A few basic questions on setting up a wireless router

[Theodoric]

I've spent years without the need of any knowledge of wi-fi but I now need to get myself up to speed. Before drowning in google results I thought posting here might be a good start. My apologies for the very basic nature of the questions.

Currently I have a desktop PC running under Win 7. It is not wireless enabled. I hope to buy a cheap laptop that is wireless enabled. The desktop PC is currently connected to the VM broadband cable modem and is in the same room. The laptop would be elsewhere in the house - too far away for cable.

My questions are:

1) I gather that I would need to connect the router to the VM cable modem. As the router would be in the same room as the desktop PC would it be possible to connect the PC to the router by cable? The laptop would have a wireless connection.

2) How would the available bandwidth be split between the PC and the laptop?

3) Would what each person is doing on the Internet be invisible to the other person?

[jb66]

1 yes
2 whoever needs it gets it or 50/50
3 yes, normally unless your a hacker

[Dai]

To expand a little on jb66 reply, modern routers have at least 1 and often more wired ports so you will be able to connect as before. In fact you will need a wired connection to set up the wireless in the router initially. You have to log-in to the router control panel to set up security/password information before using the wireless.

[Theodoric]

Many thanks for the info. I've always been quite happy with just the one PC with a cable connection but Mrs T has started dropping heavy hints about how she would like a laptop.

[inneedofhelp]

Virgin may supply you with a free router if you call them. If not, do a bit of research and get one which supports third party firmware like DD-WRT. This will give you more features. Look it up and ask about what you can't find.

[Pog66]

...and make sure you get a Cable Modem NOT an ADSL modem & make sure you secure it once it's in - WPA rather than just WEP.