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wi fi help please

can any help with suggestion on kit please. I want to set up a wireless network at home have broadband, same in office but also want to take advantage of hotspots and public networks. Can one sd wifi card do this? What wireless boxes do you recommend for home and work?
Thank you gents

Darryl said:
can any help with suggestion on kit please. I want to set up a wireless network at home have broadband, same in office but also want to take advantage of hotspots and public networks. Can one sd wifi card do this? What wireless boxes do you recommend for home and work?
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Yes, one wifi card will do it all. What to buy for the home really depends on many factors: you may want something that includes the DSL modem if you can get it from/through your DSL provider. Otherwise, there's many very cheap wireless access points, and they're all OK.

WiFi @ home & work
Home:
Just get yourself a Linksys wireless router, connect in your cable or DSL
PDA:
Sandisk WiFi SD card

If you have an ADSL connection, you need a modem with RJ45 TCP/IP connection to connect to the access point or router. You can't use an USB modem.
Also think about it if you want to extend the range of the internal network with a wireless repeater in the future.
Only a few brands sell access points that can be used with wireless routers!
D-Link has several combinations, but the repeaters are all 802.11b, no 802.11g yet.
You could use a DI-624+ (802.11g, 54 Mbps) router with a DWL-900AP+ rev. B access point. But this limits the speed in the repeater area to 22 Mbps, since the DWL-900AP+ only support 802.11b, 22 Mbps. Contact D-Link for more info, they have a good telephonic support., at least in the Benelux. Check your local site here: http://support.dlink.com/international/
You could also use the cheaper DI-614+ (802.11b, 22 Mbps). If you don't do heavy file transfers over the wireless network (only surfing and mail etc), this is more then fast enough.
Only professional products like 3Com, Cisco, Intel etc. provide full support for bridges and repeaters, but this is a complete different price range.

Making the Wizard act as a bluetooth Wifi Modem?

I know that it's possible to use the Wizard as a bluetooth modem, using your gprs as the active signal.
Since the Wizard supports WiFi aswell, isn't it possible to use the Wizard to connect to a WiFi network and then sharing that connection over bluetooth.
The reason behind this is that I recently moved and we're sharing a wifi connection in this house. But my signal is very weak in my room, but the kitchen next to my room has a signal strenght of over 70%.
I know that buying a better router of signal enhancer would do the trick, but we're poor students

Theory says yes, but I have asked this same question without much luck or a definitive answer.
I have been trying to do the same with a laptop, bluetooth and my lan connection.
Apparently, you need to configure the outgoing bluetooth device, in this case the PDA, to act as a proxy server.
When I linked my laptop to my desktop over bluetooth, it creates a PAN (Personal Area Network). Its IP was set at 169.254.x.x
A LAN networks at IP's of 192.168.x.x and XP wouldn't let be bridge the two together. (Because of the IP differences.)
It would be the same scenario for the PDA.
I am relaying what I have basically learnt but have no idea of which way to take it now so if you have any luck, please let me know.

the wifi router as a bridge?

is it possible to use the blackstone router to boost the wifi signal from a xbox to a hardwired router in a seperate room (which often struggles to get signal) can i plug the phone into a charger to keep it powered then use it as a signal repeater? or will it not be strong enough? or not even possible?

Hi
Do you have a wireless switch at home? In that case you could connect your xbox to one of the fast ethernet port and Blackstone to the wireless...
...then you can use FTP client both in the Blackstone and in the xbox...

Will I notice a difference in switching to a wireless n router?

Hey I'm using the Linksys WRTU54G-TM with Comcast. I get ~16mbps on speedtests if connected via wired. If I buy a new router(wireless n) then am I going to notice a decent speed increase?
Btw I do not use T-Mobile for home phone anymore.. just still use the router
Gimme a couple a days to come up with a new sig that is cool.

Not to your router's internet speed.
Assuming you've got wireless G devices in the house, then those devices will have a faster connection to the router.
Wired connection to the router is likely to be 100Mbps, so more than your internet connection of 16Mbps, so something connected directly to the router is going to have a 16Mbps internet connection.
Wireless connection is much slower, depending on how far you are from the router, you may only have a 6Mbps connection to the router, therefore you can only use 6Mbps of the 16Mbps internet connection.
Think of each connection as being a pipe, 1inch diameter for every Mbps, so you have a 16inch pipe coming into your router.
Any pipes going from your router to your devices that are bigger than 16inches will let you access the whole 16inches, whereas any pipes that are smaller than 16inches will only let you access up to their own diameter.

You will only notice a difference transferring files on your own network. 802.11G is rated for 54 Mbps which is faster then the 16Mbps going to your house. I believe 802.11N is rated for a little over 100Mbps.
WilsonManagedIT.com

wired vs wireless
hey i can tell you difference b/w wired n wireless connection simply...
wired===> more perfomance,less convinience
wireless===>less performance,more convinience

n has more bandwidth and extended range so you MAY see an improvement.

The speed test you're talking about is on wired. Getting a wireless N router won't necessarily do anything for wired connections.
If you have a very fast connection, like something in the ~30-40mbps range, then Wireless G might not cut it. Even though it is rated at 54mbps this is basically never possible in real world scenarios. You need wireless N to reliably push 30-40mbps or higher.

Tether to Router?

So I can use my standard USB cable and tether to the laptop and have net connection on lappy. Same with desktop. USB tether works just the same as wifi tether. What about getting a micro USB to RJ45 (ethernet) cable and tethering to the internet in jack on my router. Would that put the net signal on the router like a modem would?

Chopstix9 said:
So I can use my standard USB cable and tether to the laptop and have net connection on lappy. Same with desktop. USB tether works just the same as wifi tether. What about getting a micro USB to RJ45 (ethernet) cable and tethering to the internet in jack on my router. Would that put the net signal on the router like a modem would?
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Or you could get a wireless adapter for your Desktop. That's what I did. Now I can stream Amazon Prime on my Xbox 360, and PC game at the same time.This is what I have and works like a charm.
Good luck.

Oh my desktop is already wireless enabled, that's not an issue... Been running the house off the phones for a couple years... Just gave up a little bit when I got rid of cable interet. Whole house networking to other computers in the house, had to plug the wireless printer back into the desktop, it's no longer a network printer, etc.... was just toying with the idea and wondering if it would work is all.
Actually, in looking at the micro usb - rj45 adapters, I don't think it will work. Those are actually ethernet adapters, like adding a network card to a slot on a pc. Made for taking a net signal FROM a network, not sending one TO it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you just get a compatible wireless dongle (Something you would use for sniffing/injecting packets) and use it as an access point so you can broadcast the signal throughout the house?
Another thing you can do is pick up a router that you can install Tomato or DD-WRT on and use it as a wireless client bridge. It would connect to your phone, and again, broadcast that signal through the house.

Chopstix9 said:
So I can use my standard USB cable and tether to the laptop and have net connection on lappy. Same with desktop. USB tether works just the same as wifi tether. What about getting a micro USB to RJ45 (ethernet) cable and tethering to the internet in jack on my router. Would that put the net signal on the router like a modem would?
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DJNads said:
Another thing you can do is pick up a router that you can install Tomato or DD-WRT on and use it as a wireless client bridge. It would connect to your phone, and again, broadcast that signal through the house.
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Correct. Assuming the phone would even operate in this manner (I've never tried but sounds like a great idea!), you'd need a router that is capable of operating in bridged mode/wireless bridge/access point mode (may be labeled as either of them). You'd then have to configure the router to said bridged mode. An easier route (and possibly more expensive) would be to purchase just an access point.

MrHyde03 said:
Correct. Assuming the phone would even operate in this manner (I've never tried but sounds like a great idea!), you'd need a router that is capable of operating in bridged mode/wireless bridge/access point mode (may be labeled as either of them). You'd then have to configure the router to said bridged mode. An easier route (and possibly more expensive) would be to purchase just an access point.
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I may have an old WAP in my junk closet. A router that can bridge may work but first thing I think I would need is a router or WAP that has a USB connection on it.... I'm looking to plug the phone into the router to provide the internet signal instead of a cable/dsl modem, creating a typical LAN ... I can still use the LAN in-house sans the net connection. Just a pain to disconnect from one network (phone hotspot) and connect to another (netless LAN) for file transfers network printing etc ...

Chopstix9 said:
I may have an old WAP in my junk closet. A router that can bridge may work but first thing I think I would need is a router or WAP that has a USB connection on it.... I'm looking to plug the phone into the router to provide the internet signal instead of a cable/dsl modem, creating a typical LAN ... I can still use the LAN in-house sans the net connection. Just a pain to disconnect from one network (phone hotspot) and connect to another (netless LAN) for file transfers network printing etc ...
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You shouldn't need to physically connect your phone to the router at all. Depending on what router you get, it should be able to pick up the wireless signal from your phone's hotspot and rebroadcast it as its own network.
Edit: And honestly, I'm not sure connecting the phone via usb to the router would even share the connection. That router doesn't have the drivers needed for that to work.

To the OP, off topic question but what did you have to do to activate wi fi tether? your sig, tells me that your on stock and can still do it, yes? thanks!

Side note, it's been awhile but when I moved into my apartment I had no internet for a few days.
I did the USB wired tether to a laptop, then the laptop I think I enabled ICS/internet connection sharing and then connected with rj45 to a router, and it shared that as the WAN connection.

motrinHD said:
To the OP, off topic question but what did you have to do to activate wi fi tether? your sig, tells me that your on stock and can still do it, yes? thanks!
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What part of my sig tells you I am on stock?

I've done both these things. I've taken my cell and flashed a router with dd-wrt and set it up as a repeater bridge but that means that only the computers near that router gets internet, unless your house is wired for ethernet (or using wireless). My current setup is having the phone tethered to a computer running Zentyal linux. This is a cool distro that can replace a 2008 Small business server in a work environment but it does the trick for my router at home. I had it running on an old P4 and recently graduated to a Zotac Zbox Mini ID41 which is tucked away behind my TV. I set up the computer to hand out dhcp and be the router and gateway. When i plug in my cell in tethering mode, zentyal recognizes it and i set that USB device as external WAN. It usually takes some getting used to and about a minute to normalize after the phone is unplugged and taken on the road. This has worked for me so far but when i'm at work, no internet at home. I'm currently attempting to talk my workplace into letting me subsidize a Verizon Jetpack i can leave home which will do the same job.
As a side note, i live in rural WI and we only have Satellite internet as a choice, which really stinks as both carriers have a bandwidth cap which we were constantly hitting two weeks into the billing cycle. They then throttle you down to less than a meg until your billing cycle renews.

We RV all summer most years and I use WiFiRanger gear to network our 5th wheel. That way we can grab a WiFi AP if one is available and the credentials are known or I HotSpot my phone and the Router grabs the phone's WiFi AP and we are good to go.
If you are stationary and only intend to use the phone's HotSpot as a WiFi AP then WiFiRanger's GO2 should do the trick. They are currently working on a firmware upgrade that will allow some great bandwidth monitoring and device usage controls. Their price is comparable to most full featured routers being offered but not cheap.
I am a satisfied user and Beta tester of their equipment, not an employee or representative. We use several of their offerings to maximize our capabilities on the road.