By John Gibb

So you’ve got broadband. Great! After a while, though, many people find that they’ve got so used to having broadband on one computer that they want to be able to use it from any other ones they own, too – including their laptop, and computers that are nowhere near the broadband line. Traditionally, the solution to this has been to run expensive network cables through your house, making holes in your walls and restricting the movement of your computers. Recently, however, another option has become available: wireless broadband.

Wireless broadband works by using short-range radio waves to create a small area where your computers can be networked without wires – most wireless networks are no bigger than a house, although larger ones are possible.

This is how it works. First, the broadband Internet connection is plugged into a wireless router – basically, a small, cheap computer that does nothing except acting as the hub of your network. You then fit wireless cards into each one of your computers, either by opening them up and putting it inside or by plugging it in using a cable (such as USB) or a port (like laptops’ PCMCIA).

When you fit these cards and turn your computer (and the router) on, Windows should pop up a box asking you which wireless network you want to connect to. Your router should create a network automatically, generally naming it after its manufacturer (‘netgear’ or ‘linksys’, for example). All you need to do is choose this network, and you’re on the Internet.

Wireless broadband access is usually no slower than plugging the modem in directly, unless you have very cheap wireless equipment and a very fast Internet connection. It also gives you the added advantage that your computers will be networked together wirelessly, too – so you can easily make your folders shared and access them from any computer in your house using ‘My Network Places’.

About The Author

John Gibb is the owner of broadband information. For more information on broadband check out http://www.broadband-information-stop.info

Routers Articles

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Routers... That Darned Old Internet Gateway! WARNING! WARNING! DANGER! DANGER! This is just how I felt after recent experiences of helping a friend of mine get his new wireless router working. I was talking him through some of the settings on the phone while looking at my router, which is the exact same model. Now I am not new to computers or networking but I must say that Windows XP still throws me now and then. My friend starting reading his screen to me and mentioned Internet Gateway when he went into his Windows XP Networking Connections. There was a red flag! I told him hooooold on! Stop! Now what did you say again? He said in his Network connections he saw an icon for Internet Gateway. My immediate thought was somehow he had managed to turn on the Internet Connection Sharing or ICS. I bopped on over to my new laptop, running XP Professional and…BAM! I had the exact same thing on mine. I hadn’t seen this cute little icon before. Maybe I just hadn’t the “just right” opportunity of noticing it before? Who knows… In my...

Routers, Computer Networking News