In depth article with everything you need to know about setting up a home network.

http://www.tomshardware.com/network/20030630/index.html

the quick answer is yes that should work with your equipment

colinfromfl,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.

There are also networking suggestions posted in the Suggest Links at the bottom of the Network FAQ.

Thank you Kayatai and DellBob-T.

DellBob-T:  I found the below items in Dell Software and Peripherals.  Will they work with the Inspiron 1100?  It appears the router supports both wired and wireless connections.  I also like buying all my products from Dell for warranty purposes as well as support purposes.  (Don't care much for the India support because I have a hard time understanding their english). 

TrueMobile™ 1300 WLAN (802.11b/g) PC Card for $49

Dell TrueMobile 2300 (802.11g/b) Wireless Broadband Router with One Year Service for $89

Also found the below article and it appears 802.11g is the way to go.  In general - over say a 25 foot unobstructed range how would wired vs. wireless transfer speeds compare with a 802.11b/g connection?  

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1093&e=3&u=/pcworld/20031201/tc_pcworld/113692

"Networks based on the 802.11b and 802.11g standards are compatible, but transfer speeds over 802.11g networks are much faster. The 802.11a standard is also much faster than the commonly used 802.11b standard and is less prone to interference, but it has a more limited range than the 802.11b and 802.11g standards."

Personally, I would go with a PC Card and router from a major like Linksys or D-Link.

I agree with Johnallg, it will probably be easier to drop by a major retailler and pick up a "Laptop wireless networking kit" that includes a laptop card and router.  One of the reasons for this is because sometimes there are various quirks to work out in compatibility between some models and some software, which you may not know about until you try to get the thing working.  Often it is more hassle than it it worth to get the kinks worked out, so it is easier to get a different model, in my opinion at least.  The luxury of taking it back to the store and getting a different brand without paying shipping is nice.

Also regarding --- "Networks based on the 802.11b and 802.11g standards are compatible, but transfer speeds over 802.11g networks are much faster. The 802.11a standard is also much faster than the commonly used 802.11b standard and is less prone to interference, but it has a more limited range than the 802.11b and 802.11g standards."

You may want to look into the actual speeds of your internet connection as well.  802.11b may be fast enough for your needs, 802.11g is better if you are planning on doing alot of big file transfers between LAN side computers, but still not as fast as actually plugging in some CAT5 (which you may want to do if they are local computers anyway).

The arguement is that 802.11g is more futureproof, but at 11 mbps 802.11b is faster than most broadband anyway.