wifi network at home?

Question

We have DSL with a DSL modem and a router in a home office. There are ethernet jacks throughout the house. Can we add a Wi-Fi router directly to one of the jacks or does it need to be connected directly to the DSL modem or the router in the home office?

Any suggestions for hardware we could use for this need?

Answer 1

If you already have a router all you need is a wireless access point. About the same cost but easier to integrate with your existing router! Just plug in to any ethernet jack.

Just look for Wireless Access Points on yahoo or google.
Linksys, DLink, Buffalo, etc all have them just not as well known as the integrated routers.

An AP just simply adds wireless for your system without additional routing.
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=292
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1126536803676&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

Answer 2

You could connect the router to a jack, but then you have two routers. Configuring may be more complex than you want. (In this scenario, you've actually connected the router to the router in your office.) You can look at the following webpage for some idea of how it might go:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hqh/html/tworouters.htm

If the problem is that the router you have doesn't support wifi, then replace it with a router that does.

Just make sure you get a wifi router with enough hardwire ports to support your existing ethernet-connected network.

Answer 3

well, the best bet is to hook up to your router but it all depends on the configuration of your home network now if all you want is to have internet throughout the house that is easy have the wifi hooked into the router however if you want print sharing and file sharing then it is best to have the wifi hooked to the first pc that gets internet connection via a nic however if you are running multiple platforms such as win 98, win xp/ solaris/ linix/ unix/ mac/ then networking across platforms is very difficult and will take some professional help