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August 6th, 2004 21:00
How do I connect wirelessly?
I just received my first laptop a Inspiron 1150. I know how to hook it up to a dial-up connection but I have never connected wirelessly. It came with an internal wireless card and I bought a router, the guy who took my order said that is all I would need to connect. I have been trying to get a hold of someone at Dell to help me all day but that has been a joke so far so I thought I would try this and hope that someone will be nice enough to take the time to help me. I have a cable connection at home (RoadRunner) and I would like to be able to avoid keeping the router if possible and just somehow connect to my account through my cable connection. If I have to keep the router that is fine, but some people have been telling my I probably don't need it. I don't have the slightest idea how wireless internet works. Do I use my same RoadRunner account on my laptop as my desktop or do I have to pay for a new account? Most importantly, how do I connect to the internet wirelessly or directly through my cable connection? Thank you sooooo much to anyone that takes the time to help me!!! Dawn
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volcano11
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August 7th, 2004 01:00
What the router allows you to do is to connect both the desktop and the laptop to your cable internet connection at the same time and share the connection between the two computers. With the router you do not need a second account from Road Runner because you will be sharing the internet connection. Furthermore, you will need the router if you want to make a wireless connection to your cable modem from the laptop.
You don't say which make and model router you pruchased, so it is difficult to give detailed instructions. Basically, you need to connect the cable modem to the WAN port or internet port on the router and connect the desktop to one of ethernet LAN ports on the router. Turn off the power to the modem and turn off the router and computer. Power the modem back up, wiat for about 5 mintues for the modem to synchronize with the ISP, then power up the router, wait another minute or so, then power up the computer. You should now have an internet connection just as you did before. The next step is to configure the router for your wireless connection. You may not be need to do anything but turn on your laptop and let it find the connection. Once it sees the connection, to the wireless router, you should also have an internet connection. If it doesn't, read the manual that came with the router (something you should have done before posting this message).
By default, none of the security features of the router will be enabled. To make your network secure, you should eventually configure the wirelss part of the router to enable MAC filtering, disable SSID broadcast, and enable WPA encryption. Again, read the manual.
If you have further questions, post back here.
Steve