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Wireless on a PB

S

steve jr.

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 4, 2005
332
4
Akron, OH
Hello. When I go to college the dorm that I am looking at provides ethernet in every room. Now, providing they allow wireless in the rooms, and (this is hypothetical) I have a room mate that has a desktop (or even a laptop), do I have to have an Airport Express to be able to use the Airport card? My only concern is, and correct me if I am wrong, but Express isn't a router, just a hub. So if I bought something like a Netgear wireless router that would allow for a wireless laptop and a wired desktop, would the airport card work? And if there is more than one laptop, and an Express is used, would the other person have trouble with their wireless card not working under reasonable conditions? I hope I wasn't too confusing. If you have any questions, please ask. Thanks! - Steve :)
 
You could get an Express, it is a router however it only has the single ethernet port so all computers connected to it must have wireless cards also. Instead, I recommend a cheaper alternative such as a Linksys or a Netgear wireless router. These will work just as well with an AirPort-enabled PowerBook. :)
 
As usual mad jew gives good advice. probably your best bet is just a linksys or netgear router. it will work seamlessly with your powerbook. My dorm room has a linksys router.

And your school shouldn't have any problem with you having a wireless network. Even if they do, there are ways to hide it. ;)
 
Heb1228 said:
And your school shouldn't have any problem with you having a wireless network. Even if they do, there are ways to hide it. ;)
Click to expand...

Haha. Thanks for the advice. And you have sparked the curiosity within me about the "ways to hide it." Care to elaborate either here or by PM?
 
steve jr. said:
Haha. Thanks for the advice. And you have sparked the curiosity within me about the "ways to hide it." Care to elaborate either here or by PM?
Click to expand...
Wireless networks broadcast the name of the network, you can turn off the SSID (i'm pretty sure thats the name of the option) and give your network a name that no one will be able to guess easily. That should make it hard enough to find that no one would ever give you a problem about it.

You can also clone your computer's MAC address so that the router looks for all intents and purposes like your computer to the network admins.
 
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