Wireless to wired?

[cedozier]

I have an intellinet broadband router connected by cable to one pc I want to establish a wireless connection to another computer. What is the least expensive way? Should I dump my current router all together?

 

[majistic]

Dumping the current router you have now won't make the price drop any. There is no really cheap way to do it, except buy the parts that are needed. I don't like wireless just because it's much harder to install, it's not plug and play.

 

[ekÆsine]

cedozier there are 2 ways. if you want to keep the old router buy a wireless router, connect a network cable from the uplink port of one router to any of the data ports on the other router. this establishes an uplink. the wireless network card on the computer will wirelessly connect the the wireless router which is connected to the wired router which is connected to the internet. you can share the internet with all computers connected to them. this is IF you want to keep your old router. you must also set the router's internal IP address since most router's have a default of 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.0. if both routers have the same IP things will start conflicting and both will stop working

since most wireless routers have built in 10/100 switches the easiest way to do it is just stop using your old wired router and just use the wireless router and plug in your wired AND wireless computers to it. no fiddling around with IP or needing to uplink them. make sure you enable wireless security on the router. this is all explained in the manual

-edit
you probably also want to disable DHCP on one of the routers. having both with DHCP on might also conflict with each other.

 

[mikesgroovin]

Bruce (ek) has no idea what he is talking about!


Kidding.....of course....
No, He is exactly correct!
-Mike

 

[hilowe]

Or, as an alternative to what ekÆsine is saying, you can pick up a piece of equipment called an access point.

It has an antenna on one side that will broadcast the wireless signal, and on the other side, a wired connection. You plug that into one of the data ports on your current router, and you now have a wireless network. You might have to go through some setup to get it to work properly, but there should be directions that come with it.

Here's an example from Linksys: http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?action=zoom&prid=608&scid=35

 

[HoLoCroN]

Same difference, the router Bruce (Ek) is talking about is actually a wireless access point.

Let us know how things go!

 

[hilowe]

Sorry, a little miscommunication. When I was reading ekÆsine's post, I was thinking he was recommending what Linksys terms a wireless router (4 wired ports + wireless). Thought I was suggesting mine as an alternative.