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Wireless Internet

Wireless Internet

Do you use a wireless internet connection from your PC? I love it. It is very simple to do and relatively inexpensive. I bought a wireless network card for around $60, installed it in my PC and it connects to my Linksys router which I already had in my house. Works great. The internet connection only runs at 11 megabits a second (Mbs), but that isn't really bad. There are newer technologies that run at 56 Mbs.

If you have cable or dsl for an internet connection, you should run a firewall of some kind. You can buy a decent wireless capable router which will serve as an excellent firewall for around $100. This gives you the freedom to have your PC set up in any room you want without running network cables. Also allows you to easily connect more than one PC to the internet at a time and also connect and share printers and files between the PCs.

Just be sure to rename your network to something other than the default to help prevent others outside from connecting. These devices have the ability to set up more security than that if you feel you need to.

I love this technology!

Internet Wireless

Thanks for the information. What is the range on the equipment? Is it truly wireless or is it based on infrared technology. If based on hi-band signals then how does that affect such equipment as ham radios, etc?

Wireless Internet Gaming Video & Issues Computer

The specs vary depending on which wireless standard you are using. The currently most used is wireless B (IEEE 802.11b). My router specs say indoor range is about 50 meters, outside range is and about 250 meters. This is to operate at 11 Mbs. The device can communicate at greater distances, but the speed will be less. Also, depending upon how many walls, etc., will determine your speed. From my living room to my family room (adjoining rooms) I get full 11 Mbs.

Below is a link to an "educate me" page at Linksys's web site. It will give you all the information you want regarding wireless technology. For example the differences between 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g. link to wireless specs

Internet Wireless

Wow that is pretty far and great if you have a laptop, my only concern would be crackers getting into my signal. Thanks for the info.

Internet Wireless

I actually use it for my regular PC as well as my laptop. The hackers issue is a valid concern. Similar risk exists for cordless phones, cell phones, etc. My router has the ability to encrypt the data, but when I tried to set it up I wasn't able to connect so I gave up.

Wireless Internet

We have Wi-Fi set up in our home. Two laptops and a desktop for now.

The wireless routers (we are on DSL) acts as a good firewall. However, I also have ZoneAlarm (free version) loaded on two computers, TinyPersonal (which is no longer in production) on the third. Since we are on SBC Yahoo DSL, we can get firewalls from there (probably ZA).

I suggest that if you set up a Wi-Fi system, use all components from the same manufacturer. We use Linksys, and are very happy with it. We are using 64-bit (I think) encryption. 128-bit is also available.

When we bought the original equipment (using wireless G, 54 Mbit/sec, 2.4 MHz), we also bought 2.4 MHz phones. Whenever the phones were in use, the network would go down. A few days later, we returned the phones, then bought a 5.8 MHz phone system. No problems since.

Worst problem is that my laptop keeps losing the encryption key. I just reenter it, and it is secure again. Coming from an old crypto guy, you can be assured that 64-bit encryption is extremely secure.

Linksys encryption is very easy under WinXP. I don't know about any other operating system. I suspect that Win98 is probably difficult.

Wireless Internet

I have been trying to set up encryption for Linksys under XP, but not able to. It shows the available network, I enter the key, it never connects, just keeps showing it as available.

Wireless Internet Computer Issues & Video Gaming

Log in to the router, not the wireless card in the computer. Use the web interface.

(I don't have access right now, so am going from memory)

I just opened up the router user guide at linksys.com, and it explains quite a bit about the security.

Essentially, you will enter a "passphrase", a word, that the encryption keys will be generated from. The router will then generate the keys, and you will need to copy one or more of them down. You will then enter one of those keys into the wireless network setup program for each computer.

You can probably find a lot more information about wireless security at techtv.com.