Questions about internet connectivity, dial-up, wireless, etc.

I have dial-up service now. I am buying my son a PC for Christmas.

I want both of us to be able to use the internet at the same time on our PCs which will be located in different rooms in the house.

My laptop has an Orinoco wireless lan card. I am not sure if my son's computer will--but I think it will.

What I want to know is if I buy a wireless station for our home and continue dial-up service, then will it allow both of us to be on our two PCs at the same time?

My priority is to get internet service for both of us simultaneously. What do I need to do to do that? What kind of services are avaiable so that we can both use our PCs at the same time?

Is there a service available where I could go completely wireless in our home and also be fully portable, as far as using the same wireless service when we travel?

Thanks, technofolks, for helping me with these questions. :-)

Your internet service will make no difference if you're using two computers at home over a wireless system.

he will continue with dialup (!) I have suggested he ditch dialup and
grab either DSL or cable.

And what is currently available on your computer?

You could use the built-in Internet Connection Sharing available
within the Microsoft OSes. You will first have to establish a good
LAN setup between your son's computer and your laptop. Then, setup
the ICS on your gateway computer (the computer that will be
connecting via the dialup). After that is setup, ICS should be setup
on the client computer (the one not connected directly to the
dialup).

I would strongly recommend that you get either DSL or cable. 56K
is VERY slow for two computers to share.

So, I get DSL and then feed that to the wireless station, and then hook my two pcs up to that? Sounds pretty simple.


Don't have cable available here.

There are various OSes by Microsoft.
I would presume that your son's computer will come preloaded with
Windows XP Home Edition.

Correct. In most cases, your DSL or cable provider might provide
a cable modem with a built in router. Usually it will have only
a single port available (for one computer). You can then
attach a wireless switch that will then share the connection to
both of your computers.

I would recommend www.linksys.com for further schematics of
the different setup possibilities.

Good information. Both PCs have XP.

You can plug up to three computers into the DSL box and all be on the net at the same time. Just have to run the cable (like a phone wire) from computer to DSL box. I imagine there's a way for wireless to work. I heartily recommend broadband.

very easy to do, and now very affordable (the wireless network that is-we get gouged by Comcast monthly for cable modem).

If you are considering a wireless network you need to consider a few things. How willing are you to put forth the extra effort needed to protect your security and data?

Picture this:

You and your son are in your house, both using your computers. You are purchasing a few things online, confessing your deepest secrets to a friend in an email - whatever.

Outside your house in a car you don't notice sits someone whom's face is illuminated by the glow of an lcd laptop screen. They've just hitched themself to your wireless network, and are making records of your credit card info, collecting your passwords, reading your email, and using your internet connection to send terrorist threats to *. Maybe they are even releasing a worm (virus) into your network.

Think it can't happen? It does. I work for an ISP and we offer wireless internet service. We've got ours locked down as well as it can be - but wireless by it's very nature is insecure. THere's another wireless provider in town that isn't locked down at all. Free internet, anyone? They even have their access points set up with default passwords - anyone could log into them and change the passwords, locking out the provider completely. One of my coworkers periodically drives around with his laptop just to see what the state of wireless affairs are in the area. He's found himself with wide-open access to many home wireless networks. Of course, he's a GOOD guy and not doing anything wrong when he finds these. When in Portland a few months ago at a hotel across from a Budweiser (plant? office?) he noticed a wireless antenna on top of their building. Within minutes he was happily surfing the net via the Budwiser's network wireless connection.

If you want to do a wireless network I would advise that you familiarize yourself with how to make it more secure. There is a fairly decent article I have posted a link to below.

http://netsecurity.about.com/library/weekly/aa021803a.htm

the biggest deal is that most wireless owners fail to change the
default admin password on their routers....and its the SAME issue
on WIRED routers as well.
Besides, the other thing that folks forget to do is 1) change the
default NAT IP address that the router will dish out and 2) forget
to change the default subnet mask as well...

Spook stories... :eyes:

:eyes: indeed. Of course, the fact that I work around this stuff every day doesn't mean a damned thing. The fact that 2 of my bosses are SANS certified and focus HEAVILY on security doesn't mean anything either.

Whether having your wireless network hacked is a certainty is questionable, is is most definitely a possibility.


Here are some links (note: the pringle can thing in the first article works VERY well - we have one in our office)



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1860241.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1639661.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1638920.stm

http://www.nbc11.com/news/2621795/detail.html

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,299424,00.html

http://www.computercops.us/article3966.html

http://www.haynesit.com/LABJ_files/tp=45.htm


Those are a few of many articles online all demonstrating exactly what I said.

My advice to the original poster remains the same - if she is considering a wireless network she should learn a little about how to secure it before setting one up. I stand by what I said earlier.