Need help with wireless network.

[kretzy]

Hi guys, I was just hoping somebody may be able to help me out with this.

I'm hoping to get a Powerbook sometime this week but I'm not sure how to set up a wireless internet connection for it and the family PC.

The PC is currently connected to a NetComm NB5 ADSL-2 Modem Router for our braodband internet connection. The PC does not have a wireless network card.

If I buy an airport express and hook the modem up to it, so that i can use my PB with it, how can i also get the PC to share the connection?

I hope this makes sense and I appreciate any help you give me.

Thanks

 

[mad jew]

I personally took the easiest option when I had the same problem and I lashed out and got an 802.11g card for the PC. Don't get an 802.11b card because it'll arguably slow you down. Unfortunately, this is easily the easiest option but not necessarily the cheapest...

I suppose you could get the PC to share its internet connection to the Airport which then broadcasts it wirelessly but I'm not completely sure how to do this. Also, this means you have to leave the PC on all the time.

 

[DeSnousa]

get a router (cheapest option). It splits up the net so one goes to the express the other goes to the computer through ethernet.

 

[thecow]

I don't think you should buy an AirPort Express. It is only a wireless router with no extra wired ports. You should get something like this. You should connect the ethernet port on the modem to the WAN port in the router. Than you plug the PC into one of the computer ports on the router and the PowerBook will connect to it wirelessly. The AEX will only broadcast the signal from the modem wirelessly. You can't connect the PC it it unless you bought a Wifi card fro the PC too. If you really want to have the printer server and the music steaming in the AEX, just buy that and also get a regular wired router. Plug the modem into the router and the PC and the airport into 2 of the other ports.

 

[kretzy]

Thanks for the quick replys, i really appreciate the advice!

The modem i've got actually has an ethernet and USB 2 output. Would i be able to just connect the ethernet to so kind of WiFi base station and the the USB to the PC?

 

[mad jew]

Did the wireless card/XP connect to the AE easily or was it a pain in the ass to set up (just because i know everything in windowz is a pain)?

The XP machine connects seamlessly to my Airport network (two Expresses) just as if it was a non-Apple router. The only thing I can think of, and someone might correct me on this, is that Apple lets you use pretty much anything you want as the password for WEP (encryption) but Windows doesn't so you have to pick a password that will be compatible - but that's not a real problem.

 

[thecow]

Also, don't get a d-link router. From my experience with them, they are very poorly built and only work intermittently. Avoid them al all costs!!

 

[blodwyn]

Also, don't get a d-link router. From my experience with them, they are very poorly built and only work intermittently. Avoid them al all costs!!

You must have had a bad experience. I've been pretty happy with DLink - my DLink router has been working trouble free for over a year now, including having a Vonage telephone adapter plugged into it, which used to occasionally hang the Linksys router I had before the DLink. I'm also using the DLink PrintServer, which has worked flawlessly.

 

[Westside guy]

The modem i've got actually has an ethernet and USB 2 output. Would i be able to just connect the ethernet to so kind of WiFi base station and the the USB to the PC?

Based on reports from other people who've tried this - I doubt it will work. Those cable/DSL modems aren't routers. It's likely an either/or question regarding the Ethernet port vs. the USB port.