New to routing few questions

AndrewJ · 07-07-2006, 20:41

Hi all.

I have two computers on ntl 10mb with the SACM Ambit Silver.

One is a gaming PC with decent spec, the other is a pentium 3 Compaq

547mhz with 128mb of ram. Mine is downstairs the gf's Compaq is upstairs.

I am after a cheap wireless solution to this, neither computer has a wireless system installed and I am totally new to the his routing thing.

Can anyone specifiy a good cheap wireless soultion? and how much roughly I will be paying?

It also will have to be able to handle 10mb, I have seen alot of posts of how this is a problem for some routers?

Thank You

AJW

**Hugh** · 07-07-2006, 20:55

All I can go on is personal experience -

Linksys WRT54GS as router (cable to main PC)
Intellisys 802.11g pcmcia cards in the old laptop

Works fine, easy to set up, and secure (if you follow posted guidelines).

hth

MovedGoalPosts · 07-07-2006, 21:10

The Linksys54GS works fine for me, but then I'm only on 4meg, but it is well capable of 10 meg too.

Is your modem near the gaming PC, and likely to remain so? Assuming that is the case just connect that wired to the router, and the router to the modem. That's the simple and cheapest option. Only go wireless where you have the inconvenience of distance and awkward cable routes to overcome, or mobility. That way all you need is a simple wireless card for the old PC. Don't go for a USB based one for that, the old PC probably only has a USB 1 port, if indeed it has USB. Go for a PCI card that you'd fit internally. Given the lower specs of that PC, you'd probably be OK with an 802.11b speed card, rahter than the faster 11g. And wait till you eventually upgrade / replace that PC before trying to go faster.

AndrewJ · 07-07-2006, 21:18

The SACM is right next to the downstairs PC, however the upstairs one requires the internet.

So your suggesting wiring the SACM to the router... and then wirelessly connecting the two computers to the router using PCi-Bluetooth cards

The upstairs pc I imagine will be fine with a pci 802.11b card, since she only uses it for msn/yahoo and chat rooms

however mine is used for gaming alot, so would I need the higher spec one? since my pc is a athlon64 gaming system? if so would the router be able to handle two different speed pci cards?

Mr J · 07-07-2006, 21:36

stick a cable from your machine in to the router dude, only go wireless on your other machine which by the sound of things, is on the other side of the house?!?

Linksys WRT54G/S is a good router, they also do internal pci wireless nicks for your other machine.

Get a piece of cat5 cable to go from your machine to the router, less latency and much better for games. you can even enable QOS - Quality Of Service - on certain ports of the router to make traffic flow better to your machine.

AndrewJ · 07-07-2006, 21:50

Yes the other pc is literally at the other side of the house and upstairs.

Sorry for the dumb questions just trying to get my head around it all

So if I went for the router you mention, I could wire my PC to it on 10mb? and then add a pci wireless card ( lower speed one 802.11? ) to the Compaq upstairs and that would link to the router?

Mr J · 07-07-2006, 22:03

Yup, piece of pish

If you get a pci wireless nic, it'll more than likely be a 54g version, should work fine with Win2k/XP and probably WinME.

AndrewJ · 07-07-2006, 22:13

Well the Compaq is on Windows Xp Pro sp2... so time to Google up a good price on what I need.