G'day.

im looking at getting a wirless network for my house, either as an xmas prezzie from my dad or somthing im going to buy in the new year.

first things first, we have a 3 story house, set up as follows.

(see pic) the funny blob in the left is the main phone point, ive added it coz aol says u have to use it.. i dont at the moment, and never intend to as its in the dining room of all places, but its labeled never the less

STUDY 1 is my study, and the main study, its the only place using our aol connection atm, and will have the main printer ( which needs to be accesses by the other pc/laptop)
this computers running on windows xp professional

Study 2 is kind of irrelivent, its my dads office and will not be added to the network, as the laptops strickly work use only and all a bit complicated ( ive included it on the pic, as he wants to buy himself a pc for personal use, and no doubt when he does, that will be added to the network.)

Study 3 this has my old pc in it, which 2 be honist is a bit knackered, but seem to meet the minimum specs, so shouldnt be a problem. this is used pretty much only by my mum, i gave her it simply to keep her off my pc and out my way ( im so nice arnt i).
she will also need access from that pc to my printer down here.
Its running on windows xp home ( im not sure if it has sp2, as i havent used it for sometime, but i iwll be putting it on there if it hasent already got it)

I also have a laptop, which will need to be used anywhere in the house or garden ideally, it already has wirless lan, so shouldn’t be a problem and wont need a wirless card or anything which is using xp professional sp2

Is the fact that ones of the computers uses xp home going to be a problem at all?


I currently use AOL platinum 2meb broadband ( don’t laugh, it’s the only company that supply broadband to my village except BT, who were being arsey. And they apparently offer support for:

Thomson SpeedTouch 580 Wireless ADSL Router
Netgear DG834G Wireless ADSL Router


(so it seems like a good idea to go with one of those, in case I bugger something up, although if they are both rubbish, let me know and ill go with linksys or somthing)
Which of these 2 is better? There’s quite a big price difference between them , but spec wise they seem to be the same ( also I wont actually buy direct from AOL, as there going to be overpriced)
Next question: Ideally the wireless routers going to be in my study and connected to my pc… is this going to be a problem with the other pc being 2 floors up? I would have guessed it would have to be at the highest point.

Now my laptops already got wireless lan, so that isn’t a problem, but neither of the 2 desktops do, so Whats better a 802.11g Wireless PCI Adapter or 802.11g Wireless USB 2.0 Network Adapter? The USB idea seems far less complicated, but are there any downsides to it?.


Thankyou for any help or advice u can offer

clairey

Originally Posted by clairelovestlc

Is the fact that ones of the computers uses xp home going to be a problem at all?


Next question: Ideally the wireless routers going to be in my study and connected to my pc… is this going to be a problem with the other pc being 2 floors up? I would have guessed it would have to be at the highest point.

Now my laptops already got wireless lan, so that isn’t a problem, but neither of the 2 desktops do, so Whats better a 802.11g Wireless PCI Adapter or 802.11g Wireless USB 2.0 Network Adapter? The USB idea seems far less complicated, but are there any downsides to it?.


Thankyou for any help or advice u can offer

clairey

it shouldn't realy matter that one's using XP Home.

it should work downstairs as it uses RF to transmit the signals and they have a good range. (great in the summer sitting in the garden with your lappy connected to the net, you need never be away from us even when it's hot outside...lol)

if you go with the USB adapter youy only need 1 and you can swap it between PC's, but PCI cards are easy to put in

when you go wireless be careful all your neighbours don't use your internet connection

Originally Posted by brain_damage

when you go wireless be careful all your neighbours don't use your internet connection

Shouldnt be a problem, firstly: im planning to encrypt it, Secondly if i can work out how, i the neigbours arnt near enuff ( we live in the middle of no where) and the only one who could possibally be near enuff is in his 80's and i doubt use the internet by the looks of him...

If im honist the main reason i want wireless is so i can use the net in the garden hehe... i wonder if it'll reach to the bottem our garden ( very unlikely.. ill be ell impressed if it does)

The main reason i didnt decide on a pci card is it looks a bit scary to put in, but if one u guys ( when it get it) can descrive how to put it in (oooh er) ill go that route.. once its in, its in...if not will get a usb adaptor fo each because, if w unplug them, my mum will loose it/ suck it up the hoover/ accidentilly put it in the freezer... i dont let her touch nething electrical, ill put them in, and tell her not too touch.


thankyou for your speedy reply.

* passes a chunk of chocolate fudge cake to say thanx*

Originally Posted by clairelovestlc

The main reason i didnt decide on a pci card is it looks a bit scary to put in, but if one u guys ( when it get it) can descrive how to put it in (oooh er) ill go that route.. once its in, its in...if not will get a usb adaptor fo each because, if w unplug them, my mum will loose it/ suck it up the hoover/ accidentilly put it in the freezer... i dont let her touch nething electrical, ill put them in, and tell her not too touch.


thankyou for your speedy reply.

* passes a chunk of chocolate fudge cake to say thanx*

nice cake home made?

we'll help you with fitting a PCI card

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/pc_bu...adapter_cards/

of corse its home made its also got rum in it.

thankyou for your help, ill tell my parents what parts i need, and wioll hopefully get them for xmas, and ill come back for help while im setting it up

The PCI card will be easy to fit ... but I'd still go with USB. It's just easier and more flexible. You never know when someone's going to come round with a laptop and you want to stick them on your network for the day ... or one of your PCs packs up and you replace it with a laptop ..... or your dad gets his new laptop and you decide that that means you aren't going to need your mum's PC any more.

Even as an IT guy who builds PCs regularly, I'm still going to buy a USB adaptor for the second PC that I'm going to put on my wireless network.

Also (and I haven't looked at the Netgear in detail), bear in mind that it will definitely have to be one with a strong signal as you have such a big house with lots of walls and floors blocking the signal from the top to bottom of the house. Having said that, it's not a bad idea to get one that AOL say they actually approve (that's quite unusual so make the most of it!). Of the two, I'd go with the Netgear, purely as that's a very popular model so likely to be free of bugs now .... and I'd never even heard of Thomson making wireless routers.

i was going to go with the netgear one anyway i think... amazon hadent even heard of the thompson one ( neither had i) and my old school used to use a netgear router for its wireless network, so iknow there pretty ok... that and the silvers pretty and matches all the stuff for my study!!



(if im right) all i need is 1 router ( which will plug into my main pc) and 1 wirless adaptor (for the pc upstairs) i wont need anything for my laptop as its already got wireless, and as the routers plugged into my main pc i wont need a wireless card for that. Is that right?

My final decisions are( i think):

Netgear DG834G Wireless ADSL Router (amazon £64 41 cheepest so far)
Netgear WG111 54Mbps Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter (amazon £26.48 cheepest so far)

gonna keep looking to see if i can beet those prices though

thankyou guys

chocolate fudge cake for everyone!

Sounds like you've got it exactly right

You could, of course, also buy a USB wireless adaptor for the main PC to avoid having to run a cable between the PC and the router if you wanted to. Don't forget that, if you do decide to have the main PC cabled to the router, you'll need to buy a CAT5 cable as well if the router doesn't come with one!

CAT5 cable *stairs at u blankley* closest ive herd of is a RJ45 cable... is that the same thing?

this is the info that aol give for that specific router ( see attached info)

im debating wether to just bite the bullet and buy it myself this weekend rather than waiting, im impatient


ps best offer ive found now is:

Buy a Netgear DG834G Router and claim a free Netgear WG111 Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter. on amazon

total price being £64.41