Wireless Router Advice Please

Question

Hello everyone, At present we have one desktop and three laptops ( all running XP ) on a Home Network with cable broadband. The set up is a bit complicated but will try to explain in as few words as possible. The desktop is located in a recording studio which is a separate building next to house in garden. Cable router is here too. Cables run from here to a hub in house. Three laptops in house connecting to the hub. We want to add wireless to the set up but keep the cable facility as one of the laptops does not have a wireless card. The plan is to replace the hub (in house) with a wireless router so that any laptop in house would have access to it. This wireless router would need to have cable connections too for the other laptop. If the desktop in studio was also able to receive from the house, so much the better, but a connection would still be available from the cable router if necessary. Is this the best set up since we need both wireless and cable in the house? I`ve done a bit of research and found the wireless router below which seems to have all I need. Do you think this set up would work or do you have any other suggestions? Also is this router the one I want or do you know if there is a better one available bearing in mind I am in the UK?   Belkin F5D7230 Wireless DSL/Cable Gateway Router http://www.broadbandstuff.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=201   Sorry this is so long. All suggestions most gratefully received. Thank you very much

jwatt · Answer

dunedin,

The Belkin F5D7230 isn't the right device for your setup, since it's a router. Since you already have a router in the recording studio, and it's issuing IP addresses for your current devices, what you need is a wireless access point to supplement or replace the hub in the house. Here's broadbandstuff's "Access Points" page. Using an access point, or a router configured as an access point, allows the existing router in the studio to assign IP addresses to all wireless and Ethernet-connected devices.

Many access points include switched hubs. I'm not sure the Belkin F5D7130uk is one of them. You could simply connect the access point to your existing hub, though.

If you need better wireless coverage in the recording studio, adding a second wireless access point located there would do the job nicely.

Jim

jwatt · Answer

dunedin, You're welcome! Jim

dunedin · Answer

Ahh.....You can see why I asked for advice!  Networking is not one of my strong points. I see how it all works now and can go shopping with an understanding of what we need.     Thank you so much for helping

NemesisDB · Answer

this was suggested earlier, and you should start there:   studio: cable modem/router and wired computer (basically your current setup)   house: keep the cables running to the house (assuming you don't mind them -- if you do, we can eliminate them, so post back) ... keep the wires attached to the hub (consider getting a switch instead).  attach a wireless access point to this hub (it may be cheaper to buy a wireless router, turn off its routing functions and use it as an access point!).   if you would like wireless in the studio as well, you can add a second wireless access point to the router there (I assume it has more than one LAN port on it?).

dunedin · Answer

The cables to the house are not a problem.  They run neatly along a garden wall, then into the house under the floor and emerge at the hub. We arranged that ourselves!   I will look at the switch/router option and see which will be better. I think in the first place we will try with just the access point in the house and see how well it works.  The router in the studio has 4 ports, so if necessary we can add another one there later.   I always like to be fully informed before buying. Sometimes sales assistants don`t give the best advice.   One last question please I did read up on this but am still not sure how strong the signal will be as opinions differed. I believe that house walls do not present a great problem but metal does.  Thankfully no metal involved. Will both of the options you suggest produce the same quality of signal, and does receiving distance vary between routers?    Thanks very much to you also for helping.

NemesisDB · Answer

there's really no great way to tell what your range will be without trying.  my wireless access point is centrally located and it covers about 1 to 3 rooms in each direction -- anything past that and it becomes unreliable.   try it with a single access point first and see how it works

dunedin · Answer

OK  I understand. Will try with just the one at first. Thanks again

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