Very elementary wireless question

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Hi folks. I have a bunch of very basic questions and I hope some of you will
be patient enough to respond.


I currently have a Dell Dim 2400 system. It is located in a room in our
basement. We currently have a broadband (cable) connection and we are very
pleased with our internet situation.

I am having a LOT of serious back problems so I can't sit much in the
basement and for now I might have to spend some time upstairs resting/lying
down.

I would like to be able to have a laptop upstairs and be able to connect to
the internet. Am I correct that ALL I need is any laptop that is wireless
ready and a router???

If so: how do I connect the router? Do I just plug it in the wall in the
basement, attach the cable to the router and the router to my cable modem??
Does this kind of act like in a sense like the base station of a wireless
telephone?? Would I get proper connectivity with this setup (main
computer/router in the basement and the laptop upstairs?).

Also, do all of the laptops these days have wireless capability already
built in??

If so, can I just get some cheap system, say from Dell, for $700 or,
hopefully, less?

I currently use ZoneAlarm as my Firewall and AVG as my antivirus program. I
keep both up-to-date and run them reasonably often. Is this all I would need
for the new laptop (I understand the router also serves as a firewall?)?

Mel

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"MB_" <mel@prodigy.invalid.net> wrote in message
news:7bHyd.24516$jr3.21628@fe06.lga...
> Hi folks. I have a bunch of very basic questions and I hope some of you
> will be patient enough to respond.
>
>
> I currently have a Dell Dim 2400 system. It is located in a room in our
> basement. We currently have a broadband (cable) connection and we are very
> pleased with our internet situation.
>
> I am having a LOT of serious back problems so I can't sit much in the
> basement and for now I might have to spend some time upstairs
> resting/lying down.
>
> I would like to be able to have a laptop upstairs and be able to connect
> to the internet. Am I correct that ALL I need is any laptop that is
> wireless ready and a router???
>
> If so: how do I connect the router? Do I just plug it in the wall in the
> basement, attach the cable to the router and the router to my cable
> modem?? Does this kind of act like in a sense like the base station of a
> wireless telephone?? Would I get proper connectivity with this setup (main
> computer/router in the basement and the laptop upstairs?).
>
> Also, do all of the laptops these days have wireless capability already
> built in??
>
> If so, can I just get some cheap system, say from Dell, for $700 or,
> hopefully, less?
>
> I currently use ZoneAlarm as my Firewall and AVG as my antivirus program.
> I keep both up-to-date and run them reasonably often. Is this all I would
> need for the new laptop (I understand the router also serves as a
> firewall?)?
>
> Mel
>

OK, that was a lot of questions, but I'll give it a shot.

The first thing you need is a Wireless router. I prefer Linksys. Get the G
model (WRT54G or one of the variations). Plug the router into the cable
modem and the Dimension 2400 directly into the router. It should not
require any configuration for that to work. My only concern is that the
router will be in the wrong spot (basement) when it would work better at a
higher level in the house. OK to try it that way first though.

Now, the laptop. Any laptop that supports 802.11G is fine (most do these
days). In your price range, with Dell, that's an Inspiron 1150. A decent,
if not overly powerful, model. From the Small Business division, I just
configured the lowest-end model with intergrated Wifi-G (the other name for
it that you will see) for $638. That's with a Celeron 2.6, 14.1XGA, 40GB
drive, DVD drive, 512MB memory. The 512MB is a free upgrade (as is the
40GB) right now.

Hard to beat.

Tom

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Thanks Ben and Tom.
BTW, I saw an interesting deal on EBAY.

If you get a chance, can you check my post about that --- I'm curious if it
is a good deal for my purposes.

See my post entitled "Is this a good deal ..."



<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:41cb65c0.37963579@nntp.charter.net...
>I second the motion for a Linksys wifi router. I've used and resold them
>for
> almost 3 years and never had one fail. With Cisco's muscle and ownership,
> Linksys has only gotten better. The CD that comes with the Linksys does
> an
> almost hands-off job of setting up the router... Ben Myers
>
> On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 18:07:27 -0500, "Tom Scales" <tomtoo@softhome.net>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>"MB_" <mel@prodigy.invalid.net> wrote in message
>>news:7bHyd.24516$jr3.21628@fe06.lga...
>>> Hi folks. I have a bunch of very basic questions and I hope some of you
>>> will be patient enough to respond.
>>>
>>>
>>> I currently have a Dell Dim 2400 system. It is located in a room in our
>>> basement. We currently have a broadband (cable) connection and we are
>>> very
>>> pleased with our internet situation.
>>>
>>> I am having a LOT of serious back problems so I can't sit much in the
>>> basement and for now I might have to spend some time upstairs
>>> resting/lying down.
>>>
>>> I would like to be able to have a laptop upstairs and be able to connect
>>> to the internet. Am I correct that ALL I need is any laptop that is
>>> wireless ready and a router???
>>>
>>> If so: how do I connect the router? Do I just plug it in the wall in
>>> the
>>> basement, attach the cable to the router and the router to my cable
>>> modem?? Does this kind of act like in a sense like the base station of a
>>> wireless telephone?? Would I get proper connectivity with this setup
>>> (main
>>> computer/router in the basement and the laptop upstairs?).
>>>
>>> Also, do all of the laptops these days have wireless capability already
>>> built in??
>>>
>>> If so, can I just get some cheap system, say from Dell, for $700 or,
>>> hopefully, less?
>>>
>>> I currently use ZoneAlarm as my Firewall and AVG as my antivirus
>>> program.
>>> I keep both up-to-date and run them reasonably often. Is this all I
>>> would
>>> need for the new laptop (I understand the router also serves as a
>>> firewall?)?
>>>
>>> Mel
>>>
>>
>>OK, that was a lot of questions, but I'll give it a shot.
>>
>>The first thing you need is a Wireless router. I prefer Linksys. Get the
>>G
>>model (WRT54G or one of the variations). Plug the router into the cable
>>modem and the Dimension 2400 directly into the router. It should not
>>require any configuration for that to work. My only concern is that the
>>router will be in the wrong spot (basement) when it would work better at a
>>higher level in the house. OK to try it that way first though.
>>
>>Now, the laptop. Any laptop that supports 802.11G is fine (most do these
>>days). In your price range, with Dell, that's an Inspiron 1150. A
>>decent,
>>if not overly powerful, model. From the Small Business division, I just
>>configured the lowest-end model with intergrated Wifi-G (the other name
>>for
>>it that you will see) for $638. That's with a Celeron 2.6, 14.1XGA, 40GB
>>drive, DVD drive, 512MB memory. The 512MB is a free upgrade (as is the
>>40GB) right now.
>>
>>Hard to beat.
>>
>>Tom
>>
>>
>

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

The more expensive card also supports 802.11a. This is a dying standard. I
wouldn't bother. As for the battery, for your use, I doubt it matters.

Tom
"MB_" <mel@prodigy.invalid.net> wrote in message
news:%pLyd.24836$Ln6.14492@fe06.lga...
> Tom:
>
> Yep, I priced it and got the same result.
>
> Two items:
>
> 1) They listed 2 cards. You picked the cheaper one (good, because price
> matters here). But is there any reason to pick the more expensive one?
>
> 2) Also, they have an extended battery option. Is that worth getting (is
> there a big difference in battery life between the two?). When I use it at
> home (90% of the time), I suspect I'll be plugging it in and running it
> off my electric power (I assume one can do that with that laptop, right??)
>
> MB