Setting up wireless network

christo82

My sister plans to get a laptop soon for college to use at home. We currently have a Windows XP PC as well, with a wired 3MB Broadband connection through Eircom. What would I need to set up a wireless network to share the internet connection, and would my current 3MB Broadband be fast enough to share?

I really don't know much about Wireless connections yet, so any help and advice would be appreciated. Thanks

aidan_walsh

Your 3Mb connection will be fine so long as your are not trying to do any heavy downloading, then others on the network may experience some slow down.

Do you have a wireless router from Eircom do you know? Does it have antennae at the back or side of it? If not, you will need to invest in one.

Danbo!

christo82 wrote: »

My sister plans to get a laptop soon for college to use at home. We currently have a Windows XP PC as well, with a wired 3MB Broadband connection through Eircom. What would I need to set up a wireless network to share the internet connection, and would my current 3MB Broadband be fast enough to share?

I really don't know much about Wireless connections yet, so any help and advice would be appreciated. Thanks

You need a wireless router which will plug into your wired eircom modem. A 3Mb line should be ok for general internet browsing.

Once you have the router, there are a lot of guides online with instructions on setting up the network and securing it.

biko

Yes your broadband is fast enough to share.
To get wireless you need to buy a wireless router.

You then take the cable connected to the PC and connect that to the wireless router, so it gets broadband. From there you then connect a cable to the PC so it gets broadband. You lastly start the laptop and let it scan for wireless routers. Once it has found yours the laptop is ready too.

There are security issues to address so only your laptop and PC have rights to the router but we can get to those once you have bought the router.
I use Netgear but there are many different ones out there. You can ask Eircom too, I know they sell them.

christo82

Thanks. Does the wireless router have to be a certain type depending on the laptop? I've seen routers that say wireless N and N+. Would you recommend any particular brand?

aidan_walsh

The router should be able to support all the standards, so as long as it is set up correctly it will work fine.

Most routers and laptops would support 802.11b/g - the most common standards.
n is newer, faster and less supported.

christo82

Ok, that's great, thx for your very fast help.

christo82

I'm currently setting up my wireless network and the setup is asking for what type of connection my broadband is - static iP, dynamic,PPPoe,PPTP. I am on Eircom BB; which would it be?

Thanks

christo82

Ok, I have the network set up for sharing internet access, but is it possible to share files between the PC and Laptop?

bonzodog2

I'm not that familiar with Win7 or Vista, but its probably broadly similar to XP: in Windows Explorer, right-click a folder (I'd suggest creating one just for sharing, and only putting stuff in it when you need to) and choose Sharing and Security, give the folder a share name,lets call it sharefiles.

Find the name of your PC, MyComputer->Properties. Lets assume its PC1

Now on another machine, in Windows Explorer, menu->Tools->Map Network Drive. In the Folder box,type \\PC1\sharefiles
Choose a drive letter if you want
Click Finish

You can now copy files from PC1 to pc2
Theres a check box for if you want sharing users to be able to change/delete files

christo82

Thanks, I'll have a go tomorrow.

christo82

Hi, I'm having some trouble with file sharing between the the PC and Laptop. The internet access is fine and when I put a folder in the shared documents, I am able to access it on the Laptop; but sharing folders from the My Documents folders doesn't work. It says I don't have permission. I have gone into the 'sharing and security' options for the folders and changed the options to 'share'. Is there anything else I need to do to make it work? The PC is Windows XP and the Laptop is Windows 7. Could this be a problem?

Thanks