<p>With all four children home at the moment, there have been too many times when we’ve had to duke it out for computer time. Right now we have two PC’s connected to a modem. S1 has his laptop from school, but it must be hooked up to the modem for internet access, so that doesn’t help too much.</p>
<p>Was thinking it might be time to try wireless. Does something go on the roof, or is it connected to the computers themselves? Do others find the service as dependable as working off a modem? Is there interference during bad weather?
Thanks</p>
<p>The above link gives you an idea of how a home wireless network is set up. The cable from the wall is hooked up to a modem (like you have now) which is hooked up to a wireless router. It is the router that beams the signal throughout the house. So there is nothing that goes on the roof and no interference from the weather. </p>
<p>There must be some way for the computer to receive the signal from the wireless router. Most of the laptops of today can snatch the signals out of the air automatically, so you don’t have to buy anything else for them. </p>
<p>I’ve been thinking of going wireless around our house also, but haven’t done it yet…As with anything having to do with computers, there is a lot of jargon and confusion–ethernet, adapters, g, n. I still don’t have the whole picture. I think that I’ll end looking at what works for one of my friends and copy the set up. Not techno-minded here!</p>
<p>We’ve had wireless for a couple of years, and it’s always worked great. When my dad comes to visit, he can use his laptop upstairs, even though our office is downstairs. I don’t even think about it! My son had a laptop through school this year, and he loved being able to use it anywhere in the house. (I’m kind of relieved he had to give it back yesterday, because he played on it too much!)</p>
<p>I hooked up wireless myself 5 years ago. Fabulous. Family comes to visit, everyone brings there own laptop. Once you get it, you will be soooo happy. No weather problems. Make certain you password protect and use encryption.</p>
<p>Thanks, all. I think we should do it. There’s a local computer guy here in town who will supposedly set it up pretty cheaply – am not sure I trust myself (or the kids). I think my fear of all things technical is what’s prevented the switch thus far. Our cable company (optimum) offers wireless, so maybe should give them a call.</p>
<p>I have no tech ability and I have optimum, and did it myself. They have a number to call if you need help. Just make certain he uses the most secure encryption – there are two choices and one is apparently more secure. I have something like a 13 character password (you set up on your computer, and dont have to reload if network or computer goes down, only once in a while). WRITE IT DOWN. Then you have to give it to visiting friends. You’ll have to pick a name for your wifi netork. do not pick anything security related. I used my sisters cats name.</p>
<p>Apparenlty people can drive around in vans and try to hack into your network. Where I live is pretty isolated, so unlikley, but I still go with all precautions.</p>
<p>If I were you, and I was having someone out, I would make certain firewalls and antivirus up to date alos.</p>
<p>I hooked up my own wireless (with products and advice from Best Buy). My only issue is that I have a very nice all-in-one fax, printer, copier that I can’t figure out how to get hooked up to wireless. So I still have to walk over and plug in to print. But all in all it is very worthwhile!!</p>
<p>One of our PCs is a desktop that didn’t have wireless capability, I had to buy a special card for that.</p>
<p>Love our wireless network. Still remember the days of choosing where to put computers based on phone line access. The range and speed of various products does matter- we went with D-Link Extreme N a few years ago and it is still highly ranked. We installed the wireless adapters in desktops, but got a small USB adapter for son’s desktop while he’s home for part of the summer. H and son did the software installation- I did the hardware. Every so often- more than monthly- it is good to reset your modem and there is a repair function you can easily click on a computer to reset things if the network fails- like all things that will happen on occasion. Checking for “n” functionality on future laptop purchases would help with speed. Definitely be password protected- there was a time the neighbor’s network showed up as available on our computers.</p>
<p>We are a Mac household and have been on a wireless network for the past 3-4 years and have loved the convenience. My office is on the 2nd floor directly above the ‘router’ (called a ‘base station’ for macs) and I always have great service. The rest of our computers were in 2 rooms next to each other, close to the base station. I finally agreed this spring during finals to let my son move one of our imacs (desktops) to his bedroom, which is the farthest room from the base station. I was surprised that he could not get a good steady signal. Although we have a 2 story house, it is not that large. I upgraded the base station to the more expensive one that has a stronger signal range and have subsequently had no problems.</p>
<p>So, I would suggest to be sure and ask about the range of the router, and test it if possible in all your rooms.</p>
<p>Just a caveat: we have house wireless but we still use cables for the fixed computers. The wireless doesn’t like our brick construction so it has spots where it’s just not there.</p>
<p>if you have a relatively large house I would get the N routers, they aren’t much more expensive and extend the range a ton. Also, don’t get it through the cable company, its a ripoff because they try to charge you per computer. It’s relatively simple to set up, and all current laptops come with wireless cards. If you buy a router you can keep your two computers connected through ethernet and then just add any new laptops.</p>
<p>An Wireless-N router is only useful if your computers have Wireless-N network adapters. If your computers have Wireless-G adapters, then the router will drop to the G protocol for those computers.</p>
<p>Most consumer wireless routers also provide four wired ports so you could place the router with your two machines. If you use your computers near the router, then you could just go wired. Or you could go wired for some machines and wireless with others.</p>
<p>Setting up encryption can be a confusing task, especially if the brand of the network adapter is different from the brand of the router. It’s very important to have some level of security though. Without security, someone could use your internet service to do something illegal which could bring the police to your door.</p>
<p>For LAN access, wireless performance is generally subpar compared to wired access at the Wireless G level. I wired up our house several years ago with 10/100 CAT5 and it greatly outperforms our Wireless G network when copying files on our LAN. I haven’t tried Wireless N. I would think that Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000 would be considerably faster than Wireless N.</p>
<p>Wireless networking equipment emits high-frequency radio waves (so do cordless phones and cell phones) which may or may not be a health hazard. We keep our wireless router in the basement and it is seldom used.</p>
<p>Setting up a wireless network is not difficult. If you have a moderate or larger house, the problem may be placing the wireless access points where you need access. I had to run cable through the basement so I could get access points scattered around the house and outside on the patio.</p>
<p>If all you use the wireless for is internet access, then wireless connection will be fine. If you exchange large files between computers at home, then you will notice that speed is slower over Wifi.</p>
<p>Go for wireless…it will make a HUGE difference. My cable co told me that certain routers work better than others with their system. So you may want to give them a call to find out if they recommend a specific brand. Then go to Best Buy.
I would at least TRY to set this up yourself. The routers come with instructions and my cable company also helped by phone. Even the sales guys at Best Buy can give you some pointers. Really, it’s not big deal once you get acquainted with what you need.</p>
<p>Wireless has been fine. Got to be reliable, since I periodically have to work from home for whole week, supporting whole world, just joking, only US and Europe. Nobody ever got on a roof.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine not having the wireless. We all use laptops mostly now and anyone who visits can hook in too. I have a very funny picture of us visiting my brother - there are six of us on laptops at the same time, and most of us are probably hooked up to the internet. Our house is not particularly large - are old router used to go out fairly frequently - the fix was always turning off and back on. The new one works perfectly.</p>
<p>intparent: I downloaded the trial version of networkmagic (website of same name) which enabled me to add printers as well as other computer to my network…as for whatever reason, I had been unable to make the printer work wirelessly myself…of course ended up buying the program to keep my network seamlessly working without requiring me to think.</p>