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Very 'newbie' broadband questions


Gren
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Am about to drag my sorry ass into the 21st century and get broadband at home.

Both the wife and I have company laptops that we use for personal use - games, internet etc.

Question is : does anything need to be loaded onto the PC? Comms software etc or is it just a setup thing in the network connections part of XP?

I'm assuming that the modem would be external as well - would be phone line based broadband.

Told you they would be newbie questions.

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I guess it depends how your works laptops are configured smashfreakB.gif

If they are locked down so you cannot add/remove applications, devices, drivers then you will find it difficult.

Also it may depend how your works PC gets it's IP address, and network info. I would think it unlikely that work would let you have a laptop which could just hook up to any network it likes smashfreakB.gif

Best thing to do is have a chat with a network admin and ask them IMHO.

As for the modems, you have a choice of how you connect your machine to the network..

1. USB - USB modem plugs into USB port on laptop.

2. Network Cable - into the back of your laptop going into an ADSL router.

3. Wireless - Normally to communicate with a wireless router, or ADSL router.

beerchug.gif

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Answer the above questions first.. but assuming you can mod the PC. Check if they also have any wireless conectivity.

Then get yourself something like a Netgear 834G or better ADSL wireless modem. This will connect to one of the phone sockets in the house and send out a signal for the laptops to connect to it. They can be connected via a network cable connected into the back of the router and connection you should have on the laptop. Or wirelessly.

Some packages come with PCMCIA or USB wireless adapters. Look to get at least 54G 802.11G standard or above.

The wireless modem and a couple of adapters should cost you approx £100 all in. 169144-ok.gif

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Have admin rights on my laptop and have added loads of software - phone, camera, PDA, games etc. so no problem there. Also use net via a Wanadoo dial-up service at the moment.

Couldn't care less really about wireless if it costs a lot more. Want to do this fairly cheaply - no more than monthly charges.

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Going wireless will probably be cheaper / less hassle as you would both be able to use it at the same time without problems anywhere in the house.

The basic ADSL modem/ router from Netgear should cost about £50/60. Do you know if either of the laptops is capable of wilress. If they are thats all you will need to spend. 169144-ok.gif

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  • 3 weeks later...

Am up and running with broadband now (could only get 1Mb though) and have decided on wireless rather than getting new phone points put in.

Have been looking at the Netgear DG834GT with either the WG511T card or WG111T USB stick to wi-fi my laptop. Amazon seem to be pretty cheap. £90 all in.

Not sure whether to opt for the USB stick as it's less invasive (work laptop) but will be slower as my USB port is not version 2.

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Thanks for the help guys. beerchug.gif

Am now typing away on the sofa - opted for the netgear stuff which was a breeze to set up. 20mins from the postie arriving I'd set up both the router and the USB stick (I do have version 2.0!) on my laptop.

Have set up WEP encoding and have it only accessable from certain MAC addresses. Is there anything else I should be doing?

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WEP on - Check

Allow only certain MAC addresses to use wireless point - check

Turn off the B and only use G - check (unless you need the B that is )

Check for the latest firmware on the Netgear site. - Check (The latest now also allows ADSL2 if you ever go for that in the future and a few other bits and bobs)

Make sure you have a good firewall on your laptop etc. and Anti virus.

Sit back and enjoy the surfing around the house. 169144-ok.gif

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Thanks.

Haven't set up 'g only' but it will be only g kit so may well do. Assume this makes things a little more efficient. Router has a firewall but I'm also using the XP one from SP2 and Macafee visus scan - all corporate stuff. Pretty happy with that side of things - have been dialing up for ages on this laptop.

Might just leave the firmware for the moment unless things start going wrong. Have heard a lot of people actually needing the latest firmware on this router and I was preparing myself to have to download it from the start but no need so far.

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I have updated to the latest firmware as has my Dad without problems. But if you happy with what you have got leave it for now if you want.

XP firewall isn't the best in fact its quite poor, Zonealarms can be downloaded for free if its for personal use. sekret.gif If you have another PC then I would certainly installed it on that for your usage.

And yes the G things makes things a bit more efficient apparently. If you have any signal issues try a few different channels. I've found the lower numbers to be better for some reason. To see the exact strength download netstumbler and see what that says when you try the different channels. But to be honest unless you are upstairs in a far off room you woun't have any problems. 169144-ok.gif

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