Thinking about an Airport Express; advice needed, please!

[reubs]

When I travel to my in-laws I don't have any wireless Internet access, and I'm wondering if an Airport Express will help me out.

They have a Dell PC with cable internet, and I have a Macbook. Would it be as simple carrying the Airport Express with me for each trip in order to set up a wireless network?

Thanks for any info!

 

[ZiggyPastorius]

When I travel to my in-laws I don't have any wireless Internet access, and I'm wondering if an Airport Express will help me out.

They have a Dell PC with cable internet, and I have a Macbook. Would it be as simple carrying the Airport Express with me for each trip in order to set up a wireless network?

Thanks for any info!

So, then, do your in-laws use their internet by ethernet cable? I thought Cable was wireless, but perhaps not. The way I understand it, you simply plug the airport express into the wall, then plug an ethernet cord into it, and it broadcasts a signal for you.

 

[reubs]

The cable is wired into the modem which is wired via ethernet to the PC tower. My thought was that the ethernet could be plugged directly into the Express, but I guess the tower would then need to be wirelessly equipped, right, so that it could pick up that same signal?

 

[varmit]

When I travel to my in-laws I don't have any wireless Internet access, and I'm wondering if an Airport Express will help me out.

They have a Dell PC with cable internet, and I have a Macbook. Would it be as simple carrying the Airport Express with me for each trip in order to set up a wireless network?

Thanks for any info!

I would just get them a wireless router, cheap $70 bucks, and it adds a little natural firewalling. Right now all requests to your cable modem go to your parents PC, but with a router the requests from the internet that wasn't requested by a computer get blocked. Then when you come over you can connect right away without having to hook anything up. Plus you can add more than just one wired computer.

 

[ZiggyPastorius]

The cable is wired into the modem which is wired via ethernet to the PC tower. My thought was that the ethernet could be plugged directly into the Express, but I guess the tower would then need to be wirelessly equipped, right, so that it could pick up that same signal?

Yeah. If you want it to pick up the signal as well, you'll either need to a) get a second ethernet cable (if the modem has two ethernet output things), or b) get a wireless receiver for the desktop...I think you can get them pretty cheap.

 

[hayduke]

Yeah. If you want it to pick up the signal as well, you'll either need to a) get a second ethernet cable (if the modem has two ethernet output things), or b) get a wireless receiver for the desktop...I think you can get them pretty cheap.

Many cable routers have multiple ethernet-out jacks as the post above indicates. You should be able to connect an ethernet cable to the cable modem then to the AE, and similarly another cable from the modem to the PC at the same time.

Next time you are there, check to see if their cable modem supports this. I'll be surprised if it doesn't.

 

[tylermoney]

You can use an airport express; however, without an airport extreme it's works a little different. You just have to hook the eithernet cable into your express, and on your mac, tell it to connect to an existing network (your in laws connection). That's should work fine...or you could get them a wireless router..which, in gerneral, is more expensive.