Hi guys any chance someone could give me a clue as to what i need to buy to go surfing wirelessly on the net?

I dont know a lot about computers so please spare any technical jargon if poss.

I currently have a normal PC connected to BT broadband through a telephone socket via a BT Voyager 105 USB ADSL modem. this is fine as is & I dont need to move it or have it wireless.

I have a laptop that I would like to be able to roam about the house with and go on the internet with, I think this will need a wireless card in it as it's not got wireless built in.

What do I need to buy? i'm not really sure what the difference is between modems/routers etc?

Any help grately appriciated.

Ok this is what you need:

Modem/Router - this will replace your bt modem, and it will enable you to connect up to 4 computers to this network

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/454365

Wireless PCI Card for your PC (if you don't have one)

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/336185

Wireless PCMCIA card (thats if your laptop has one of these slots)

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/986184

ELSE

USB Wireless Dongle (your laptop should have a usb port)

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/171185

Thats pretty much what you need, but setting up a network is quite hard if you do not know much about them. So you might require an engineer or a friend to help you out. Please do check other brands and stores, because PC World is a bit of a rip off. Oh by the way, the PCMCIA Wireless card for the laptop is much better than USB Wirless Dongles.

Other shops to check out your prices.

www.ebuyer.co.uk

www.dabs.co.uk

www.scan.co.uk

P.S there might be "wireless kits" out there which may be cheaper to buy instead of buying the equipment individually.

good luck

I got a Netgear wireless router to connect up to my exsisting modem and glad to say the router has been faultless thus far. (cheers Josh and Colin for the tips when I was buying it)

Thats excellent, thanks very much.

I'm sure i can find someone to help me set it all up, brother in-law is quite good with computers so he should know what to do!

One last question - would I be able to connect my psp to the internet with this type of equipment?

Thanks again, john.

No idea, im not a PSP fan. It can be done, but im not sure about wirelessly.

As Richie and Ross say, you need a wireless router which will replace your current modem (the router will have the adsl built in so you plug your telephone line into that as well).

As you currently have the adsl modem and PC close to each other (linked with the USB cable), you won't necessarily need a wireless PCI/USB card for the PC. You WILL however need a network card to setup the wireless in the first place. If it's anything other than an antiquated PC, you'll already have that Your laptop may well have a network card too.

If you want to go down the PC world route for sourcing the hardware, it pays having a wander on their website as some products have a "reserve on the web and pick up from store" option, giving you reduced prices The belkin one Richie suggested will work fine. Also look at Netgear and Linksys (my favourite), although they'll all offer similar performance and will give you what you need

Any "wireless network device" will abide to the jargon standard known as 802.11x where x is a, b or g (different subformats/frequencies/speeds). Your PSP should be able to use the same wireless router/switch, but will require configuring (I still haven't bought a PSP so can't explain how to do it yet :() Once the wireless bit is working for your laptop, then we can get the PSP working on it too

Do be aware that when you start using it you may find that you get drop-outs and so on. That can be caused by things like your neighbour's microwave or cordless phone, so you may need to try a couple of different channels until you hit a reliable one - doesn't take long and the software should make it quite simple.

Both my PC and my laptop have what I think is a network connection on the back of them, it is labelled LAN and has a pic of 3 computers next to it.

So do I not need the card to go in the PC? I dont need to move it just want the laptop & PSP on wireless!

Laptop has a PCMCIA slot so that would be the best way of connecting it then?

As I said I just bought a wireless router for my connection and used it withl my modem which I allready had. But that is a cable modem (NTL 2MB) so dont know if that effects it. But I can recommened the Netgear stuff, good prices on Dabs.

I have my psp connected to my wireless network. Easy as pie to do although I am a bit mythed that its only wireless b and not g. Cheap *** sony

As I said I just bought a wireless router for my connection and used it withl my modem which I allready had. But that is a cable modem (NTL 2MB) so dont know if that effects it. But I can recommened the Netgear stuff, good prices on Dabs.

ADSL is different. The standard free issue modems only have an USB connection so you can't connect them straight into a router like yours because it uses an RJ45 connection and cat5E patch cable. You therefore have to bin the free issue modem (not literally) and replace it with a router with built-in ADSL modem.

Laptop has a PCMCIA slot so that would be the best way of connecting it then?

Yep, PCMCIA wireless cards are more reliable than USB dongle.

Also, IIRC, if you hook up your PSP to the net, watch out for viruses.

Ok Guys, I was in Tesco of all places the other day and happened to spot they were selling wireless kit for a reasonable price so I bought a Linksys HG200 Wireless-G Gateway (modem/router) and a card for the laptop.

Initially i'm just trying to get the pc to connect to the internet via the ethernet cable and HG200.

I'm having problems though, I can get the setup page for the modem/router in internet explorer but this is where the problems begin, it asks for a username and password for my broadband connection, nothing unusual here except I dont have a password? never had one to connect with usb modem.

I phoned BT broadband tech line and they say they dont use passwords just the username? so I phoned linksys tech line and they say you have to have a password for authentication or something? and that I should call BT again and insist, did that and BT still insist I dont need one?

Anyone know who is right? or what I'm doing wrong?

I am with Onetel and you need a username and password to configure your modem to connect.

Ok Guys' date=' I was in Tesco of all places the other day and happened to spot they were selling wireless kit for a reasonable price so I bought a Linksys HG200 Wireless-G Gateway (modem/router) and a card for the laptop.

Initially i'm just trying to get the pc to connect to the internet via the ethernet cable and HG200.

I'm having problems though, I can get the setup page for the modem/router in internet explorer but this is where the problems begin, it asks for a username and password for my broadband connection, nothing unusual here except I dont have a password? never had one to connect with usb modem.

I phoned BT broadband tech line and they say they dont use passwords just the username? so I phoned linksys tech line and they say you have to have a password for authentication or something? and that I should call BT again and insist, did that and BT still insist I dont need one?

Anyone know who is right? or what I'm doing wrong?[/quote']

Linksys are correct, you should have a password too. For example if you wanted to check your email from a remote location using the BT Broadband website you would probably require a password.

Linksys are correct, you should have a password too. For example if you wanted to check your email from a remote location using the BT Broadband website you would probably require a password.

That would be a password for accessing your e-mail though, and not necessarily anything to do with the broadband login details.

Not overly familiar with Linksys equipment, but it should be possible to connect to an ADSL network without a password...

Rob.

Had just this problem the other day when connecting a houseful of young things via a broadband router - none of them had any idea what their username etc was for their broadband account

It should have come with your original account details from your ISP - maybe BT? Quite often it's your email address, with no password. Try it.

You can also connect the voyager back up and access ITS configuration pages in a similar way - its address is 192.168.1.1 using a username something like [email protected] (that's in the little wallet that your BT broadband CD came in).

That would be a password for accessing your e-mail though' date=' and not necessarily anything to do with the broadband login details.

Not overly familiar with Linksys equipment, but it should be possible to connect to an ADSL network without a password...

Rob.[/quote']

I used to have BT Broadband and now NTL Broadband. The issued password was/is what I always used/use to access my email (primary email address) via the ISP's web pages.

Maybe things have changed. If I recall, I had to do a lot of digging around in the setup correspondance etc for my BT password when I needed to get hold of it the first time. I wasn't exactly easy to find so maybe BT have cottoned on to this.

The main problem is that when configuring the modem/router it asks for both username and password, I enter the username and leave the password field blank, but when I try to save the settings it pops up a little box and says "you must enter a valid password".

Having spoken to BT again (@ 50p/min) they insist there is no password as you are authenticated by the phone line/number you are calling/trying to access the web through.

Wonder if I should change ISP's? according to BT you can only access BT Broadband Basic with the supplied Voyager 105 modem and nothing else?

The main problem is that when configuring the modem/router it asks for both username and password, I enter the username and leave the password field blank, but when I try to save the settings it pops up a little box and says "you must enter a valid password".

Sounds more like it's the router validating the password and not accepting an empty password...which would indicate the problem is the router...

Is there no option to disable username and password connection? If BT validates using your phone line, there'd be no need to have either.

Rob.

Changing the settings to 'Routed' or 'Bridged' or pretty much any of the other settings removes the need for a username and password but BT say I have to use PPPoA and that requires both username and password, the others just ask for host name and domain name.

I've been thinking about changing ISP anyway but not sure who to switch to yet so maybe that will be the answer as both BT and Linksys are both 100% adamant that the other is wrong!!

What happens if you do put in a password? Maybe BT will just ignore it ...

Edit: this link seems to suggest they will

Ok tried that and i've got another light lit up on the front of the modem now 'internet' so all the little lights are on however I now have windows popping up a message saying my 'local area connection has limited or no availability' and I can no longer access the setup page for the modem/router?

When I press 'repair' it tries to assign a new IP but fails.

Ok tried that and i've got another light lit up on the front of the modem now 'internet' so all the little lights are on however I now have windows popping up a message saying my 'local area connection has limited or no availability' and I can no longer access the setup page for the modem/router?

When I press 'repair' it tries to assign a new IP but fails.

Sounds like connecting to BT has somehow managed to change the internal IP address of the router.

If you open up a command prompt and type: ipconfig

see what's there for the Default Gateway - try typing the gateway's IP address into your browser and see if that takes you to the router admin page...

Rob.

It won't have changed the private side - that will remain 192.168.0.1 or whatever.

Sounds like the DHCP server, isn't. John is your PC set up to "obtain an address automatically"? (look under network connections, right click the local area connection, select properties, and double-click the TCP/IP protocol entry in the middle of the box)