Desk top wireless internet

[427 S/O]

I'm interested in disconnecting my land line and be total wireless, anyone have this setup?, if so I would appreciate the + and -.

Thanks.

[nevermind65]

Besides the modem being hooked to the router, I have no hard wired computer in my house. I even switched the printer over to wireless. Everything works fine.

Everybody has their preferences I'm sure, but I've had the best luck with Lynksys hardware. Seems to work together great.

[Ron61]

Perry,

You said you wanted to disconnect your land line so I am guessing that you have a wireless ISP provider near you. We don't have any right here as I guess the distances are to far and the mountains block the signals. They had one in Chico for a while but the people that I know who were on it switched back as you had to live within four blocks of one of their repeaters. I have heard of some of them that are good for up to 6 miles I believe it is. The only wireless I have is my laptop and I use the Linksys router also. But my old DSL Modem actually has the wireless built into it and does both the Ethernet and wireless. The only complaints that I have heard from people who have the long range wireless is that bad weather sometimes knocks them off line, but that is like anything and will happen once in a while. Same with my satellite TV. Going completely wireless will certainly get rid of the nest of cables you probably have behind the desks if you are anything like me. I even went to a wireless keyboard to get rid on a couple of cables.

Ron

[Joe Wicked]

I am using one of the higher powered wireless providers. I have an antenna on my roof that has the modem built into it. It then goes to my router Via a Cat5 cable (there is a power inserter on the line that provides power to the antenna via 2 unused lines in the Cat5) My 2 routers (1 standard and 1 wireless) are on my desk, with my 2 desktops hooked up via cat5 and my laptop, phone, and soon to be hooked up PS3 via wireless. The desktops could be wireless really easily, just get a wireless LAN adapter for the desktops. They have a couple of different types. 1 type is an antenna that will use a short cable to the LAN port, 1 is an antenna with a USB cable, and i have also seen one that plugs into a PCI slot on the motherboard. It has an antenna that is on the back side of the PC. The last one is the only true wireless. The Wireless access point (USB or Cat5 connection from the antenna) is what I intend to use in my living room for the PS3.

[4RE KLR]

We have the Belkin and it works fine. It says on the materials it will connect at a 300 foot range. It does but the signal gets much slower at a further distance.

Also when you set it up be sure to secure the signal. Instructions should be in the set-up directions.

Oh also the kids Wii and Nintendo DS catch the signal and get the internet. It is cool.

[trularin]

Perry, are you going wireless by using a wireless router at your house? Or, are you goign wireless using a Cell Phone provider? Or are you going to a wireless internet provider?

1. If you are using a router, just go buy a good brand name wireless router like Netgear. Connect and follow the instructions.

2. If you are going to a Cell Phone provider, get the card and plug it in.

3. Same with the wireless internet provider, just get the card and plug in.

Bad parts are:

If someone comes within range of your router, they can get access to your account. This is if you are using your own wireless router.

The other problems are mostly firewall issues and protection from spyware, viruses and JUNK.

[Joe Wicked]

Originally Posted by trularin

Perry, are you going wireless by using a wireless router at your house? Or, are you goign wireless using a Cell Phone provider? Or are you going to a wireless internet provider?

1. If you are using a router, just go buy a good brand name wireless router like Netgear. Connect and follow the instructions.

2. If you are going to a Cell Phone provider, get the card and plug it in.

3. Same with the wireless internet provider, just get the card and plug in.

Bad parts are:

If someone comes within range of your router, they can get access to your account. This is if you are using your own wireless router.

The other problems are mostly firewall issues and protection from spyware, viruses and JUNK.

You can secure the routers. I have a Linksys and my neighbors keep trying to figure out my password. It is funny because he swears it will have something to do with cars, and it does not. I have even told him that. With me everyone would assume cars, so I did not use something like that intentionally.

[427 S/O]

I should have more specific, I have the linksys but, I want to go totally wireless via my cell phone provider or another provider?. I use my land line for computer only!, all my phone communication is via the cell phone.

[427 S/O]

Joe, my lap top reminds me there is a wireless connection avilable!.

[Joe Wicked]

What I have for internet is not available in all areas. I have wireless to my house. There is an antenna on the water tower about 1/4 mile from me. Range is up to 6 miles. It is 802.11G, but not the same thing as your Linksys. It is a much higher power level. It is secure and set to not discoverable. With the right software, you can still see it, but it is set to only allow specific Mac addresses access. It costs just a bit more than when I had Cable Modem in the city. It is 1.5Mbps up and 1.5Mbps down. Not the fastest out there, but it beats dial up and those are our options. For web surfing it is plenty fast. From the antenna on my roof, it has a cable that is run to a Cat5 wall outlet in my Computer room. That is connected to my routers. Since I have 2 PCs in that room right next to the routers, I just ran a short cable to each PC. I could easily rid myself of those wires, but I don't have a need to add the expense of 2 wireless adaptors there. I used to not have a phone land line, but when I moved out here (No cable, no fios, etc...) I had to get Satellite TV, so they require a phone line. Plus with no emergency sirens, the county Sheriffs Dept will call all residential phone service phones that are not within a city limits of a town that has warning sirens. I have gotten 3 calls so far (2 tornados and 1 flash flooding) and I have been grateful. Previously I found that I did not use my land line at all. My current land line can only call numbers within my little town of 800 people and 1800 numbers. Very cheap ($17/month)

[427 S/O]

Joe, who is your provider for the wireless roof antanna?. I have a tower within two miles.

[Joe Wicked]

Originally Posted by 427 S/O

Joe, who is your provider for the wireless roof antanna?. I have a tower within two miles.

Lavonweb. Based in my huge city of 800 people, Lavon TX. He does the whole surrounding area and has about 500 customers.

It does not give the flexibility of the wireless card that Jamo is talking about, but I also do not get 3G service out where I live.

[Jamo]

Perry...I've been on cell for several years on my laptop, using AT&T's 3G network. Not as fast as cable/dsl, but fast enough and complete freedom. The Sierra cards seem to work best for their netwrok.

Check the major networks (AT&T, Verizon, etc.) and see which provides the best coverage for you. I'm good just about everywhere, but it is a little weaker at my house. You can buy portable external antennas to help.

[tcrist]

Jamo,

Is that the one that plugs into the side of the laptop kind of like a 3 1/2" floppy?

Terry

[Jamo]

Originally Posted by tcrist

Jamo,

Is that the one that plugs into the side of the laptop kind of like a 3 1/2" floppy?

Terry

Well, if you squint real hard...yeah, sorta.

[427 S/O]

Thanks all, I'm on at&t via the cingular purchase, I'll callem' monday and see what they have...

[Ronbo]

Linksys came out with a router last year that you can plug your PCMCIA card into and use it at your house.

I currently use Clearwire, $38 a month and is quik enough for my purposes. (1.5 / 256)

I dumped my house phone a couple years ago and Bellsouth stupidly refuses to provide DSL without phone service.

Sprint's Rev A EVDO is without equal right now (wish I could say the same about their customer service). Verizon is a close second but they have a bandwith limit and terminate your service if you exceed it. (something like 2gb/mo.)

[427 S/O]

What got my attention was the verizon commercial. I've got to be carefull and not lose my grandfatherd in cingular (at&t) contract, 2000 min per month with roll over. Hope a little surfing turns up a good local wi-fi provider?.