep the signal strong.

the microwave can cause some interference but personally ive never had a problem with it. the cordless phone can cause interference, specifically a 2.4ghz phone if you are using an 802.11B or G wireless network. if you have a 5ghz 802.11A network setup then a 5ghz phone would cause interference. so if u want a 802.11b or g network then go with a 900mhz or 5ghz phone.

personally i like having the modem and router seperate. really no price difference, usually is easier to troubleshoot when each device is seperate. over here in the states i use a motorola sb 5120 and use either a linksys acess point (wap54g) or my linksys router (wrt54gs). ive had really good luck with those. but since you live in the UK i believe the isp's over there force u to use usb, so i wouldnt know which products to offer you, but if GLC sees this thread im sure he can recommend some products for ya

[glc]

Is your broadband cable or ADSL? If it's ADSL, as long as the modem gets sync and keeps sync at whatever phone jack you plug it into, you will be okay. You don't have to plug it in right where it enters the house.

Wired connections are always more reliable than wireless. The limit on CAT5 data cables is 100 meters without a repeater.

[m.penny]

Thanks,

It's a ADSL connection, the modem I have is a USB type and due to the fact that the USB lead is captive in the modem tthat has to sit ontop of my PC so it would be the line between the microfilter and the modem that is long. will this make a difference.

and what about my TV sender IIRC that transmits on 2.4Ghz but has 3 channels ? what does that mean and will it mess up any network?

[glc]

You do not use a microfilter on the modem - you use it on any telephone that is sharing the same line. You need a phone jack by the computer, if you have to run a pair from the kitchen up there through the walls, you can use any old telephone twisted pair cable.

The best thing to do if you want a network is get a combo ADSL modem/router, you can put that anywhere within reach of a phone jack, if it's wireless capable you can use either or both wired and wireless to connect devices. Its wired capability will be Ethernet, not USB. 802.11b/g wireless is in fact 2.4 GHz so I'm assuming that's what your TV sender is using. All you would need to do is make sure the sender and the router are on different channels.