Help

[scousemouse]

Am on Virgin Broadband, bought wireless router as son needs to use laptop and xbox in his room or downstairs, cannot get the dam thing to work

Someone suggested the home plugs, do I need a router for these, my modem is the webstar

And which ones work with Virgin Media please

[Kymmy]

If using more than one PC/console at the same time then YES you need a router.

Normally the homeplugs will connect to the LAN side of the router with the modem on the WAN. If you need to connect more than one machine to the far end of the homeplug then you need a small switch or hub.

So for example the modem will connect to a router, the router to PC/consoles with a homeplug extending the ethernet from the router to for example the bedroom and if more than one PC/Console is in the bedroom a hub/switch between them and the homeplug.


If you only use one PC/Console at any one time then the modem can go right to the homeplug and the other homeplug directly into the console/PC and no router/hub is needed

[scousemouse]

I am confused what is a switch/hub

My son needs to use his laptop downstairs or his xbox in his room, they would not be on at the same time, but I may be using my pc in my bedrook can I just use a router or do I need a switch/hub

Sorry to be a pain but just cannot get any of this into my head am driving myself round the bend

[Kymmy]

A router is needed to share an internet connection, most routers though have 4 LAN ports so you can only wire in 4 devices. A hub or Switch (a switch is a slightly more intelligent hub) can take one of those router LAN ports and expand it further.. For example a router has 4 ports, wire in an 8 port hub/switch to one of those ports (via either a cable or homeplug) and your router now has the capability of sharing 10 wired devices to the internet instead of just 4..

In your case I was suggesting that you could leave the router downstairs and use one of the lan ports to run a cable upstairs/homeplug to a hub/switch. That then would give you 3 ports downstairs and however many the hub/switch has (minus one for the connection) upstairs

Originally Posted by scousemouse

Am on Virgin Broadband, bought wireless router as son needs to use laptop and xbox in his room or downstairs, cannot get the dam thing to work

Someone suggested the home plugs, do I need a router for these, my modem is the webstar

And which ones work with Virgin Media please

you did reboot the modem after you connected it to the router?

[Angua]

Does the laptop have an internal wireless card? If not you will need a These usually come with a short cable which you should use rather than have this plugged directly in to the laptop (this will break sooner rather than later if plugged in directly). Also bare in mind the distance from the wireless router as the basic one supplied by Virgin only transmits a short distance (ours manages 15 feet or so horizontally).

Don't know about X-Boxes but Wii have an internal wireless connection and ours picked up the router signal easily.

We are connected PC to standard Modem then Modem to wireless router. Touch wood it all works well.

[scousemouse]

yes rebooted, even had someone come and look at it and they couldnt fix either


have seen this could I use this

4-Port ADSL Modem Router

[Kymmy]

Nope, ADSL is another technology, you want a cable router...

your Virgin broadband is it cable or over a bt line? edit looks like the webstar is cable

does your rotuer have a wireless light on it? have you checked the router pages to ensure wireless is being transmitted?

[Kymmy]

Not sure he even has a router Zing from the first post

Am on Virgin Broadband, bought wireless router

I think they may have can you clarify scouse

[scousemouse]

Hes a she by the way which is why dont understand any of this

did you buy a router?

if so did it come with a set up cd? did you run it?

In the set up if you ran it did it have an option to turn on and encrypt wireless?

if you didnt run set up is there a little radio tower like symbol lit up on the router?

What make and model router is it?

[scousemouse]

what about this one then

Belkin Wired Cable/DSL Gateway Router

[danielf]

Originally Posted by scousemouse

what about this one then

Belkin Wired Cable/DSL Gateway Router

Scousemouse: Do you or do you not have a router at present?

If you do: can you post the brand and model?