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Saturday of Joy


Pincher
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Boy, are you lot going to regret this!! After many years of resistance, I bit the bullet this morning and bought a shiny new PC for home. Got myself a nice Compaq 6520 with a 15" TFT monitor. Obviously impatient to get going, so dug out an old Tiscali interweb connection disk, which is what I'm using now. Don't really like it though - can anyone recommend anything better (not AOL!!).

Connection speed is not a patch on what I am used to at work (could everyone please stop posting large pictures in their posts crazy.gif) - might have to go Broadband - any suggestions on provider.

This leads me to my next question - my phone point is miles away from where the pc lives. An extension cable os OK at the moment, but if I go Broadband, is there any wireless solution that I can use? Possibly a wireless router?? Not really to hot on this sort of thing, so any advice and indication of costs would be appreciated.

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I've just gone to broadband and I went with Pipex, simply because their setup charge is £23.44, which inlcudes a USB modem and then its only £23.44 a month. My connection speed is always 576k.

Wireless stuff is coming down but its still expensive, much cheaper just to run an extension cable round the room, under the edge of the carpet! smirk.gif

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[ QUOTE ]

An extension cable os OK at the moment, but if I go Broadband, is there any wireless solution that I can use? Possibly a wireless router?? Not really to hot on this sort of thing, so any advice and indication of costs would be appreciated.

[/ QUOTE ]

All entirely achievable, depends on your level of expertise (IT spod available for hire or reward). grin.gif

I'm with Blueyonder (Teleworst) and have a 512Kb down / 128Kb up cable link. Sitting dangling off the back of the cable modem is an old PC running some Linux-based firewall/routing software. Attached to this beastie is a 10/100Mb switch to which we have up to five PCs attached.

There are far simpler solutions than this and most all of 'em can be used with 802.11a/b wireless. It is as others have pointed out, pricier than copper but prices are coming down all the time. Bank on a couple of hundred notes to get a good ADSL/broadband firewall/router with wireless capability and a brace of wireless cards.

Wik.

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This is the kit that I recommended to Inigo to wirelessly connect a PC and a Laptop to ADSL. If you go for cable then you would need a different model of router.

Netgear DG824M ADSL wireless router & 4 port switch

Netgear MA311 wireless PCI card

Netgear MA401 wireless PCMCIA card

Hope this is of some help.

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[ QUOTE ]

This is the kit that I recommended to Inigo to wirelessly connect a PC and a Laptop to ADSL. If you go for cable then you would need a different model of router.

Netgear DG824M ADSL wireless router & 4 port switch

Netgear MA311 wireless PCI card

Netgear MA401 wireless PCMCIA card

Hope this is of some help.

[/ QUOTE ]

DING! Give that man a goldfish! grin.gif

I use Netgear stuff, too - can't recommend it highly enough in terms of VFM.

LinkSys stuff is pretty good as is D-Link.

Wik.

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Daz, have I got this right? I get myself 1 Netgear MA311 PCI Adapter & 1 NetGear DG824M Wireless router and that's it? I assume the router just plugs into a phone point? I don't also need a modem do I?

Also, just been to Pipex and they are doing a 'refer a friend and get one month subscription free' offer. Who wants to refer me? If so, PM me.

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[ QUOTE ]

Daz, have I got this right? I get myself 1 Netgear MA311 PCI Adapter & 1 NetGear DG824M Wireless router and that's it? I assume the router just plugs into a phone point? I don't also need a modem do I?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeap that's it. That particular model of router has a built-in ADSL modem. If you go for cable you will need a different model of router with a built-in cable modem.

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Right final question on this subject I hope smashfreakB.gif

What is the difference between the 802.11b (11 Mbps), 802.11b+ (22Mbps) and 802.11g (54Mbps) in real terms. You have suggested the 802.11b technology which seems to be at the bottom of the rung?

Also, I keep finding the Netgear MA311GE listed at webshops. I think that this is a European version of the MA311 that I should avoid? Am I correct? Don't want to spunk a couple of hundred quid on stuff that I a) can't use and b) will be obsolete as soon as I install it (which I realise is an inherent problem with technology)

Sorry for the dopey questions, but you guys seem to know far more about this that I could ever hope to.

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