Snappy answers to stupid questions

corblimey

I'm a complete idiot when it comes to this sort of thing, so I thought I try the one-stop-ask-all-my-dumb-questions-in-one-go approach:

1. I currently have a Cisco systems wired router. There is an input 'socket' for the incoming ethernet cable and 4 outputs (2 of which are connected to PCs). So if I go and buy a wireless router (like this) and hook that up to the existing wired router, voila, I have a wireless network? Is it that easy?

2. I assume then I just need to get wireless cards (like this) for each PC and Bob's my mother's brother?

3. I've seen USB adapters which are a lot cheaper, but I'm guessing you get what you pay for?

4. Do I need to be concerned about dynamic ip addresses, firewalls and all that? I went through quite a lot of pain in getting the current setup I have, am I going to have to go through it all again?

5. The routers I've seen have some sort of notation, N N+, etc. Is that just the range or does it affect the speed of transfers aswell? What's best for the inside of a regular 3 bed home?

6. What's involved in getting my printer hooked up? It's an Epson Stylus which is currently connected to one PC via a USB cable.

7. What about sharing external drives?

8. Are Belkin ok for this sort of thing? They seem to have the market cornered in PC World, Harvey Normans, Curry's etc, so are they good enough?

(Sorry for so many questions, and there might yet be more, but I think I've covered most of issues here)

Ricky91t

1.Is the cisco your modem supplied by your ISP?If so yes it will work perfect if not then take the cisco off and use the belkin as your wired/wireless router as it will have 4 ports on it!The belkin will basically be plug and play

2. You linked us to the beklin router again
you want one of these quiet cheap too in the uk!http://cgi.ebay.ie/Belkin-N1-Mimo-Wireless-Wifi-PCI-Network-Card-300MB-PC_W0QQitemZ140252445391QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item140252445391&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1308

3. I wouldn't bother with the usb my experience with them hasnt been good overheating etc and bad reception.Usually ended up taping it to a wall and running usb extenders from it
4. The belkin should just take to it!It should have a setup up wizard and my (cheap dlink)router was fine with my modem and switch i had installed at the time

5. Yeah the more "+" etc usually tends to mean quicker speeds and much better signal.Id go for the best you can get as you'll have quicker transfer speed between pc's on the wired and wireless network and between 2 wireless machines

6.You can network the printer via the pc its plugged into but it will have to be on while you print.Eith that or you buy a wireless print server and have it anywhere within wireless reach like this one http://cgi.ebay.ie/Linksys-WPS54G-Wireless-G-54Mbps-Network-Print-Server_W0QQitemZ280251841356QQihZ018QQcategoryZ108998QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


7. These can be set up on one pc and then set as network drives so all other pc on your network will be able to see/access them and edit files on them

8. Belkin are good i regret not going with them first now im stuck on dlink but have a belkin pcmcia card which is very good!If i were you id buy off the net as you'd get much better prices!



Hope that helps

stopped_clock

corblimey wrote: »

1. I currently have a Cisco systems wired router. There is an input 'socket' for the incoming ethernet cable and 4 outputs (2 of which are connected to PCs). So if I go and buy a wireless router (like this) and hook that up to the existing wired router, voila, I have a wireless network? Is it that easy?

Snappy answer is yes, but see point 4.

2. I assume then I just need to get wireless cards (like this) for each PC and Bob's my mother's brother?

Again, yes. Unless you're happy leaving the PCs wired and using the wireless just for laptops (for example).

3. I've seen USB adapters which are a lot cheaper, but I'm guessing you get what you pay for?

Not sure, tbh! The USB would certainly be easier to install.

4. Do I need to be concerned about dynamic ip addresses, firewalls and all that? I went through quite a lot of pain in getting the current setup I have, am I going to have to go through it all again?

Do you need to have both routers on your network? If so, you'll have to decide which router assigns IP addresses and so on. You may decide to set up different subnets and so on (but that shouldn't really be necessary for a home setup).

5. The routers I've seen have some sort of notation, N N+, etc. Is that just the range or does it affect the speed of transfers aswell? What's best for the inside of a regular 3 bed home?

I take it to mean data transfer speed alone, but am open to correction. You will need to make sure that your router and wireless cards are all compatible so that you do actually get the higher speeds. AFAIK the N standard hasn't been agreed yet (hence different labels like N+, N-draft, etc.)

6. What's involved in getting my printer hooked up? It's an Epson Stylus which is currently connected to one PC via a USB cable.

I think printer sharing is easy enough to set up in Windows. It's set up the same way as file sharing.

7. What about sharing external drives?

You can get network drives which you just plug in to your router. I have a Freecom Netdisk which I have mapped as a drive to my PC and also acts as an FTP server. If you have a drive attached to one of your PCs you'll have to set up file sharing.

8. Are Belkin ok for this sort of thing? They seem to have the market cornered in PC World, Harvey Normans, Curry's etc, so are they good enough?

No opinion, sorry.

stopped_clock

Beat me to it!

Ricky91t

stopped_clock wrote: »

Beat me to it!

I was typing as quick as possible so no one would beat me too it :cool:

stopped_clock

ricky91t wrote: »

I was typing as quick as possible so no one would beat me too it :cool:

And there I was wasting time by checking my spelling, and making the little quote boxes look nice, and so on!

corblimey

ricky91t wrote: »

1.Is the cisco your modem supplied by your ISP?If so yes it will work perfect if not then take the cisco off and use the belkin as your wired/wireless router as it will have 4 ports on it!The belkin will basically be plug and play

I don't think my cisco is technically a modem. It says Cable/DSL Router with 4-port switch on it. I think the modem itself is somewhere else along the line going into this. So from what you're saying, I should be able to remove this router and replace it with a wireless belkin that I can still plug my 2 wired PCs into? Nifty.

MunsterCycling

Ouch Belkin have a terrible reputation, have done for years. Why get rid of the cisco? They make prob some of the best network equipment out there today. If you are getting rid of it then I'd like to have it?

Ricky91t

corblimey wrote: »

I don't think my cisco is technically a modem. It says Cable/DSL Router with 4-port switch on it. I think the modem itself is somewhere else along the line going into this. So from what you're saying, I should be able to remove this router and replace it with a wireless belkin that I can still plug my 2 wired PCs into? Nifty.

Yeah Belkin wireless access points have a 4 port switch on the back of it!

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Ouch Belkin have a terrible reputation, have done for years. Why get rid of the cisco? They make prob some of the best network equipment out there today. If you are getting rid of it then I'd like to have it?

I don't see the point unless cisco is igabit lan it will just cause more trouble when trying to set up the belkin!I dont think belkin are bad my mate has used the same router linked above and only trouble hes had is when his broadband goes down

corblimey

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Ouch Belkin have a terrible reputation, have done for years. Why get rid of the cisco? They make prob some of the best network equipment out there today. If you are getting rid of it then I'd like to have it?

Well, I want wireless, and the Cisco isn't. Simple as. Although until I started this thread, I thought I would be keeping it regardless.

MunsterCycling

Fair enough but if you want something reliable get a Linksys WRT54G(or similar) or Netgear wifi router (can't remember the model numbers, but most are good) and save yourself heaps of grief.

ricky91t: I hear what your saying but I've been around here that lilttle bit longer and have seen many a users wifi config fail due to using belkin wifi gear at any point in their setup. I have one myself so its from experience I speak.

Stopped_clock point 5: This is vital and cannot be stressed enough, you won't get the benefit of N if the equipment on BOTH ends isn't N.

Happy shopping

MC

Ricky91t

corblimey wrote: »

Well, I want wireless, and the Cisco isn't. Simple as. Although until I started this thread, I thought I would be keeping it regardless.

Oh well if its that good by all meant keep it!I used to have everything networked off a switch which was much quicker than 54mb wi-fi but the cables everywhere was enough to put me off it.:P..i supose it is handy to have another point beofre wireless so you can have peace of mind if the wi-fi gives up :eek:.

If you make sure you buy an wifi access point rather than a wifi router im sure you'll have no trouble setting it up

The difference between the two is :An access point can be linked up to your broadband by using a normal lan cable.

Where as a wireless router will have to be the first thing on your network(most of the time) and you'll run your ASDL like into it and it will share it for you.But take longer to set up

Ricky91t

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Stopped_clock point 5: This is vital and cannot be stressed enough, you won't get the benefit of N if the equipment on BOTH ends isn't N.

Agreed that is vital

dub45

What sort of bb do you actually have? (Sorry if I missed it somewhere above)

corblimey

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Fair enough but if you want something reliable get a Linksys WRT54G(or similar) or Netgear wifi router (can't remember the model numbers, but most are good) and save yourself heaps of grief.

So I'd be better of going with this and a couple of these than anything I can pick up from Belkin? I'd quite like to buy locally (Cork city) in case anything goes wrong.

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Stopped_clock point 5: This is vital and cannot be stressed enough, you won't get the benefit of N if the equipment on BOTH ends isn't N.

By both ends, I assume you mean the router and any PCI cards, print networks, etc etc?

Niether of the items I linked above have this N notation? They should still work together, right, give me good speeds, etc?

ETA:

dub45 wrote: »

What sort of bb do you actually have? (Sorry if I missed it somewhere above)

It's a sort of line of sight dish-based thing. It was the only option I had back when I signed up. There's a small "satellite" dish hooked up outside my window and a cable coming in. Somewhere along that cable is what I understand to be the modem part of the operation and that cable's plugged directly into my Cisco router

dub45

Without sounding too smart you really should read up a bit about wireless networking - there are some very good introductions on the net and it would give you a good basic understanding.

There are three wireless standards in common use that you may come across 'b' is dying out now but still around - avoid it. 'g' is the one in most common use it is solid and proven to work well. 'n' is the new standard but not fully agreed yet.

When you create a network you need a routing function to control and direct the flow of information between your computers and the net. This routing function is done by your cisco at present. (this is a very simplistic look at things but its all I can tell you at present:))

If you buy a new wireless router you will duplicate the routing function and that means trouble. As has been mentioned before you can avoid this by replacing the cisco router with the new model and avoiding the duplication or by switching off the routing function in the new model.

Alternately you could just buy a wireless access point which will add wireless to your set up but not the routing function which would still be handled by the cisco.

I use the apple airport extreme http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/ and I use it with the routing switched off because the netgear modem/router I use with it does not allow bridging (turning off the routing). This would be a way for you to use it without disturbing your existing set up. It can be used with pcs no problem.

It has worked very well for me so far - it is easy to set up - it allows for the addition of an external drive and printer and it is relatively future proof as it features wds (which allows it to be linked to other wds wireless routers to extend the wireless signal further)

http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENIE280&q=wireless+networking+beginner&btnG=Search&meta=

corblimey

Thanks for the tips. I have been reading up as much as I can, particularly on the differences between 802.11b, g and n, but it's a little confusing.

I've heard of the airport before and just assumed it was for Mac only. That might solve most of my problems, as it's really just a couple of consoles, a laptop and an old media PC that I'm thinking about making wireless.

MunsterCycling

corblimey wrote: »

So I'd be better of going with this and a couple of these than anything I can pick up from Belkin? I'd quite like to buy locally (Cork city) in case anything goes wrong.



By both ends, I assume you mean the router and any PCI cards, print networks, etc etc?

Niether of the items I linked above have this N notation? They should still work together, right, give me good speeds, etc?

ETA:

It's a sort of line of sight dish-based thing. It was the only option I had back when I signed up. There's a small "satellite" dish hooked up outside my window and a cable coming in. Somewhere along that cable is what I understand to be the modem part of the operation and that cable's plugged directly into my Cisco router

The router you link to is a 11b version so avoid one of those, PC World in Cork will have the WRT54G, the pci cards you link to are exactly the job, IMHO there is no need for N gear unless you really need the extra bandwidth they will provide and from reading the posts you have been making I believe you should be fine with 11G.

I assume its Alvarion gear as supplied by IBB that you have, sounds like it anyway, the "modem" is also a POE injector to send power to the antennae outside.

MC

PS Could also try one of these: http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=65507&cat=8

stopped_clock

Also, the firmware of the WRT54G (along with that of some other routers) can be upgraded to an 3rd party version such as DD-WRT which can give more functionality than the original. (Although I realise you probably don't need that yet).

Ricky91t

corblimey wrote: »

So I'd be better of going with this and a couple of these than anything I can pick up from Belkin? I'd quite like to buy locally (Cork city) in case anything goes wrong.



By both ends, I assume you mean the router and any PCI cards, print networks, etc etc?

Niether of the items I linked above have this N notation? They should still work together, right, give me good speeds, etc?

ETA:

It's a sort of line of sight dish-based thing. It was the only option I had back when I signed up. There's a small "satellite" dish hooked up outside my window and a cable coming in. Somewhere along that cable is what I understand to be the modem part of the operation and that cable's plugged directly into my Cisco router

You might be on permanet!So i wounldn't recommend trying to find a wifi router

corblimey

MunsterCycling wrote: »

I assume its Alvarion gear as supplied by IBB that you have, sounds like it anyway, the "modem" is also a POE injector to send power to the antennae outside.

ricky91t wrote: »

You might be on permanet!So i wounldn't recommend trying to find a wifi router

I'm with amocom, what's this about not recommending trying to find a wifi router? Are there some bb providers that it won't work with?

Thanks for the tip on PC World, MC.