Laptop and dial up connection - is wireless possible?

jister

Hi all,

I have a brand new DELL laptop with bluetooth, WiFi etc., not sure how any of it works yet but at the moment I am dragging the phone line around the house with me to surf.

Is it possible to get wireless connectivity for around the house with a standard phone line internet connection or is this just available with broadband?

Speed at the moment is 50.6Kbps

If it is possible what do I need to purchase to make it happen?

Thanks.

dub45

jister wrote:

Hi all,

I have a brand new DELL laptop with bluetooth, WiFi etc., not sure how any of it works yet but at the moment I am dragging the phone line around the house with me to surf.

Is it possible to get wireless connectivity for around the house with a standard phone line internet connection or is this just available with broadband?

Speed at the moment is 50.6Kbps

If it is possible what do I need to purchase to make it happen?

Thanks.

As far as I am aware
this apple product is the only way to do this. However given the slow speed of dial up most people would probably consider it too expensive a solution. BB is really needed for effective wireless operation I think.

jister

When browsing the Apple product above the reviewer mentioned linksys networks and I found http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/sim-explorer/explore-items/-/B00005ARK3/0/101/1/none/session/ref=pd_sexpl/002-4482968-1326468 has anybody ever used any of these?

Tom Dunne

If you want to continue using a dial up connection, but wirelessly, there is a bluetooth device that connects to the telephone socket.

So you have laptop<->bluetooth<->telephone (you will of course need to buy a bluetooth adapter for your laptop, and the bluetooth gadget that connects to the phone line).

TBH, broadband and wireless router is the better option.

jister

tom dunne wrote:

If you want to continue using a dial up connection, but wirelessly, there is a bluetooth device that connects to the telephone socket.

So you have laptop<->bluetooth<->telephone (you will of course need to buy a bluetooth adapter for your laptop, and the bluetooth gadget that connects to the phone line).

TBH, broadband and wireless router is the better option.

Tom,

My laptop has all the bluetooth stuff so that end should be ok. Any idea where I can source the bluetooth connection for the phone socket?

Broadband is probably the better option alright but thats for another day.

Thanks.

Paddyo

I looked into this a little while ago. I could not come up with a solution for wireless.

The bluetooth option should work - but probably not all around the house - the range will be to short.

Good luck with it.

Tom Dunne

jister wrote:

Any idea where I can source the bluetooth connection for the phone socket?

I know Expansys had one a while back, though after a quick scoot through their website, I couldn't see it.

Try Amazon.co.uk too - I am pretty sure I saw one there a while back.

Do a search on the computer/net/comms forums. This has come up before.

Dilbert75

If you have a desktop close to a phone, you could use that to dial up the internet and put a wireless card into it so you can wirelessly share the connection. I'm not aware of any reason why it wouldn't work. As previous posters have said though, if you're in a BB area, its a better solution.

SouperComputer

BT have a usb wireless modem.

Basically its like a USB cordless DECT phone. You connect the base to your phoneline and the dongle on the computer. It is for data only though, no calls.

not sure how much they are now. About a year ago they were about 129 in retail, so maybe about 50-60euro online now.

jister

This looks like it will work?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002TSTQG/qid=1127075041/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_0_3/202-2458382-5338236

jister

Dilbert75 wrote:

If you have a desktop close to a phone, you could use that to dial up the internet and put a wireless card into it so you can wirelessly share the connection. I'm not aware of any reason why it wouldn't work. As previous posters have said though, if you're in a BB area, its a better solution.

My old desktop is still set up, so if I buy a card for that it should be able to share with the laptop?

Random

Yes jister. You'll need to setup internet connection sharing on your desktop PC and have the wireless cards in both desktop and laptop set to "ad-hoc" mode.

Tom Dunne

jister wrote:

This looks like it will work?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002TSTQG/qid=1127075041/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_0_3/202-2458382-5338236

Yes, that's the one I was talking about.

Dilbert75

Just found this in an old PC Live: WiFlyer

maidhc

Wouldn't buying a 11g wireless router be a more scalable and reliable solution?

I share a 56k modem between 2 desktops and 2 laptops. One desktop is simply used as a server to deal out the internet and print stuff from the other computers. It can be switched on and shutdown remotely, and the setup works really well.

Admittedly 56k isnt ideal with 4 computers, but since there is rarely more than 2 people using it it is quite bearable. I'd love broadband, but it isnt an option, yet.