A Simple Guide to Wireless Networking
Most folks want that laptop for work, school, or college. Most laptops these days are Wi-Fi enabled. That means that they have the wireless hardware and software built into the computer. To the average consumer, wireless is a form of magic. You turn it on and it works, right? Not always. Understanding the basics to wireless will help avoid frustration and headaches.
First, before we get into the basics of wireless networking, I have a few opinions to express.
It seems that everybody wants to go wireless with their laptops and desktop PCs. Wireless for laptops makes sense, since they get moved around between work and home and points in between. You can always connect using the Wi-Fi network at work or steal bandwidth from someone else. There are hotspots all over. There are ethical questions involved with borrowing?your neighbors signal. Let your conscience be your guide.
Wireless for desktops is an open subject. Since most of us usually set our desktops up on our home or office workstations, they tend not to move around. The only benefit of having a wireless desktop is that you dont have the expense and trouble of running Ethernet cable around your house. If you are not a DYIer, an Ethernet cable installation is an extra outlay. If youre lucky, your present PC is only a few feet away from your Broadband Modem. I personally prefer to have all my stationary PCs hooked up with Cat 5 Ethernet cables. That way I dont load up the wireless bandwidth on the router. Well talk more on bandwidth later.
There are hardware requirements to wireless networking. These are the things you need to communicate.
At home you need:
- (1) a Broadband internet connection (Cable or DSL modem),
- (2) a router to broadcast the wireless signal,
- (3) a wireless enabled computer.
You cannot set up a wireless network using a Dial-Up connection. Period. I recommend that you power off your Broadband Modem and any existing computer systems before you begin the installation of the wireless router. The computing equipment will start to negotiate with your router automatically on start up. This will get you on the network without confusion. The router and existing PCs should not need any further configuration. The default or current settings should work. Your PC should already be set to DHCP in your Network Connections TCP/IP properties window. If it werent you would not have been able to connect to your ISP. This is a default setting of your PC.
The Broadband internet connection gear should already be present. Thats the Cable or DSL Modem that your Internet Service Provider installed when you got their service. Its connected to the Cable or DSL filter connection coming from your wall. The Modem has two connectors as a rule. One for the Cable or DSL data into the Modem, and one RJ45 connector you probably have connected to the computer you have in service now.
Youll need to unplug the Ethernet cable between the computer and the Modem. Reconnect that cable to your wireless router. It goes into a RJ45 connector usually labeled WAN?for Wide Area Network. The only other connection you will need to make is to connect another Ethernet cable between from one of the wired ports on the back of the router to your PC. There are usually 4 of them. Any one will do to reconnect your existing PC so its on the network. The existing PC will get its internet connection through this port. Your routers default settings should allow you to start connecting to your Wi-Fi enabled computers.
If all the cables are correctly placed, you should now be able to get on the Internet from you existing computers and your wireless computers.
Some quick notes of interest:
- (A) Your Wi-Fi router is transmitting and receiving in the 2.4MHZ range. So are your Wi-Fi enabled computers. This is the same frequency range of a number of cordless telephones. You may have interference on your cordless phones once the Wi-Fi network is installed. If this occurs youll need to get 5.8 MHZ phones or put up with the noise.
- (B) One of the most common questions I get is ?strong>I bought a wireless laptop and I cant get on the internet. Why not??If your wireless router is installed properly, then your wireless laptop may need configuration. Go to your Network Places or Network Neighborhood for a wizard to help you set up your computer for wireless.
- (C) Bandwidth is the volume of traffic you can sustain through your network. The more devices using the Wi-Fi network, the slower the network uploads/downloads will be.
Remember, your wireless network works a lot like your cordless phone system. You need a transmitter/receiver at each end. Think of the router as the base station and the wireless PC as the handset. You cant talk on your cordless phone if the base station is unplugged. So without a wireless router in service, you cant communicate with the Internet. Hotspots are just spillover signal from someones wireless router.
Randolph M. Wells Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator IT Training and Certification Consultant IT Project Management Specialist Download This Free Report That Reveals Every Single Tool Mike Filsaime Uses To Run His Million Dollar Online Business Get the Free Resource Report Here! Profit Master Blog
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Switching Broadband Suppliers - Getting More Bang For Your Buck - Part One
These days most households have the Internet with most of them getting a DSL line or Broadband for their homes. Broadband suppliers are like electricity suppliers, over the years the range of competitors all vying for your business has grown massively. In a test with one postcode I was able to find seven different broadband suppliers in my area, all offering different packages and extras for different prices depending on however much I wanted to spend per month.
Broadband is provided under contracts similar to Mobile Phone contracts, they tend to be 12 month agreements after which you can carry on with your supplier or make the jump to another, a lot of the time with contracts like this people have an overwhelming feeling of apathy and stick with their current supplier to avoid any hassle, providers rely on this to retain your business and you could get better deals elsewhere if you looked around.
This guide is going to go through what to look for if you have had enough with your current supplier and want to explore pastures new, however if you're happy with your service then it is still worth reading on as you never know you may find an area where you could save money or get a bit extra from your provider.
How fast are we going?
First of all you should consider how fast your connection is at the moment, this can be done by using an online Broadband speed test, these websites get two figures: your upload speed and download speed, the latter normally being considerably larger than the former. It's the download speed which is normally referenced in the adverts and brochures of the speed you can expect when you sign up.
Now the number you get back may be vastly different from the advertised speed, say you signed up for a speedy 8MB speed connection it isn't uncommon for the download speed to actually be less than half of that number. Before you go complaining to your supplier there's no point, whilst they are not exactly clear if you look at the detail it says "up to" before the stated speeds, a nasty trick you'll probably think especially if you never actually get the full fat speed you pay for.
The reason for this is that the distance you are from the local telephone exchange affects the strength of your signal, as well as other factors such as the quality of the cabling in your area, the majority of internet cabling in the UK is still copper wiring which can lose signal strength over distance and time. The UK telecommunication companies such as Virgin Media are trying to get new Fibre-Optic cabling rolled out over the country to reduce the degradation in speed and allow for even faster broadband.
How much power is too much power?
As well as checking how fast your connection is, before you commit to a particular package you should consider how much speed you will actually need, whilst there are 50/month packages offering upwards of 10MB speeds you may find that for your household you won't actually need that much speed and could make a valuable saving by selecting a lower speed.
The majority of UK households only use the Internet to check emails, social networking sites and bid on EBay a little. An entry level connection of 2MB would be more than sufficient for this, it could even handle two or three computers through a wireless router as long as all three aren't being used for prolonged periods of time or for more bandwidth hungry services like file sharing or online gaming.
The higher end connections are more suited to so-called "power users" the type of people who download music and videos a lot as well as people who have lots of machines on their home networks. People who play online games like Internet Poker or World of Warcraft are more likely to need a speedy connection, as well as the growing number of games consoles that connect to the internet like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
By now you should have a good idea of how fast your current connection is (if you already have one) and have a better understanding of what speed you need, at this point you should know whether you need more or less speed and have your first criteria for when you want to look at the many suppliers on comparison sites or when looking at the broadband suppliers brochures. The next part of this guide will cover the actual usage of your Internet, the customer services for when/if your service drops and discuss cheap broadband package deals where you could save money by getting your telephone, TV and Broadband all from one supplier.
If you are looking for cheap broadband whether you have an existing provider or not then you can compare broadband deals online. Also if you are thinking about changing your supplier then check your connection using one of the various broadband speed test websites to see whether you are getting your money's worth.
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