some questions about wireless routers.?

Question

hi, im kinda new to the wireless thing so here goes.

1. i have a desktop with internet access and a laptop with a built in wireless receiver that needs internet. cool. so i hook up my router and get it all set up. cool. does the router cause the signal strength of the internet connection to diminish at all since both computers are sharing the same internet line??? And what if both comps are on th einternet at the same time?

2. the router i have is a d-link g router. it kinda just came with the laptop as a sale deal. what kind of range will this router give me compared to other routers? will it at least give me coverage across my house? Is this a crappy router? Some dtails plz?

3. how do i access the inernet when i am not near a router such as mine, like say on the road?

oh also, my school has a wireless network for students. when i go on campus, does my laptop automatically pick up on its signal or how does that work?

Answer 1

Let's take these step by step.

1. The signal strength of the internet connection will not be affected as it is hard-wired so there is no "signal strength". What will happen is that when both computers are on the internet at the same time the connection speed will drop. This will not be noticeable on a broadband connection unless both machines are downloading a large file at the same time.

2. D-link is OK. The coverage depends on the antennas connected to the router. Since the standard antenna has a gain of only 2 dB you need to mount the router as high above furniture as possible. You could consider a high gain antenna on a magnetic base. I increased the gain of mine simply by standing a curved sheet of foil-lined cardboard behind the antenna as a reflector.

You could add a wifi range extender if you find a particular dead spot in the house, but this will halve your wifi speed (but no effect on internet speed of the main PC).

3. Unless you are near a wifi hotspot when you are on the road, your only choice is a T-Mobile, Vodafone or O2 mobile connect card. This fits in the PCMCIA slot and turns the PC into a mobile phone for data only. It's not cheap, costing around £50 per month for 1 GB/month of data. There are lower tariffs, however.

I am running a wifi network of 3 PCs. One hard-wired, one wifi laptop and one wifi desktop PC. The wifi desktop is as far as it can be from the main PC and router (3 rooms) and still gets an excellent signal (around -40 dBm).

Answer 2

ok, the internet band you are using has a fixed speed so it wont matter if you are using a lot of pc's at the same time because you are using a router, therefore it is qualified to do this job, if you are using a hub or a switch or something like that then it might become a problem. i have 4 computers running off the same router and they all top their speeds due to the router being able to split the signals.

2. My father in law had that router, it's definetly not crappy but its not the best. if its on a basement you might not get signal all across the house. but its gets the job done overall.

3. you could set up the network on your laptop to connect to any available networks so when you are outside you get internet but a) it is unsafe, b)its not so legal c)there arent that many hotspots and the signal might be crappy. so you are better off getting a deal with verizon or sprint's new internet through satellite, not the best speeds but like i said it gets the job done. its a two year contract kinda deal so its your choice.

this is all based on stuff i've come across before. seeing as i wanted to know all this a while ago.