Can somebody explain wireless routers to me?

[1gobluedem]

I have high speed DSL in my home office/guest room but would like to be able to work on the laptop out in the living room. Will a wireless router send that signal around the house?

[LeftyFingerPop]

1. Yes it will.

Basically, you hook up the router to your modem at your main computer, and the router will send the signal around your home so you can use your laptop in any room.

Also, you will use your main computer as per normal.

[crispini]

2. Yes.

My wireless router came with my DSL and is also my DSL modem, so I don't know much about the add-on ones. Then you just set them up, usually you keep them encrypted so your neighbor can't borrow it, and you enter the WEP key into your wireless setup on your puter. Pretty easy. You do need a wireless card in every computer you hope to use it with, obviously.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. Mine covers my whole small ranch plus the back yard.

Get a good router, like a Linksys.

[LynneSin]

4. Make sure you setup the security key

else everyone else in your neighborhood will use your wireless connection too.

[NJmaverick]

8. Is that how you've been posting?

:P

[Call Me Wesley]

5. Yes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDbyYGrswtg

[pokerfan]

6. How big is your house?

They are typically good for a 100 feet or more.

Albert Einstein explains wireless: “The wireless telegraph is not difficult to understand. The ordinary telegraph is like a very long cat. You pull the tail in New York, and it meows in Los Angeles. The wireless is exactly the same, only without the cat.”

[SacredCow]

7. Yes.

If you have a mega-huge mansion, you may have to install some signal boosters as well but for an average sized house, it should work nicely. My roommate and I have a wireless router in the living room with the printer hooked directly to the router so we can both print/scan wirelessly when needed.

They're pretty easy to set up now- the software walks you through it.

[darkstar3]

9. NO

Sorry, I just had to be different. :P

It SHOULD work, but you should be aware of wireless interference possibilities.

First, structural problems. Normal sheet rock walls will not be a source of problems for your wireless signal. However, some older homes have masonry involved. If your guest room is an addition OUTSIDE the original brick or masonry walls of your home, you will experience SERIOUS signal degradation between your office and living room.

Second, electronic devices. The following devices, when active, may very well interfere with your wireless network.
*-Microwaves
*-Wireless phones (ESPECIALLY the big ones with base stations used in many homes)
*-Wireless surveillance devices (camera networks are bad for interference)
*-Bluetooth devices (Usually you'll need a bunch of these in the house to cause significant interference)
*-Wireless speakers

Third, antenna problems.
Wireless routers like this one have no external antenna, and therefore can have transmission power problems as well as overheating problems. (I've replaced five of these before.)
Wireless routers like this one have an external antenna with gain, giving better signal and heat management.

All that said, you need a router that is compatible with your laptop(s). If your laptop is under 1 year old, there's a possibility it could have a Wireless-N card already integrated into it, but I'll be dollars-to-pesos that you'll need a Wireless-G router to be compatible with the laptop(s) you already have. People will tell you Wireless-N is faster, and it is, but you'll most likely have to upgrade your laptop(s) to get the best speed out of that network.

Can you tell I do this for a living? :)

[1gobluedem]

10. Good advice

House is brick, have one phone with a base station, laptop has wifi built in (Dell Latitude E6400), house is 1000 square feet.

[darkstar3]

11. It's all about straight-line access

1000 sq. ft. is nothing. A Wireless-G router can easily put signal into 7500 sq. ft. of space with no problems at all.

When it comes to the structure of your house, it's what's between you and your router that will be important. As long as the walls between you and your router (or its future location) on a straight line are sheet rock or plaster, you'll be fine.

As far as your phone, it will only interfere with your wireless signal when you're talking on it. There are ways to avoid this involving channel switching, but you'll need to read more about how to do that when you purchase your router.

Good luck! :hi: